Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao: Money Will Make This Fight Happen

Nearly two years ago, boxing fans were clamoring for a showdown between undefeated Floyd "Money" Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) and action fighter Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs). Back in 2012, Mayweather defeated Miguel Cotto but showed signs of vulnerability.

At the same time, Pacquiao was coming off of his first loss in seven years to Timothy Bradley, but he was still believed to be the only boxer who could possibly defeat Mayweather in the ring. Most boxing experts watching the Pacquiao/Bradley fight had Pacquiao easily outpointing Bradley despite the official judges' scorecards.

Pacquiao had lost officially, but not publicly. His reputation was untarnished. People still wanted to see Mayweather fight Pacquiao.

Then Pacquiao fought Juan Manuel Marquez in December of 2012 and everything changed.

Pacquiao's fight against Marquez would only last six rounds and would end with Pacquiao unconscious on the mat and with Marquez's hand raised in victory.

Eric Jamison/Associated Press

It seemed like any desire to see the dream match between Mayweather and Pacquiao died that night.

But then a strange thing happened. Pacquiao metaphorically picked himself out of boxing's gutter and tried to rehab his image that was shattered by the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez. I didn't think he was capable of this, but he proved me wrong.

Pacquiao rededicated himself to the sport of boxing. He could have retired, but he decided to continue his career with an added hunger and ferocity.

Almost a year after the Marquez loss, Pacquiao fought Brandon Rios in Macao, China. Pacquiao could have selected any easy tune-up bout for his first fight in nearly a year, but he chose to take on a dangerous Rios, who was also seeking redemption after the first loss of his career. 

In this fight, Pacquiao put on a boxing clinic and beat up Rios, who is seven years Pacquiao's junior. Pacquiao cruised to a unanimous-decision victory. It looked like he was back, but some were still skeptical if he could really pose a threat to Floyd Mayweather.

Pacquiao continued on his path toward redemption and defeated Timothy Bradley in April of this year and Chris Algieri several weeks ago in impressive fashion. He knocked Algieri down six times throughout the fight.

It took him two years, but Pacquiao again has people believing that he has what it takes to beat Floyd Mayweather, and the possibility of the dream bout occurring is high. Investors from around the world are reportedly offering obscene amounts of money to try to coax both men into fighting.

Three days ago, Tony Mogan of the International Business Times reported that a group of investors from the United Arab Emirates has made a strong offer for the fight: "A consortium of investors is ready to pay $200m to get Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao in the ring together."

While there is no evidence to suggest that Mayweather or Pacquiao are willing to do business with this investment group, just the fact that this offer was made shows the type of money that is being thrown at both men to finally face each other.

It has been widely publicized that disputes over money have kept this fight from happening. It is hard to believe that either man is willing to walk away from this type of money. Forbes.com reported in September that Mayweather received $32 million "for stepping into the ring with Maidana" for his last fight.

In the deal that the United Arab Emirates group proposed, Mayweather would make more than three times this amount just for agreeing to fight Pacquiao. Vincent Paul Hidalgo of the International Business Times states that: "Boxing promoter M.Akbar Muhammad one of the backers of an Abu Dhabi investment company, has ponied up $110 million in guaranteed purse to Mayweather camp's just to choose Abu Dhabi as the venue for the fight."

The one thing that Mayweather has proved to the world is that he fights for money. Right now, money is dictating that Mayweather and Pacquiao are going to have to face each other some time in the near future. It seems like this time around the price is right, and I doubt that either fighter will walk away from what could be the richest fight in boxing history.