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Manny Pacquiao agrees to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr., awaits response

Tickets for the event are expected to cost up to $5,000 -- if Mayweather agrees to fight.

By Matt Bradwell
Manny Pacquiao punches Timothy Bradley in 2012. UPI/David Becker
1 of 2 | Manny Pacquiao punches Timothy Bradley in 2012. UPI/David Becker | License Photo

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Boxer Manny Pacquiao's camp has agreed to terms for a tentatively scheduled May 2 fight against longtime rival -- but never opponent -- Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, however Mayweather has yet to agree to the hotly anticipated bout.

"I'm not trying to force anybody's hand, I'm just saying, 'Hey, we've agreed to everything, period,' " Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum told Yahoo! Sports.

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"The people we have talked to on Mayweather's side have agreed to everything. Now we need Mayweather to step up and say, 'Yeah, I'm on board. I agree.'"

If the fight actually occurs, tickets are expected to cost up to $5,000, producing a $40 million live gate for the MGM Grand.

The two key concessions made by Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) were a 60/40 split, with Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) getting the majority of the share, and Olympic-style random testing to ensure neither fighter is blood doping. In 2009, when the agreed revenue split was still 50/50, Pacquiao called off the fight as he refused to agree to random blood tests. Now, Arum says he and his client are no longer "ignorant about the drug-testing stuff."

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"I think that Manny agreed to USADA testing shows you his eagerness to make this fight," fellow Pacquiao promoter Carl Moretti told ESPN.

"The point is that I don't want what happened the other times to happen again," echoed Arum.

"I want this fight to actually happen. I want everybody to make a lot of money on the fight. I want the public to be satisfied. And I think it will be a terrific event. That's what I want, and I've done everything in my power to make that happen."

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