The news of Floyd Mayweather supposedly saying in an email that he told Manny Pacquiao a 50/50 split can't happen sent shockwaves throughout the boxing community, sparking a ton of reaction from fans and media alike. The emails have not stopped pouring in with questions about the email, their phone conversation, and much more. Although I don't have all the answers, I do have an opinion, so check out what I had to say to inquiring minds who want to know.
Hey Ben I love your work. I just wanted to know if it is true that Floyd rejected a 50/50 split while appearing on sportscenter? - Berry
BT: When I spoke to Floyd briefly on Thursday, he didn't really go into any details about the phone call other than the fact that he got a hold of Pacquiao through Michael Koncz. When the news broke, it was Pacquiao who first revealed details of their 3-minute convo. "I said just give me a 50-50 split in revenue and there would be no problem, anytime. It's up to you. We'll wait for your answer," he explained to reporters. Judging from the fact that Pacquiao said he was waiting for an answer, that doesn't really sound like Floyd said no during their verbal encounter. On the very same day, Bob Arum confirmed that the phone call took place, but at no time did he say that Floyd rejected a 50/50 split. "He just said, 'Okay, goodbye.' Michael was there for the whole conversation. It was two minutes," Arum commented when asked about Floyd's response to Pacquiao. If Mayweather did in fact tell Pacquiao that a 50/50 split "can't happen", as it said in the email (see below), then I would think that Bob Arum would have jumped at the chance to point that out. You can bet that Bob Arum knew every word that was said during that phone call, particularly since Michael Koncz was their for the entire conversation. I mean, just think about that for a minute. According to this email, Pacquiao was supposedly waiting for an answer that was already given to him, and more importantly, Floyd appears to have given Bob Arum the perfect excuse to remind his forces in the media why the fight won't happen, but surprisngly, he never bothered using it. Does any of that really make sense?
I don't know, that all seems pretty strange to me, but I honestly couldn't tell you because I wasn't the one who received the email. Instead, it was "boxing insider" Stan Verrett that Mayweather allegedly chose to contact. Personally, I really can't see Floyd Mayweather sitting down at a computer to craft an email to send to ESPN in the first place. Assuming that an email was sent to Verrett from Mayweather's personal account, my guess is that it was probably typed by one of his many personal assistants. If that's the case, were those Mayweather's exact words in that email? That's doubtful. In fact, just looking at the contents of the email, it doesn't really even read like him talking. ESPN's own Dan Rafael, who I assume actually saw the email, even questions the validity of Mayweather crafting it, saying he's "not entirely convinced" and "maybe something is lost in translation". Not to mention, Verrett seems like an odd choice for Mayweather to reach out to. Nevertheless, Verrett was scheduled to go on air at a particular time, so maybe that's the reason why he was fortunate enough to receive this email.
If the intention was to get a statement on ESPN as soon as possible, I'd have to side with Rafael's assessment that something got lost in translation. The notion that Mayweather is now telling Pacquiao that there won't be an equal split between both sides certainly seems odd when, in the past, that appeared to be agreed upon at every step of the way. The revenue split wasn't an issue the first time they negotiated, and it didn't even appear to be an issue when Bob Arum and Al Haymon had separate conversations with Ross Greenburg. My guess is that if Floyd Mayweather did indeed dictate to someone to type that Manny Pacquiao won't be making the same money as him, as the email suggests, he was probably referring to the fact that the structured deal that Pacquiao has with his promoter won't afford him that luxury. If Pacquiao suggested to Mayweather during their conversation that they both make the same amount of money, then technically, Mayweather would be correct in saying that it can't happen. From what I've been told by industry insiders, Pacquiao gives up a whopping 27.5% just to his promoter, so he personally won't be getting an equal share as Mayweather. If I were to make a guess at what Floyd might have dictated to someone, he may have said something like, "Make sure you tell them that he said he thinks he's going to make the same amount of money as me. Like I said before, that ain't going to happen because I'm my own boss. I told him he needs to take that up with his boss, but he will be making more money then he's made in his entire career." Assuming someone was "cleaning that up" for him, I can see how that may have got translated into what was typed in the email, but again, I have no idea what was said between all the parties involved, nor do I know what was supposed to be conveyed in that email, so this all just speculation based on my understanding of how Mayweather operates. It just seems out of the norm for him to send an email like that.
According to what I've constantly been told, however, there's never been any issues with the total revenue share, so as far as a 50/50 split between both sides not happening, contrary to what was typed in this email, I personally don't think that was conveyed to Manny Pacquiao over the phone. If it was, then Pacquiao would not have suggested that he was waiting for an answer, and more importantly, Bob Arum would have made that point crystal clear. But hey, that's just my take on the whole matter. Like I said, I didn't receive and I didn't see the email, so I can't confirm or deny it. Honestly, I've never even received an email from Floyd, so I don't even know what that's like. Until I hear it directly from him, I'll reserve my judgment.
Here's an interesting little note about Stan Verrett though and his connection to FightHype.com. Back in the early days of his career as a weekend sports anchor and reporter at WDSU-TV, an NBC affiliate in New Orleans, Louisiana, he interviewed FightHype's own Percy Crawford when he won the 220-pound Class in the High School National Powerlifting Championships. Small world.
For those that didn't get a chance to see it, below is what was said in the email:
"I called him and asked him about us fighting May 5 and giving the World what they want to see. I also let him know we both can make a lot of money. He ask about a 50/50 split and I told him no that can't happen, but what can happen is you can make more money fighting me then you have made in your career. I also let him know I'm in control on my side but he needs to get on the same page with his promoter so we can make this fight happen."
"I told him to tell his promoter that he only wants to fight Mayweather and that this fight will be the biggest fight in history. His manger came to my boxing gym a few months ago and we spoke about getting the defamation of character lawsuit dropped against me and about both fighters taking the random blood and urine test. I spoke to his manager again last night about the same thing. The call last night lasted 15 or 20 minutes. I mainly spoke to his manager he got on and off the phone real quick."
Is 50-50 not a good split. Please ask Floyd to stop this nonsense. Bob Arum is also making this fight impossible but I think Manny has been honest to everyone to what he really wants. Ask Floyd to take the equal split. Maybe he will listen to you since you listen to him and he might take your advise. - Robin G de Leon
BT: 50/50 sounds fair to me. I can't disagree with that at all. Like I said above, however, I still have no idea if Floyd actually has a problem with both sides sharing the total revenue equally. If he does have a problem with it, however, it's not my place to try and give him advise. After all, Manny did say last month that he had no problems with taking a smaller purse, so perhaps Floyd is using that as a way of "negotiating" in an attempt to convince Manny to agree to fight on May 5. I honestly have no idea what's true and what's not true as it relates to this email and their phone conversation, other than the fact that Michael Koncz was involved. If Floyd Mayweather is content with people thinking that this fight won't happen because he's now allegedly asking for a bigger share of the purse, well that's on him. What I do know, however, is that at the end of the day, when it comes to Manny Pacquiao fighting anyone, Bob Arum is his promoter so nothing can get done without his involvement. Despite both fighters speaking on the phone for 2-3 minutes, the man who actually puts his stamp of approval on negotiations for Pacquiao, Bob Arum, has not actually spoken to Mayweather or any of his representatives, Al Haymon and Richard Schaefer, therefore this fight is no closer to being done than it was back in 2009/2010. At the end of the day, the principals from both sides are not talking, so everything that's taken place up until this point is irrelevant.
Ben you know what this is about! what the hell is mayweather doing ? he knows Arum is not taking anything less then 50 n just gave him the perfect excuse to run with! Man floyd was killing um to he pulled this bogus B.S. I hope the email was fake and was not Mayweather words. Floyd is disappointing his fans with this we know you rich and all about money floyd but you OWE the fans this fight either way yu winning you have and easy opponent in manny and he knows this don't mess it up Ben plz give us an article on the REAL. If this is indeed true only how i will respect it if he fights Martinez. SMH - Keyon Childs
BT: I hear what you're saying Keyon. As I said above, I'm not totally convinced that Floyd Mayweather has stated a 50/50 split between both sides won't happen. He and his team have never relayed that information to me. As far as I knew, there was never any issue with that. I have yet to hear directly from Mayweather himself, but David Levi, one of his assistants, suggested that there was no truth to the rumor on his Twitter page. When asked if there was an issue over the purse, Levi responded, "None". When told that ESPN Sportscenter was reporting that Floyd said no to a 50/50 split, Levi again commented, "They dunno anything". Now, I don't really know how much Levi is privy to when it comes to Floyd Mayweather's boxing career, but that being said, I can confirm that Levi has been with Mayweather these last few days when all of this has transpired. I don't really know if any of that means anything though, so take it for what it's worth.
Floyd told manny no to 50-50 split? Wtf Floyd. Who cares about ppv sales just make the fight. - D. Weeks
BT: Like I said above, contrary to what was typed in the email, I don't think Floyd Mayweather actually told Manny Pacquiao on the phone that a 50/50 split can't happen. Keep in mind that the email was supposedly Floyd's description of what was discussed during their phone conversation. If he told Pacquiao that a 50/50 split wasn't happening, as was suggested, then I would think that both Pacquiao and Bob Arum would have pointed that out when they first revealed that Mayweather had called. Pacquiao, however, said that he was waiting for an answer, and Arum said that Mayweather simply replied with "Okay, goodbye" when he mentioned the 50/50 split. That doesn't exactly sound like Floyd told him "that can't happen". But again, like I said, at this point, I can't confirm or deny exactly what was said, so until I hear from Floyd, I'll reserve judgment.
I want to no if this fight going to happen an if not why? - Terry Morgan
BT: In my opinion, NO, it's not going to happen...not in May, not in November, and maybe not ever. Why? Simply because Bob Arum does better business for his promotional company by not making the fight. If he actually stood to make more money by making the fight, believe me, both sides would have hammered out a deal over two years ago when Pacquiao had an opportunity to agree to a 14-day cutoff when it came to the testing. Bob Arum may be a lot of things, but a bad business man he is not.
After reading your article about the likelihood that Pacman will rematch Cotto, I think a dream scenario would see Angel get revenge for the only other loss in his career and in the process kill the hype of the Pac-Money may fight. Hopefully, Cotto doesn't fully resign with with Arum and can make the TRUE greatest fight in boxing against Mayweather, cutting Arum out of negotiations completely...with that said chances are Arum even at 80 is five steps ahead of this possibility and is probably making sure that won't happen. Either way, it's gonna be a good year for Cotto. - Immanuel Harris
BT: As I said in that article, all signs are pointing to Pacquiao-Cotto II on June 9, and apparently, a lot of other people are now jumping on that bandwagon. While I'm sure Cotto was considering the possibility of fighting Mayweather, at the end of the day, he's going to do what's best for his bank account. Without getting into the details of it, when it comes to negotiating a deal with Cotto, Bob Arum has far more flexibility as far as his offer is concerned. In other words, Cotto was probably offered a little more scratch to fight Pacquiao than he would have been offered to fight Mayweather. Money talks, so I can't blame him for wanting to maximize his profits. That being said, I wouldn't hold my breath for an upset, and a second loss to Pacquiao would all but eliminate him from a future fight with Mayweather. Financially, it will definitely be a good year for Cotto, but career-wise, I'm not so sure, especially if he's convinced to suck back down to 147 to fight Pacquiao. We shall see though. From what I hear, the fight has yet to be finalized, however, rumor has it that Cotto's team has already started looking for southpaw sparring partners.
dumb nigger, you should work for fox news. Ben you are a sad, sad dirty nigger. You're a stink monkey spook. - Clara, cwhipple2001@yahoo.com
BT: It's just boxing, people. Anyway, I occassionally get emails from people like Clara all the time, so I figured I would start to share their email addresses just to enlighten people who may recognize who they are. I've always been of the opinion that's it's better to know up front that a person is racist than it is for them to hide it behind your back. Feel free to shoot Clara an email with your thoughts.
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