Manny Pacquiao Puts the Heat on Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

When word came down today from HBO that the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey fight did 700,000 buys, you could hear Leonard Ellerbe smashing furniture in his office in Las Vegas all over the country.

That's because there's no way his fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will be able to demand a 65-35 split in a proposed fight with Manny Pacquiao in the fall without coming across as a chicken. And Floyd has already declared that that's what he will be looking for in any contract negotiations in the future. 

Of course, that demand was predicated on Money's belief that he would crush Pac-Man in PPV buys this spring, something that is very debatable now.

Any fighter who can get 700,000 pay per view buys against a virtual no name like Josh Clottey is a big-time draw. An Oscar De La Hoya draw. 

Mayweather's demand was also based on what he believes will be stellar numbers for his PPV showdown with Sugar Shane Mosley in May, something that I believe might not happen based on several factors.

Those factors are:

1. Mayweather's own lackluster performance against Juan Manuel Marquez last September. It was a real stinker.

2. Shane Mosley's less than stellar ability to put any fannies in the seats during his career. Sugar Shane only draws when he's matched with someone who draws.

3. The lack of any either fighter to excite some of boxing's core audience groups. Like any kind of entertainment boxing has certain age and ethnic groups who make up its core audience.

Neither Mayweather nor Mosley regularly bring in Latino, Asian, or English fans unless they are fighting Latino, Asian, or English fighters. Those are three very big audiences that will be MIA for their bout in May. 

Mayweather better pull out all the stops in the upcoming 24/7 series. Because even with all its hype, Mayweather-Mosley will be lucky to edge out Pacquiao-Clottey in terms of PPV buys.

That will not be enough to make any great demands on Pacquiao's camp during negotiations.

Which means if Mayweather ends up demanding 65-35, he'll end up losing the battle with Pac-Man in most people's eyes. Even if the two fighters never square off in the ring.