Manny Pacquiao Insists He Would Fight Floyd Mayweather for Right Price

After hinting that he was considering retirement after fighting Timothy Bradley on June 9, Manny Pacquiao painted a clearer picture this weekend.

Pacquiao said he would fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he agreed to a 50-50 split.

Pacquiao told Yahoo! Sports:

"He offered me $40 million, and no pay-per-view [money],” Pacquiao said, breaking into a laugh. “No pay-per-view. Can you believe that? Would you do that? Come on. What would he say if I offered him $50 million—not $40 million, $50 million—and said ‘No pay-per-view. Take this money and be happy, but no pay-per-view.’ He wouldn’t do it, either."

And so the roller coaster ride continues.

There has been so much back-and-forth between the two camps over the years that it's hard to say whether the highly coveted superfight will ever happen, but at least it appears Pacquiao still wants to fight Mayweather—something that was in doubt after he told Minda News that he wanted to pursue a "Bible-centered" life after the Bradley fight.

Pacquiao continued:

“I told him, ‘OK, 50-50 [with the money] and I’ll agree to everything else.' I told him I would agree to all of the other things he was demanding. Everything. Even the blood testing he wanted, I would do it. But it had to be 50-50.”

At this point, the boxing world is growing weary of both fighters' camps. There have been numerous times where they could have settled on a fight date, but have yet to come to terms.

The reality now is that even if Pacquiao and Mayweather do fight, it's likely to be in 2013 or later, and there are concerns that they won't be the same boxers in a year or two. Pacquiao is 33 years old and Mayweather is 34 years old.

Nonetheless, a fight would be better than no fight at all, and you can bet fans would still pay big-time money to watch what would be the most anticipated bout of this generation.

Splitting the purse 50-50 seems like a reasonable deal. It's time to give the boxing world what it wants. Otherwise, it's all talk.