The fight between the two champions, which has been in talks for six years, is once again making headlines. As the world anxiously awaits the epic Floyd Mayweather Jr., 37, and Manny Pacquiao, 36, fight, a top boxing insider says Mayweather isn't shying away from the challenge.
According to the Associated Press, the top Showtime executive says negotiations are still on-going between both camps.
"Personally I've been involved in these negotiations continuously since the very first in 2009," said Stephen Espinoza to the AP. "I can say I'm not sure there's a point where I personally observed him wanting it more than over the last few months."
As it stands, the Filipino boxer-politician has already agreed to the terms of a May 2 fight in Las Vegas with the undefeated boxer, Mayweather.
ESPN notes that "Top Rank and Manny have agreed to the terms on our side. I don't know about the other side," said Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti.
As per a source, with regards to the revenue for the fight expected to smash boxing box office records, Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) has agreed to a 40% take home leaving 60% for Mayweather (57-5-2, 38 KOs). Additionally, Pacman has also agreed to other details including those relating to boxing gloves and drug testing.
"I think that Manny agreed to USADA testing shows you his eagerness to make this fight," added Moretti.
As for the camp of Mayweather, with Pacquiao's agreement, it's all up to the American boxer to finally agree to face Manny in the ring.
According to Sam Watson, associated with Al Haymon, Mayweather's adviser, talks are progressing and adds, "They're putting it together now," quotes Mirror UK. "They're going to do a Showtime-HBO [joint pay-per-view] like they did last time with Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson."
Showing his own excitement, Watson says the details are being ironed out and he personally, "can't wait" adding, "It's going to be huge."
As reported in an earlier article, based on the estimates of Bob Arum, a 100 million person audience in the People's Republic of China plus the US pay-per-view, the match-up dubbed as "the fight of the century" could hit up to a billion dollars in revenue.
