Pound-for-pound king and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao said Floyd Mayweather Jr. himself is preventing their much-awaited fight from happening.
The Filipino boxing icon said this in an interview with HBO that appears on boxing blog Bad Left Hook, adding that: "He [Mayweather] no longer wants to split the pay-per-view revenue with me equally, something he agreed to in our first negotiation."
Pacquiao may have been referring to negotiations in 2009, when a possible bout between him and Mayweather was scuttled over the Filipino fighter's refusal to undergo Olympic-style drug testing.
According to ESPN.com, "Olympic style testing is more rigorous than the drug testing performed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission…. It would involve random blood and urine testing before and after the fight. Nevada commission testing only tests urine for banned substances, once just before the fight and once immediately following the fight."
But in 2011 however, Pacquiao agreed to Mayweather's demand, as long as the testing was not done by the United States Anti-Doping Agency or USADA.
Since then, money has been the major reason for the fight not happening. Mayweather earlier this year called Pacquiao and offered a flat $40 million dollar fee to fight him, with "Money" taking all of the pay-per-view proceeds, which Pacquiao turned down.
The Pacquiao camp has been offering various permutations of the split of the box office proceeds, but Mayweather's side has refused to budge. Team Mayweather believes that their fighter draws far more money than Pacquiao, and as such, ought to get the lion's share of the purse.
Still, Pacquiao is generally optimistic about the fight happening, adding, "Will the fight ever happen? It's up to Floyd [Mayweather]. I hope it does. I'm a competitor and I enjoy a challenge.
"I know the fans want to see us fight. I think it would be good for boxing. As long as I continue fighting I will remain hopeful that the fight will take place."
Pacquiao is scheduled to face Timothy Bradley for the WBO Welterweight Championship on June 9 (June 10, PHL time).
