Manny Pacquiao: Will Undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. Fight for $50M Guaranteed?

Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. was reportedly offered a $50 million guaranteed purse recently to face pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao but turned down the offer and demanded a staggering $100 million instead.

When Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum broke the news about Mayweather's demand for a $100 million fight purse two weeks ago in Manila, boxing fans could not believe what Arum reported to media when he faced sportswriters during Pacquiao's open work out in Baguio City.

“Can anyone guess just how much Floyd wants (to fight Pacquiao)?” asked Arum to a group of scribes with a quizzical look in his face.

The Bulletin gave an answer that was right on the button.

“Yeah, a hundred (million dollars),” said the Top Rank chief, shrugging his shoulders. “That only says he doesn’t want to fight.”

As Mayweather's unreasonable demand filtered in the Internet as well as print and broadcast media, his fans and supporters tried to qualify their idol's demand.

In the absence of any statement or reaction from Mayweather's camp, some of his avid supporters were saying the $100 million fight purse being demanded was for a three-fight contract and not entirely for a single fight with Manny Pacquiao.

Except for having admitted that there was indeed talk of a Pacquiao-Mayweather match in South Africa, the fight purse issue was neither confirmed nor denied by Team Mayweather.

To clarify matters related to Mayweather's unreasonable demand, Pacquiao's Canadian adviser Michael Koncz told ABS-CBN News, "A country that I won't name offered us $100 million to bring the Mayweather fight there.

“So we, in turn, offered $50 million to Mayweather as a guarantee [purse]. If the pay-per-view comes in higher, Manny and Mayweather would make more,” Koncz added.

He said negotiations went downhill after the flamboyant Mayweather, dubbed “Pretty Boy Floyd,” demanded a staggering $100 million purse.

“He refused the $50 million... It means he don't wanna fight Manny at this point in his career. Very simple,” said Koncz.

Since Mayweather has not confirmed or denied what appears to be an unreasonable demand for a $100 million fight purse as a prime condition for him to face Manny Pacquiao in the ring, a consensus on whether the demanded purse is reasonable or fair can be drawn by looking at Mayweather's fight purse history.

Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley     2010              $22.5 million Guaranteed

vs. Juan Manuel Marquez            2009              $15 million    Guaranteed

vs. Ricky Hatton                        2007 (Dec.)     $11 million    Guaranteed

vs. Oscar De La Hoya                 2007 (May)     $25 million    Guaranteed

As may be gleaned from Mayweather's guaranteed fight purse history, as shown above, it appears his biggest purse since 2007 was his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, where he made $25 million.

Looking at these figures and comparing them to the $100 million purse he is asking for the Pacquiao fight, it is clear Mayweather has decided to price himself out of the fight—for obvious reasons.