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View Full Version : Pacquiao Mayweather in Abu Dhabi? UAE group offering $200M purse to host megafight



Nosferatu187
06-12-2014, 17:17
An investment group based in the United Arab Emirates is pulling out all the stops to make the megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather a reality.
Boxing executive M.Akbar Muhammad said that a group of individuals based in Abu Dhabi is offering a combined purse of $200 million to Mayweather and Pacquiao for them to fight in the UAE capital.
“The Abu Dhabi group (sic) a most serious and capable investment entity in the spot of boxing,” Muhammad told boxingscene.com. “It is ready, willing and able to fund to the extent necessary to turn the theory of a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight into a reality.”
“Thus, my instructions remain the same: do whatever it takes to bring this long-awaited and eagerly anticipated fight across the line.”
From the record purse, $110 million will go to Mayweather, whose company would be tapped as the lead promoter of the event and other future bouts in UAE, according to Muhammad.
“We also envision that future fight cards in this part of world, regardless if Mr. Mayweather fights on them or not, will be done with Mayweather Promotions as the lead promoter,” said Muhammad, former Senior Vice President of Top Rank and tasked by the consortium to be a negotiator for bringing the megafight in Abu Dhabi.
The bout is targeted to take place in the first half of 2015 to serve as a tribute to the 10th death anniversary of former UAE president Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Muhammad added.
Apart from offering the record-setting purse, the investment group needs to convince both fighters that bringing their acts in UAE, one of the largest economies in the Middle East, would be worth it. While Pacquiao had his last three fights in Macau, Mayweather hasn’t fought outside the United States.
A megafight between Pacquiao and Mayweather, two of the greatest boxers of their generation, has long been clamored, with the bout projected to set record revenues. But it has always been stalled due to their failure to reach an agreement.
Instead, the two have been exchanging jabs on social media in the past few days as clamor for them to fight intensifies.