Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao 2015: Floyd Cites PPV Numbers To Hold Up Fight?

Time is running out to make Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight in May a reality. While Pacquiao claims that he’s agreed to terms for a fight and Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum blames Mayweather and his fear of losing, the undefeated boxer says it’s not his fault that a deal has yet to be reached.

“We’re trying, but it’s been extremely difficult dealing with Top Rank,” Mayweather told DJ Whoo Kid on Shade 45 last week. “I don’t want to sit right here and point the finger at Pacquiao and say that it’s him, because it’s not Pacquiao. It’s his promoter. So a lot of times when Pacquiao says, 'I agree,' you don’t have nothing to do with this. You’re not a boss. On the chessboard, you’re a pawn…They want to point the finger at the other guy, which is me.”

Before the interview, it was reported that Pacquaio agreed to Mayweather’s demands, which include drug testing and a 60-40 split of the purse. When asked about how much money he would make for a potential mega-bout, though, Mayweather was quick to suggest that he would largely be responsible for selling pay-per-views.

“We have been going back and forth communicating with their team,” Mayweather said. “Hopefully we can make this fight happen. But once again, we have to look at his pay-per-view numbers. His last fight didn’t even do 300,000 homes. So let’s make this make sense. I mean, he did get knocked out not too long ago. No matter what you say, Floyd Mayweather is still winning. When they take shots at Floyd Mayweather, he’s still winning. He’s still making hundreds of millions.”

Mayweather’s assessment that Pacquiao isn’t much of a PPV draw is highly disputable. It was first reported that Pacquiao’s title fight with Chris Algieri, a relative unknown, generated less than 300,000 buys in November. According to Arum, over 400,000 homes bought the fight, which would’ve done much better had it been held in the United States and not in China.

Pacquiao last fought in the United States when he defeated Timothy Bradley on April 12. Arum admitted that the PPV was a disappointment, selling short of 800,000 buys. However, Mayweather’s most recent fight didn’t break any records, either. His rematch with Marcos Maidana generated 925,000 buys in September. Mayweather vs. Maidana I generated around 900,000 buys on May 3, 2014.

No boxer would help Mayweather generate nearly the amount of PPV buys that Mayweather-Pacquiao would draw. Miguel Cotto is Mayweather’s likely next opponent, if a Pacquiao deal for a mega-bout can’t be reached. Cotto’s last bout, which was held at Madison Square Garden, drew between just 300,000 and 315,000 buys.

In Sept. 2013, Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez generated 2.2 million PPV buys, setting a record for the highest grossing fight in boxing history. A 2015 fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao could draw close to a million more buys.