"I told Michael Koncz and Manny as well...believe me, we'll collect a lot more than the $5 million dollars," stated Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum when asked if there was any truth to a story that undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather rejected a request made by 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao for a $5 million penalty if either fighter tested positive for a banned substance leading up to their highly-anticipated May 2 showdown. Arum addressed the issue in a room packed full of members of the media during the kickoff press conference on March 11.
For whatever reason, a full week later, some of those same members of the media, who were in attendance for Arum's explanation, ran a story based on misinformation supplied by Pacquiao's advisor, Michael Koncz, suggesting that it was only Team Mayweather that didn't want to accept their proposal. Arum's comments, however, make it clear that he too was on the same page as Team Mayweather and disagreed with the idea of the $5 million penalty.
According to Arum, both Michael Koncz and Manny Pacquiao were made aware of his own opinion that a $5 million penalty was insignificant considering the amount of money they could collect if Mayweather did indeed fail a drug test. Having said that, it's unclear as to exactly why Michael Koncz (and more importantly, select members of the media) is now bringing up the penalty as though it was an issue. Check out exactly what Arum had to say a full week before these recent reports were published in the video below.
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