During the premiere episode of "The Fight Game with Jim Lampley", Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer shared his thoughts on what the purse split should be for a proposed mega-fight between undefeated pound-for-pound champion Floyd Mayweather and 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao. "Well, you know what Jim? I think he should get the lion's share and I think fair is fair," Schaefer commented when asked if he thought Mayweather's stance of not agreeing to a 50/50 split was standing in the way of making the fight a reality. In fact, Schaefer believes that both fighters should absolutely get what they're worth and the best way to figure that out is to let an outside accounting firm look at the numbers that each man has produced over the years, compare them, and ultimately determine a fair ratio.
"I think what we should do is we should have one of the big three accounting firms account the last fights going back to let's say 2007, since we've been involved with Floyd Mayweather. Account the pay-per-view numbers, account the live gates, accumulate all of these numbers, we can do the same with Pacquiao, and then we'll see what kind of ratio it is," Shaever explained. "If in fact they're the same, they've produced the same amount of pay-per-views, the same amount of live gate revenues, then you know what? Yes, it should be a 50/50 split, but if they don't, then why should it?"
Like Mayweather, Schaefer insists that it's Pacquiao's promotional company, Top Rank, that is actually preventing the fight from taking place. Of course, bringing in an accounting firm would require Top Rank to open up their financial books for review, and that's something that's not likely to happen any time soon. "Well, it seems to be clear, Floyd Mayweather wants to fight, Manny Pacquiao wants to fight, unfortunately, it seems to me that the promotional entity Manny Pacquiao is with does not really want to make the fight," Schaefer continued. "They know very well if they want to make the fight, Floyd Mayweather was clear about it. Pick up the phone, call me, and let's get the fight done. They have my number and Top Rank and us have worked together in the past, so if they really want to do it, call me and let's get it done."
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