By Miguel Rivera
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is very excited with the overwhelming fan reaction to the upcoming super-fight between welterweight champions Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, which takes place on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The pay-per-view is expected to break all of the current records. Mayweather's fight with Oscar De La Hoya, from 2007, is the record-holder with 2.4 million buys.
Arum would not be surprised if Mayweather-Pacquiao generated 4 million or even 5 million pay-per-view purchases - stating "the interest is amazing...even from people who do not follow sports, people who do not follow boxing. Wherever you go, people are talking about the fight."
The fighters are going to make the biggest paydays of their careers. After everything is calculated, from pay-per-view purchases and other revenue sources, Arum says the two fighters could end up splitting as much as $300 million dollars. There is a 60-40 revenue split in favor of Mayweather.
"We have to do the math, after adding everything I think the [amount of money] to distribute will be $300 million, 60 percent for Mayweather which is $180 million, and 40 percent for Pacquiao which is $120 million," Arum told Friday Night Fights. "Floyd loves cars and probably he could buy so many cars that he would satisfy every dealer in Las Vegas and I know that a lot of the money that Manny will win is going to go to charity in the Philippines."
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