Floyd Mayweather Tells Manny Pacquiao 'We Have to Make This Fight Happen'

For more than a half-decade now, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have played a cat-and-mouse game about their supposed megafight, each talking a big game and seemingly scurrying whenever real progress is made toward a deal. It appears, finally, as though the two stars are preparing to get into the ring.   

In a video posted on Mayweather's Instagram Saturday evening, the pound-for-pound king can be heard telling Pacquiao, "We have to make this fight happen":

The Pacquiao and Mayweather camps have been deep in negotiations about a May fight for more than a month. While there have been numerous reports of progress between the two sides—small details, like the venue, have been resolved—there remain quite a few snags in need of fixing before an announcement can be made.

Showtime and HBO, the former holding Mayweather's contractual rights and the latter Pacquiao's, must agree on how to split revenue while co-hosting the bout. Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum told Tim Dahlberg of The Associated Press those issues were resolved, but those claims have since been denied.

"There are a few significant issues remaining on both the fighter side and the network side of this deal," Showtime executive vice president Stephen Espinoza said, per ESPN.com. "While we are optimistic, it's a bit premature to say that the networks are in total agreement."

With May 2 set as a target date, the two sides are quickly running out of time. The networks will need months to get promotional packages together given the expected record cost of the event, and Mayweather and Pacquiao will have to begin their training regimen. Coupled with the countless press-related events that would come with such a deal, negotiations are reaching the very edge of feasibility.

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It's possible the May 2 date could be pushed back, but that seems unlikely. Mayweather has essentially turned the first Saturday in May into his own holiday; his promotional arm will likely not want to move off that date. 

"The thing that really concerns me is that we are running out of time for May 2," Arum told ESPN.com's Dan Rafael. "If you want to drag this out a little longer then move the fight to later in May—May 30 is a good date—or go in June. We agreed to go on May 2 because that is the date Mayweather is hung up on, but if we're going to go on May 2 we need to get this done."

If they're unable to resolve these issues, it'll be the latest in a series of stalled negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao. Negotiations first began in 2009 and have been teased on multiple occasions since. Once billed as the fight of the century, both Mayweather and Pacquiao are a little beyond their primes—still great, but nowhere near the level they were five years ago.

But if they can finally get it together, it'll be better late than never.

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