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Here is the truth lmao.But he turned it down and will be fighting Mitchell for less than 4 Million.
There it is for all of those who were saying that the 85% that was offered to Mayweather from the purse was probably less than when he fights no names... you can see its considerably more. Mayweather simply dont want it.
This is what the MB article says
"Arum and Diaz say that the 'Pretty Boy' was offered in the neighborhood of $7 million to face Margarito. In what could best be described as a 'business move', the same guy who brazenly challenged the bigger Winky Wright decided to bypass Margarito, to collect nearly $4 million to spar with Sharmba Mitchell.
"Flat turned him down like you can not believe," Arum said of Mayweather when he was offered a chance at the WBO title. "Any time we raised his name, Mayweather went crazy."
Could it be that Mayweather will never get in the ring with him?
"I don't know, you never say never," said Arum last week in Los Angeles, where he was in town for Klitschko's open workout with the media. "Floyd is a very proud guy. The more people talk about all these guys ducking Margarito, of anybody, Floyd is the one who'll step up and say,'I'll face him'. He's a ballsy guy but his people have told him that Margarito is the most dangerous guy for him out there." "
Discuss
Mayweather turns down $8 million to fight Margarito
Apr 25, 2006
Dan Rafael
ESPN Senior Writer
Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. rejected promoter Bob Arum's $8 million offer to fight welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito, and he instead exercised a provision in his contract to buy Arum out and become a promotional free agent, Arum told ESPN.com on Monday.
According to Arum, Mayweather turned down the career-best purse to meet Margarito on Aug. 12 on HBO Pay-Per-View, instead opting for free agency by buying Arum out of their deal for $750,000.
"I did hear from him," Arum said of Mayweather. "He decided not to fight this summer. I made him a tremendous offer. I think Margarito is the riskiest fight for him of anyone out there."
Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com that Mayweather passed on the fight not because he is ducking Margarito, but because he couldn't be ready to fight by Aug. 12. Mayweather injured his right hand during a dominating April 8 victory against Zab Judah.
"Floyd is not 100 percent healthy," Ellerbe said. "He has a bruised right hand. His hand is not broken. It's bruised, but it's a bad bruise. He wants to go into any fight 100 percent healthy. If Antonio Margarito happens to be the best available option when he is healthy, so be it.
"We are not turning down Margarito. I want to make that crystal clear. When and if he is the best available option for Floyd's next fight, that's the direction he will move in."
With Aug. 12 no longer set aside for a Mayweather fight, Arum said he will use the date to feature one of his other stars, heavyweight titlist Hasim Rahman, in a mandatory title defense against Oleg Maskaev on HBO PPV.
That bout, a rematch of Maskaev's 1999 knockout victory, took on greater significance last weekend in the wake of Wladimir Klitschko's title-winning knockout of Chris Byrd in Germany.
The reason: Among the four recognized heavyweight title holders, Klitschko became the third from a former Soviet republic to beat an American to win a belt, leaving Rahman as the lone American heavyweight champion and Maskaev poised to give Eastern Europe a sweep of the titles in boxing's marquee division.
Arum said Mayweather preferred to await the outcome of the May 6 Oscar De La Hoya-Ricardo Mayorga fight instead of committing to Margarito because he would prefer to fight De La Hoya.
"We're not sitting waiting on De La Hoya," Ellerbe said. "He's in a tough, tough fight with Mayorga."
Many in the sport believe a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight is the biggest fight on the horizon and the only one capable of generating 1 million-plus buys on pay-per-view.
The reason Mayweather opted for the buyout rather than waiting for the May 6 result was because the contract had a limited window for the buyout, one that expired before the De La Hoya fight. However, Arum said he would have extended the window if Mayweather had asked. What Arum wouldn't do, he said, was raise the guarantees for other fights outlined in the contract.
Arum said while Mayweather would have taken the $8 million to fight Margarito, he asked for a $10 million guarantee to fight opponents such as Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton, when Arum was only willing to guarantee $7 million.
Arum said Mayweather also asked for $20 million to fight De La Hoya, a fight Arum said he wasn't interested in participating in.
"That's not in the cards," Arum said. "He wants $20 million for the De La Hoya fight? It's not there. Sometimes, my man, you gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. We'll talk about things down the road."
Ellerbe said Mayweather opted for the buyout so he could be "more in control of when and who he fights next. It's as simple as that. There is nothing bad between Floyd and Bob."
Arum agreed that the split with Mayweather was not on bad terms like their brief breakup last year. In fact, Arum said, "We intend to be back together. Everything with this was honorable and good. I had offered him numbers [for a multi-fight contract extension] that were livable. His expectations are in the stratosphere. He was entitled to buy me out, and he did. We decided this was the best way to handle it. He is a free agent. We have agreed to work with each other [in the future]."
The split frees Mayweather to make a potential deal with De La Hoya without Arum as part of the promotion. His involvement would have made making a deal almost impossible: The head of Top Rank has openly feuded with De La Hoya, his former superstar, and their companies rarely do business together as a result.
Arum said he was simply not interested in participating in a De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, but not because of his distaste for De La Hoya.
"I don't want to, because if I did that fight, I would be working for such a small percentage, it's not worth it," he said.
Instead, Arum is turning his attention to the Rahman-Maskaev fight.
Arum said that he and Maskaev representative Dennis Rappaport are about $300,000 apart on making a deal. If they don't finalize terms, the WBC will hold a purse bid May 1 in Mexico City.
But Arum is confident they will make the deal.
"We're very close," he said. "It will take another day to work it out."
Arum said he is already making arrangements to announce the fight at a news conference in New York on May 10. He added that the fight would take place at either Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., or at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Arum said Margarito could wind up on the Rahman-Maskaev card in the co-feature.
"But it's tentative," Arum said. "If Mayweather decides to fight in September or October, and Margarito could still be a candidate, I want him to be flexible."Comment
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Actually, it was the only time it was seriously "in the pipeline."
Mayweather left Arum in 2005. He signed with Goosen for the Mitchell fight and was going to fight Judah (a King fighter) next.
Arum took him to court, HBO intervened, and Mayweather agreed to go back to Arum with a new two-year deal that included a buyout clause in case Mayweather didn't like terms for a particular fight.
That's part of the reason why the Judah fight went through in the first place (that, and Judah still bringing in the most money, which appeased both Mayweather and Arum). Mayweather wasn't willing to face a Top Rank opponent until Arum increased his guarantees. After Judah, when Mayweather and Arum began negotiation for Margarito, they were stuck on future guarantees. So Mayweather broke out.
It's always nice to look at a period of time and say, "See? They could have fought in that five-week window!" But that's just not realistic given all the politics that was taking place behind the scenes.Comment
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I'm not doing that. Back in 2006 that's the fight I and many others wanted.
There was more than a 5 week window but none the less your argument is solid. I'll admit that there was a lot going on behind the scenes then with Arum.
I still personally wantes that fight but no big deal it didn't go down, to me.Comment
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