Pacquiao, Mayweather agree on Las Vegas for super fight but date still to be decided

QUEZON CITY/LOS ANGELES (via PhilamPress)– Negotiations for the dream fight between the world boxing icon and only eight-division title holder Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao and undefeated world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. have made a significant progress with both reportedly agreeing to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas as venue.
Pacquiao, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion, had fought 11 times at the MGM Grand Garden Arena while Mayweather, the World Boxing Council title holder, held 13 fights, including his last 10, at the same venue.
At press time, nothing has been finalized but Pacquiao appeared more positive than ever that the fight, expected to be the most exciting and the richest boxing bout ever in history, will happen.

”Let’s wait for the announcement within this month,” Pacquiao said in a television interview on the sideline of the Philippine Basketball Association Final’s Game 3 between San Miguel Beer and Alaska in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City.
Pacquiao, a congressman from lone district of Sarranggani, is the playing-coaching of PBA’s expansion Kia Sorento which earlier had been eliminated from the games for the finals.
Pacquiao’s high spirit on the fight came as he readied to fly to the United States to promote his movie “Manny” before heading to London to meet with Prince Harry during dinner expected to be attended also by Queen Elizabeth (see related story in the entertainment pages).
The Filipino fighting congressman will also serve as judge on Jan. 25 in the finals of the Miss Universe beauty pageant in Florida and will be back to the US in early February to speak at one of the events of the National Prayer Breakfast, to be held in Washington D.C. Pacquiao said he might also meet President Barack Obama for the second time there.
According to a source of Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire, both camps “we’re making progress” in their effort to finally seal the mega-fight.
The LA Times’ source also said Mayweather, still undefeated in 47 fights, wanted a 60-40 split in his favor while the camp of Pacquiao (57-5-2) is willing to get the lower share of the purse.
The report also said the fight contract could be finally signed in the next seven to ten days.
Earlier, Pacquiao has given Mayweather until the last day of the month to respond to the Filipino’s challenge to the American world champion.
Lance Pugmire reported to Los Angeles Times that both parties have already agreed on the MGM Grand Garden Hotel as venue and the Olympic-style drug testing protocols to be followed for the super fight, which could amount to $300 million.
‘’We’re making progress,’’ said ‘’a boxing authority’’ quoted by Pugmire.
According to reports, issues that have yet to be settled are the sharing of the prize money and the date of the fight.
Mayweather earlier agreed to the fight that he set on May 2 but Top Rank boss Bob Arum disagreed on the date, saying it was closest to the Mexican holiday Cinco De Mayo weekend.
Pacquiao, for his part, has already agreed to take the lower half (40 percent to Floyd’s 60 percent) of the purse split just to accommodate the American’s wishes so that the mega fight which world boxing fans had been egging to happen would take place.
The Philippine top network ABS-CBN reported on its website that both parties are trying to wrap up the negotiations within 10 days to give the bout ample time for promotion.
The report jibes with Freddie Roach’s statement earlier in which he claimed that the fight is close to becoming a reality.
“I talked to Bob Arum…. I think I’m getting close to saying it’s very close, I think we’re very close,” Roach claimed in an interview on The Sweet Science.
‘’It’s close. I think I know for a fact that it’s closer than ever,’ Roach said.
Pacquiao lost to his Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez but has since bounced back with his convincing wins over Americans Chris Algieri and Timothy Bradley Jr.