Manny Pacquiao Will Take Less Money To Fight Floyd Mayweather

Manny Pacquiao has wanted to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. ever since his loss to Timothy Bradley, and he’s no longer trying to be coy about it. Prior to suffering his first defeat in seven years, the Filipino star was a little hot-and-cold in regards to a super fight against his only legitimate equal in the sport. He was down to fight Mayweather if the price was right, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice what he felt he was worth just in order to make it happen. Then, when he fell to Bradley last year, Pacquiao realized just how much money he was on the verge of losing if he didn’t take on Mayweather. Unfortunately, at that point, his loss gave Mayweather the perfect out to not accept a fight against him.

Ever since them, while Pacquiao has mostly focused on his other opponents, he and his team have been especially vocal about their interest in taking on their undefeated nemesis.

During a recent interview with Ring TV, Michael Koncz reiterated once again that they’re very down to square off against Mayweather – if he’s willing to do it.

"Floyd is always a possibility," Pacquiao’s advisor said. "We've always said that we would fight Floyd.”

That being said, Koncz also realizes the fact that his guy is coming off back-to-back defeats. Seeing as Mayweather remains the sport’s pound-for-pound king, he needs opponents who can justify their place on the card opposite him.

"I think that Manny will have to have an impressive win in light of comments that Floyd has made about Manny losing his last two fights, and I think that if Manny has an exciting and impressive win come November 24, then Floyd won't have any excuse if he really wants to fight."

The truth is, of course, while a victory over Brandon Rios is obviously a must, it’ll take more than that to get a greenlight from Mayweather. Pacquiao will need to sacrifice money. More money than he was willing to sacrifice last time, when he agreed to a 60-40 split. In all likelihood, he’d probably have to take a fixed sum and very little off the PPV dough. If he’s willing to do that, and so long as his allegiance to HBO doesn’t steer him in any particular direction, then a 2014 showdown between Pacquiao and Mayweather is viable.

"Manny's not tied to any network," Koncz noted. "So if the fans still want to see this fight, we're willing to do it."

One stipulation down, one to go.