Floyd Mayweather: Money Should Take 50/50 Deal to Fight Manny Pacquiao

Floyd Mayweather could cement his legacy as one of boxing's all-time greats by acceding to Manny Pacquiao and Bob Arum's demands that they split the purse 50/50.

Mayweather came out after his resounding unanimous decision victory against Miguel Cotto to talk about his future and was asked about the possibility of fighting Pacquiao, per the Guardian:

"

I’m just really tired of the media and the people being fooled. The truth is, (Pacquiao’s promoter) Bob Arum is not going to let the fight happen. It’s not on me. I went to Pacquiao and offered him $40 million, and told him I would wire him $20 million within 48 hours. He turned me down and said he wanted a 50-50 split. I’m like, how can you ask for 50-50 and you’re not doing the same numbers that I’m doing…. So once he’s free from Bob Arum, will the fight happen? Absolutely. But as of now, he’s with Bob Arum so the fight isn’t going to happen.

"

Pardon me for disagreeing with the champ, but there are two sides to every coin. Mayweather could easily afford to split the purse with Pacquiao in order to make the fight happen, but his ego won't allow him to accept the deal.

It's not like he won't rake in the dough—even at 50 percent.

If we take the numbers from the last fight against Cotto, we see that a 50 percent take would be $20 million, as Cotto took home $8 million (h/t Dan Rafael, via Twitter) and Mayweather took home $32 million (h/t Yahoo! Sports)...before pay-per-view receipts were tallied.

You have to know that a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight would blow the last one out of the water from a financial perspective, especially considering the way the idea has been permeating the boxing community for months upon months.

Money shouldn't be the issue.

Arum has responded to Mayweather's criticisms of his management with jabs of his own, via USA Today:

"

I know him very well; I know how vulnerable he is to the left hand. The only one he fought was Zab Judah, and Judah gave him a tough fight and would've beat him if he hadn't been so stupid and been in great shape. The hardest thing in the world when I had him was to get him to fight a southpaw. He does not want to fight Pacquiao.There will always be an excuse.

"

While I don't agree with Arum about Mayweather's reasons for avoiding this fight, he does make a good point of putting the onus back on Money to make the deal happen.

Mayweather can put all the idle chatter to rest with a gracious, bold move to give Arum and Pacquiao what they want. Then, he can settle the score in the ring where it really matters. If he avoids this fight, people will always wonder whether or not he was truly the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. 

Mayweather would be wise to see the value in furthering his legacy by taking on the biggest challenge of his career—even if his ego takes a hit in the meantime.

Follow @JesseReed78