Arum hits Pacquiao's men for putting talks with Floyd at risk

MANILA, Philippines – Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has told associates of World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao to keep their mouths shut when it comes to negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr., especially if they are not privy to the talks.
Arum was referring to Pacquiao’s men, Eric Pineda and Jeng Gacal, who allegedly said Pacquiao will not accept any demand from Mayweather’s camp for a bigger cut in the fight revenue.



“What are Eric Pineda and Jeng Gacal, who know nothing about what’s happening, doing? Why are they shooting their mouths off?” Ronnie Nathanielz quoted Arum as saying in his report posted in Boxing Scene (boxingscene.com).
Arum, who trying to forge a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, said such statements put the negotiations at risk.
“They (statements) are more than irritating, because so much of this is ego, and when you say that if he (Mayweather) says this, Manny Pacquiao is not going to fight, that’s not the way you negotiate,” said the veteran boxing promoter.
Arum said Pacquiao is now urging his team members to refrain talking about the negotiations.
“I know Manny is just as angry as I am that these guys, who have nothing to do with any of these negotiations, keep shooting their mouths off and inflaming the situation,” he said.
Gacal and Pineda were quoted as having said that they had received word Mayweather’s camp will use the pay-per-view sales of his recent fight against Shane Mosley as leverage to demand a bigger cut from Pacquiao.
“But we will never agree to that,” said Gacal.
“Yes, we were told that Floyd now wants a bigger share. And if that’s the case, we now feel that he really doesn’t want to fight Manny because Floyd knows we will never agree on that,” said Pineda.
Gacal is Pacquiao's legal adviser, while Pineda is the boxer’s business manager.
Gacal and Pineda also pointed out that Pacquiao was able to bring in 51,000 fight fans to Dallas Cowboys Stadium despite facing a relatively unknown boxer in Joshua Clottey.
The same fight also generated more than 700,000 pay-per-view buys, a number considered very high despite the absence of a big-name boxer.
Early this year, negotiations for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight collapsed over the time frame for drug testing, leading to separate fights for both boxers.
Last week, however, Pacquiao agreed to Mayweather’s demand to have himself blood tested 14 days before their fight.
Many boxing observers believe the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout could turn out to be the richest boxing match in history.
In case of a 50-50 sharing of fight revenue, the two boxers could earn around $40 million each. – With a report from the Philippine Star