Ethan Miller - Getty Images
Bob Arum is offering to promote a Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight, under normal promotional terms, including a share of Mayweather's money. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Well, it just keeps on coming. Bob Arum tells The Philippine Star that he's willing to make a direct deal with Floyd Mayweather Jr for a late May fight with Manny Pacquiao, but that would require Arum sharing in Mayweather's portion of the revenue, too:
"Right now there’s no development. Obviously we’re waiting to hear from the Mayweather people. But we’re prepared to do the fight in May. ... It will be late in May. But the problem remains the same in that no one from Mayweather’s side would guarantee his purse.
"I can only guarantee Manny’s purse, but if Floyd wants to make a deal with me then I’m open to that. I can guarantee his purse but I then I will have a share in his revenue."
No one has yet addressed WHY this fight can't happen on May 5, or what particularly huge advantages come with an extra three weeks at most of promotional time, especially considering Arum says he'll do it at the MGM Grand, like Floyd has booked for May 5, but the rest? It honestly makes sense. It's not going to happen, or at least it's incredibly unlikely to happen, but it makes sense.
Let's take a step back and enter a lovely little world where this fight is more than something being talked about and more than a handful of very rich men posturing. Let's assume that Bob Arum really, truly wants to make this fight for May 26 or whatever. Just do it with me.
If Golden Boy can't guarantee Mayweather's purse, as Arum says they can't (I know, I don't know why they couldn't either, but apparently he believes that they can't, and that no one else can either), then to make this fight happen, Floyd would have to make a deal with Bob Arum.
And Bob Arum is a boxing promoter who operates with the guidelines and standards and rules that have been in place forever. The promoter invests, promotes and then takes a share of the revenue.
Now, Mayweather is in a position that absolutely nobody else in the history of boxing has been in. Last September, right before his fight with Victor Ortiz, the New York Times had a great piece on the business of Mayweather:
"It’s never been done," Mayweather, who is 41-0, said about his financial model. "Not in entertainment history. Not in sports history. You see that arena Saturday? It’s all Mayweather money. Want a hot dog? Mayweather money. Want a T-shirt? Mayweather money. I need all that."
... Those streams include foreign sales for a fight broadcast in 168 territories; closed-circuit revenues (in 2,000 or so bars and restaurants nationwide, in theaters and in rooms at Las Vegas casinos); site revenue (ticket sales, merchandise); and sponsorships. Most boxers would see little, if any, of that money, whereas, Schaefer said: "All revenues here are Mayweather revenues. He gets part of everything."
And that's why it's so incredibly unlikely that Mayweather will make a deal with Bob Arum to make this fight happen. Oh, I forgot to mention we're back in the real world now, where Arum seems to be moving the goal posts constantly in order to not make this fight happen. Offering to do a deal but take some of the "Mayweather money" is an empty offer. It's not going to happen.
I want to be clear here: I don't think Bob Arum is making some absurd suggestion. I don't think there's much substance to it, but black-and-white terms, he's simply offering to be the promoter of this fight, under normal promoter terms.
72 comments
It's funny that the NYT didn't do research
Springsteen gets the same thing whenever he tours. It may be an original deal for sports but musicians have been getting a piece of everything for years.
Matthew Roth - January 12, 2012
I guess that’s why he’s The Boss.
Scott Christ - January 12, 2012
Man gets 100% of concession when he plays Giant's stadium
ALL FOOD AND BEER Sales go to Springsteen.
Matthew Roth - January 12, 2012
Ugh. Sinatra was the REAL BOSS.
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
Nah
The godfather of one of the families was his boss.
Brickhaus - January 12, 2012 via mobile
He was the Chairman of the Board. This is admittedly a higher rank.
Scott Christ - January 12, 2012
well the boss
usually gets paid more right?
Elstriko - January 12, 2012 via Android app
His guarantee used to be $3million a show
Plus the concessions and food/beer sales. Probably takes in about $4.5-5million a show?
Matthew Roth - January 12, 2012
he should be apart of the moeney team then haha..the boss does his thing
Vicmatic1 - January 12, 2012
True, but how many other sports stars do you know that can cut those type of deals? Thats what makes it unique.
Think Urijah Faber makes hot dog money? I doubt it.
cyke - January 12, 2012
It's only something you can pull I you're a sure thing
Manny could do it too, but unlike Floyd, he does other things with the rest of his life, so he still pays someone to do it for him as a matter of convenience. I could probably save 20 grand a year if I did all the things I could do but pay others to do, but I don’t have the time because my life won’t let me.
Brickhaus - January 12, 2012 via mobile
I wish I could do car repairs. Would be all set.
cyke - January 12, 2012
Honestly
Mayweather should be fine without a guarantee. He’ll make a boatload anyway. Mayweather Promotions can co-promote, and take the same fees that Top Rank does, so his half is still “Mayweather money”. This fight would do awesome whether or not there’s a guarantee, and if Mayweather really wants to be the promoter, then he should have a portion of that risk. Not that there’s really any risk at all associated with this fight, unless Pacquiao pulls out or something like that.
The fight not getting made is definitely everyone’s fault, but this round of it is certainly more Arum’s fault than anyone. It seems to me he’s being unreasonable all the way around – the date, his portion of the split (not Pacquiao’s, mind you), the timeframe, that whole inane stupidity about a temporary stadium, etc.
Brickhaus - January 12, 2012
Yeah, I thought as much about the guarantee spiel. This fight isn’t exactly going to struggle at the gate or on PPV…
Oli Goldstein - January 12, 2012 via mobile
But Mayweather might see it as damaged pride if he allows arch-nemesis Arum to take even more of a cut.
Dafs - January 12, 2012
I’m not certain that they really can. They’re not actually a registered promotional company. And I really mean I’m not certain — I mean, obviously he can put the name on the poster like always and take some money, but would Bob fight that?
Scott Christ - January 12, 2012
If they could have they would have
That is why they have up until now let GBP do that part of the job
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
Fuck these assholes. All of 'em.
Pops Daniels - January 12, 2012
+1
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
IM REALLY TIRED OF BOB ARUM
I believe Floyd is ready to make the fight and I believe Bob Arum is doing Pacquiao a great disservice. He does something to Pacquiao that is almost worse than allegedly stealing his money. He ALLOWS people to tear Manny down. He should have Manny’s back at all cost and he doesn’t. The best thing that happened to Floyd in this situation is Arum. Arum is such a self centered, ego driven person that he benefits Mayweather. Arum is predictable and he gives Floyd an out. Floyd can now say, see I wanted to make the fight all along and most people will go for it.
At this point I don’t care if they ever fight. I honestly mean that. But I care that Manny is being exploited. I think Manny should retire from boxing if Arum doesn’t make the Mayweather fight. Period. I know it’s a long shot, because of his alleged financial troubles but that’s my wish. When someone worships money, the best way to hurt them is to not let them make it.
KidChocolate - January 12, 2012
i’m so tired of this…. they have growing this fight so big that it’s a joke right now, maybe if the fights happen, turn to be dissapointed who knows!!!
EL CIERTO (VEN) - January 12, 2012
These guys are just making your job easy arent they?
Krimson - January 12, 2012
this is madness… madness you said?… this is…BOXIIIIIING!!!! (kick on the arum’s face)
EL CIERTO (VEN) - January 12, 2012
theyre about to bluff each other into the biggest fight in history
nickfoxx - January 12, 2012
Just disappointed, We all want this fight but Mayweathers not gonna give Arum his money we all know this and I suspect Arum does too. Is this all just an out for Arum to keep his cash cow? probably-
Arum seems to constantly shift the goalposts to what seems reasonable initially but to that he knows Mayweather wont go for
I’m getting to this point were I’m as pissed off with Manny as much as Arum because its his life, his risk etc why doesn’t he just stand up and say this is what I want etc, he not that ignorant surely-
I guess that overly simplistic but their you go, I think I gave up on this whole mess a while ago.
good point on the bluff Nick fingers crossed Mayweather says yes then Arums in for a problem
bob12345678990 - January 12, 2012
We live in a world where bad things happen to boxing fans…. case in point.
Zocalo - January 12, 2012
yeah I know does doesn’t stop you being pissed off about it..
With this assumption that were all stupid enough that we will fall for this BS again and again really irritates me-
anyway enough said- good article Scott much appreciated
bob12345678990 - January 12, 2012
this is still going on?
joeshowradio - January 12, 2012
We need to rabble some more apparently.
cyke - January 12, 2012
This makes me long for the days of newspapers, when stories were summary accounts of “the fight’s on” or “the fight’s off.” Daily accounts of what may or may not be occurring inside the heads of people like Arum (or anyone else closely involved, including the fighters) begins to seem like watching “reality TV” without having to turn the damn thing on.
DrRck - January 12, 2012
DrRck. I've often thought the same
I never had a clue what the terms were for Clay/Liston I or II…but loved the drama arong the fights.
Nor did I care much about the money trail as it grew larger and larger through closed circuit (Frazier/Ellis up through Leonard Hearns etc).
I just paid what i had to and salivated waiting for the nights when I could watch the fights.
But everything today is so much more transparent. We have so much information, most of which is noise. The cable networks and 24/7 365 news cycles to blogs and so on, every word is transmitted and dissected.
Most of the time, it is pretty obvious that what is reported and discussed has little and/or real resemblance to the actual facts and/or ‘truth’. As a New Yorker for most of my life (born Philadelphia, now LA), I was startled at first but am now innured to the reality that even Page A1 of the ‘paper of record’, the NY Times, not only gets itwrong but the get it so late that anyone and everyone who is in the business not only already knows the story but they know far more than what has been reported.
Numerous profiles and articles on subjects in my field (artists, museums, etc) are written for a general audience that are intelligent but so cursory tothe insider they are almost meaningless short of the publicity the provide for the industry.
Back to this story. Boxing more than almost any other sport is more of a business than a sport. It is about entertaining fans who pay money to watch fighters fight for money; thus the term Prize-Fighter.
Far too much of this story in particular is being played out in public but both Arum and Mayweather are great promoters sowho am I to say that theb ‘nonsense’ may not just be today’s way of promoting BIG money fights. In fact, it probably it.
Hell, Kim Kardashian has no substance (she’s a nice pretty and ambitious girl for sure) but look at her empire.
The fact is that these guys are paying chess in pubic but the deal, if it is struck, will be in private. No one has expressed that more than Floyd himself. To dates, he wants no middlemen. ’We can work this out between us. No Middle Men. Just you and me".
Unless that has changed, I still think that if he and Manny decide that they can really make more money fighting each other (by far) than by fighting other people, this fight wlll get made. Between Mayweather and TR’s duBoef.
Let’s look at the progress that has been made lately. I think we are getting close® than ever.
Which we can discuss…….
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
Have you seen her from the back?
Scott Christ - January 12, 2012
There’s something there…
Clove_art - January 12, 2012
Yeah. That’s substance.
Scott Christ - January 12, 2012
As a matter of fact I have
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
And she likes old men!
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
Front and Back
And ah, yes,……. point taken
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
Can't a private investor, bank, PE firm, almost anyone guarantee this purse?
I mean i’m pretty sure for a lessor percentage than GBP or TR most places will guarantee the purse. These places won’t do any promotion but Floyd doesn’t really need it for this fight.
Waldo Rastel - January 12, 2012
No one loves to use their own money....
Not when the cn leverage other people’s at far less risk.
That is what all the third party ‘investor’ noise has been about. Floyd, Koncz, and to a lesser degree TR have been surveying the lanscape, listening to the crazies and the more real third parties propose what the can andare willing to do.
Obviously, no one has thus far put forward a realistic proposal lest their would be more action…or a bite at least.
TR has the resources to guarantee the money but they want and will demandtheir cut. So would anyone…certainly any private equity third party.
I dont know why, if GB wants to play (promote Floyd) this time around, they have not lined up finacing on their end to put some ‘skin in the game’ toguarntee their participation.
Floyd may or may not have is own cash money but he is a celebrity star athlete and no celebrity is accustomed to and/or willing to pay for anything that other people have paid for them in the past.
From the time burgeoning superstars are working/playing, going to school/college (ie football, basketball, etc), some one else is picking up the tab.
Floyd aint picking up his own unless there is no one else to do so. That is how smart and shrewd he is and has been.
I think someone will but I think it’s a tougher go than we think. Banks and Fund Managers have been burned by the Entertainment moguls (Goldman Sachs, Weinstein Brothers) and there is less liquidity than befiore for these kind of ventures.
We shall see.
I think someone steps up….but I would also not be surprised that if withing the next six months, Floyd lets TR promote this fight. They are after all the best in the business…… with the deepest pockets
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
PE firms usually look to make an absolute minimum of 10% for a 5 year investment. So I would think that firms like Bain Capital would demand too big of a cut for the money team. However if the government ever enforces the separation of investment banking and trading banking, then the percentage of this fight could be attractive to what we would think of as traditional banking establishments. Personal investors are too risky for a fight of this magnitude in all likelihood.
Waldo Rastel - January 12, 2012
Your point about the government is all too accurate but, as I think you will agree, as slowly as this fight seems to be or not to be materializing, the last thing we can afford to wait for is government reregulation.
It is already happening. Let’s just hope that they don’t make the common mistake and over regulate.
I do not expect any kind of angel investor to intervene here, nor do I really believe there are any angels.
Nevertheless somebody is going to have to put up this money because it will almost assuredly not come from out of the personal pockets of well advised superstars.
They say that boxing is the theater of the unexpected so it will be very interesting to see how this plays out
pakinpower - January 12, 2012 via mobile
More importantly
It would eliminate a lot of the upside to the fighters. And what are they going to do, give them warrants?
Brickhaus - January 12, 2012
But what do they have to gain?
I mean, sure they could, but then the fighters get less money because the third party would need to take a cut in addition to every other cut already getting taken. It would be wasteful.
Brickhaus - January 12, 2012
Well it would be a bank instead of a promoter in Floyd’s case. So use a bank/other and give a percentage instead of having a promoter and having a guarantee. Would have to run the numbers but it would be fairly close I bet.
Waldo Rastel - January 12, 2012
This just seems to me like the last fight where a guarantee should be important to the fighters. There’s no way they won’t do record-breaking business, so why shrink your slice of the pie by paying for a guarantee? This goes for Manny as much as Floyd.
Nick_ - January 12, 2012
I think both Bob and Floyd want to make the fight happen but only on their own terms. There is really no good reason the fight has to happen on May 5th either except that Floyd Mayweather says so, no reason it has to happen at the MGM Grand either, but I suspect he’s pushing for the May 5th date so hard because he feels he has some kind of home court advantage at the MGM Grand that he doesn’t want to give up.
Arum’s interest here is clearly in making the most money possible, and for the biggest boxing match in 20 years or so I think it’s reasonable for him to want to explore venue options so that everyone can profit from the fight. The problem is that I don’t think there’s a middle ground between Mayweather and Arum’s positions, and based on Floyd’s pushed-back sentencing it’s probably not viable for them to make the fight later in the year either.
theninthlayer - January 12, 2012
One further point I believe is now operting powerfully is that Floyd must fight on May 5 or therabouts unless the DA is willing to reserve justice and re-schedule his incarceration again.
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
I’m sure they will be more than willing to amend that agreement.
Clove_art - January 12, 2012
If it happens in Vegas ……
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
Wake me when the contract is signed.
Matt Miller - January 12, 2012
Get some rest. And enjoy the summer.
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
Is there any chance Pac gets out of his top rank contract to fight Mayweather? I highly dout it but could be a means to an end if they both want the fight and its only Arum holding it back
sigidy - January 12, 2012
About as much chance as Wladimir vs. Vitali happening in 2012. Basically, no chance.
Dafs - January 12, 2012
Isn’t there some supposed “Muhammad Ali Law” that allows for this to happen though?
Rob Young - January 12, 2012
No teeth in it
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
Maybe if he buys himself out, for a LOT MORE than Floyd bought himself out for years back.
Scott Christ - January 12, 2012
Why?
pakinpower - January 12, 2012
How do you spell P-U-K-E?
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
According to BoxingScene, this is Pac’s official stance as well. http://www.boxingscene.com/pacquiao-arum-show-united-front-on-mayweather-terms—48430
Apprentice - January 12, 2012
These whores need to understand
You can only tease it for so long until I take my money back go jerk myself off.
younggunzvt - January 12, 2012
They are making more enemies faster than The Ayatollah Khomeini
They are complete and total asswipes and a disgrace to boxing. ALL of them.
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
I agree.
This process keeps enforcing the image that :
Floyd- is a childish loudmouth that just talks himself up without actually wanting to follow through.
Roger- is the Sean Hannity of argumentative depth in boxing.
Arum- is a greedy manipulator, liar, and two faced chump.
Manny- is an easily manipulated mental midget that can’t get his own team to pull the trigger
When every single fan of these fighters wants the fight, and the money is so big that I could live the rest of my life off of 1.5% of the income…..the only thing standing in the way is the egos of those involved in the process. Since we (the fan) understand that these 4 men can have the fight made if they so choose, our reverence soon becomes disdain, when they choose to just talk in circles.
younggunzvt - January 12, 2012
aha men ra
Elstriko - January 12, 2012 via Android app
Plus Shaffer and Ellerbee
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
Correction. I no longer have any reverence for these imbeciles. Give me Pirog, Rios, and the Klits. Give me Ioka and the Porpramook’s. Give me James Kirkland and Anne Wolf—and Ismayl Sillakh and Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell. Give me Gamvboa and Donaire.
But f—k these guys.
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
At least HBO can make a movie based on this process, or turn it into a documentary when Manny and Floyd are in their 60s looking back at what could have been.
Clove_art - January 12, 2012
It won't sell
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
Even Cotto, Chavez, and Canelo have become more interesting for me.
Boss Man - January 12, 2012
Cotto Chavez. Stay tuned. If everyone does their jobs you may very well see it
pakinpower - January 13, 2012
And Cote out of Montreal
Boss Man - January 13, 2012
manny released a statement through his website that says hes good with may 5
nickfoxx - January 13, 2012
MANNY IS FULL OF SHIT!.
Boss Man - January 13, 2012
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Bad Left Hook to post a comment.