Manny Pacquiao: “I will fight (Floyd) Mayweather next year”

News

After months of negotiations and oft-contentious discussions, it appears that the Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather superfight will finally happen. Or, at least that’s what Manny thinks.

“I will fight Mayweather next year,” said Pacquiao on Thursday evening according to Boxing Scene and ESPN.

Top Rank head honcho Bob Arum, says Mayweather agreed to split the purse and associated income 50/50 while Manny agreed to “Mayweather’s unusually stringent performance-enhancing (PED) testing requirements.”

Both fighters have tune-up contests coming up over the rest of 2011. Pacquiao is facing Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12th and Mayweather will face Victor Ortiz on September 17th.

No details have emerged as of yet as to whether HBO or Showtime would receive the rights to this superfight.

An Inside Pulse "original", SMS is one of the founding members of Inside Pulse and serves as the Chief Marketing Officer on the Executive Board. Smith is a fan of mixed martial arts and runs two sections of IP as Editor in Chief, RadioExile.com and InsideFights.com. Having covered music festivals around the world as well as conducting interviews with top-class professional wrestlers and musicians, he switched gears from music coverage at Radio Exile to MMA after the first The Ultimate Fighter Finale. He resides with his wife in New York City.