Manny Pacquiao says negotiations to fight Floyd Mayweather are ‘nearly finished’

By Matt Bonesteel February 17 at 7:59 AM

(Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

On Sunday, Floyd Mayweather knocked down rumors that he and chief dancing partner Manny Pacquiao had reached an agreement to at long last square off in the ring after six years of negotiations. “I haven’t signed yet, and he hasn’t signed yet, you know. It’s just been speculations and rumors, but hopefully we can make the fight happen,” Mayweather told TNT’s David Aldridge at the NBA All-Star Game in New York.

So of course Pacquiao came out on Monday and said the deal was close to happening.

Here are his comments, via Agence France-Presse:

“(The fight) is near. The negotiations are nearly finished,” Pacquiao told reporters on Monday during a break from evening sessions in parliament, where he represents one of the Southeast Asian nation’s poorest provinces.

“We agreed that this fight has to happen. We are ironing out the kinks. He (Mayweather) said he wants the fight to push through.”

Among the sticking points to the bout has been the issue of drug testing, with Mayweather demanding “strict Olympic-style drug screening that would require blood tests 30 days before the fight, instead of a few days,” AFP reports. On Monday, Pacquiao told reporters that he would agree to the conditions and said he would pay a $5 million fine if he flunked a test.

Any bout between the two fighters would likely be one of the most lucrative in boxing history, even though both Mayweather, 37, and Pacquiao, 36, are considered to be past their primes. Over the weekend, a British newspaper suggested that the fight could be worth $250 million to the boxers. The Daily Mail reports that the fight could take place May 2 in Las Vegas, though promoter Bob Arum — who represents Pacquiao — has in the past suggested that the bout could come off at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Texas, which could hold more than 100,000 people if you include standing-room-only tickets.

It’s estimated that the fight could generate $1 billion in revenue, thanks in part to massive pay-per-view buys in Asia.

After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He's now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post's other Web-based products.