Abu Dhabi group dangles $120M offer to Mayweather

MANILA, Philippines - All they have to do now is show Floyd Mayweather Jr. the money.

The investment group from Abu Dhabi, hell-bent on staging the super fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao next year in the Middle East, has sweetened the pot.

M. Akbar Muhammad, a boxing executive who’s making representations for the rich Abu Dhabi group, just told www.boxingscene.com that their offer to Mayweather now stands at $120 million.

It was previously announced that the group is willing to put up $200 million to host the fight in the first half of 2015, and that $110 million should go to Mayweather.

Pacquiao will get his purse from what’s left in the pot although it was not stated how much the Filipino superstar would actually get.

If it’s bigger than $40 million, which Mayweather offered to Pacquiao in 2012, and was eventually turned down, maybe it’s worth looking at.

Because he fights for the money, Mayweather wouldn’t say no to a guaranteed purse $120 million. He’s a firm believer than in boxing, “money talks.”

“The media has been speculating the offer has gone up $10 million to a guaranteed $120 million, and they’re right,” Muhammad said.

Mayweather said he’s willing to fight Pacquiao on May 2 next year, and the latter dared the undefeated American to quit talking and make it happen.

“Mr. Mayweather has said he’ll fight Pacquiao in the spring, so the only matter that has to be resolved is the money,” said Muhammad.

“I defy any other offer to come anywhere close to what Mr. Mayweather and the ‘Money Team’ will net by fighting in Abu Dhabi. It simply can’t and won’t be done,” he added.

The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight has been talked about for many years now, and the public can’t wait to see it materialize.

If it does, it should break all existing records in boxing, from the purse to the pay-per-view sales. 

If Mayweather takes the offer, he sets another record.

“This dwarfs by far any amount an individual in the richest sports – baseball, football, basketball, soccer, cricket, tennis, golf and Formula 1 racing – has ever received,” Muhammad told www.boxingscene.com.

“This is in keeping with my instructions: to do whatever it takes to make this fight happen,” he added.

Mayweather holds the key to this fight.

Show him the money.