No one will ever confuse Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bob Arum as friends.
The ex-welterweight champion's former promoter, however, will give him this much: Mayweather's successful comeback from an almost two-year layoff last month has boosted Manny Pacquiao's Nov. 14 bout with Miguel Cotto.
"Mayweather's return has gotten people, particularly the people who follow Mayweather, energized. Those people are going to watch this fight because the winner is a potential (opponent) for Mayweather," says Arum, whose Top Rank Inc. promotes Pacquiao and Cotto.
A month before the year's most anticipated fight, Las Vegas is almost sold out for Pacquiao-Cotto. Only about 90 high-end seats remain at the 16,500-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena ($9 million gate) and the 1,000 tickets for local closed circuit are gone.
Pacquiao is guaranteed $10 million while Cotto's take is $6.5 million. If the bout reaches 1 million pay-per-view buys, Pacquiao's take would increase to about $20 million while Cotto would draw $12 million.
Pacquiao's two-round destruction of Ricky Hatton for the junior welterweight championship in May sold just less than 900,000. Mayweather scored a unanimous decision vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, surpassing that total to reach 1 million buys to become 2009's No. 1 PPV show.
Arum says there's no rematch clause for Pacquiao-Cotto but both fighters have extended their promotional deals; Cotto until the end of 2011 and Pacquiao, whose current deal ends in November 2010, through 2012. — J. Michael Falgoust
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-10-20-mayweather-pacquiao-cotto_N.htm
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