Floyd Jr demands $100M - Arum

MANILA, Philippines - First the blood tests, now an asking price that could make blood pressure soar.

The second go at negotiations for a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. blockbuster showdown once again bogged down after the flamboyant American fighter demanded a staggering $100-million purse, according to Top Rank boss Bob Arum.

“Mayweather asked for numbers so high indicating he doesn’t want the fight. He is asking for $100 million. He is not asking for the moon but he can’t say no directly on the fight that it’s his way out,” Arum told newsmen the other day when he went to Baguio City to check on Pacquiao’s training camp for his May 7 fight with Shane Mosley.

Arum confirmed conducting discreet talks with the Mayweather camp through fellow promoter Don King in a bid to put together the megafight that everybody wants to see.

But like the much-publicized first attempt at negotiations that turned a “bloody mess” two years ago, this one went down the drain, too. And Arum is once again pinning the blame on the unbeaten Mayweather.

“Who’s gonna pay him $100 million? I mean, unless Manny fights for nothing,” Arum said. “He has priced himself out of the fight.”

Aside from declaring himself worthy of the largest prize money, Mayweather has publicly accused Pacquiao, his successor as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter, of taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

He had used this angle to demand Olympic-style blood tests for Pacquiao and himself when they first hit the negotiating table in 2009. Pacquiao denied taking dope but gunned down tests so close to fight night.

Such tirade has forced Pacquiao to sue Mayweather and Golden Boy Promotions executives for defamation in the US. The suit is now moving forward after a Nevada federal judge junked Mayweather’s motion to dismiss the case recently.

US District Judge Larry Hicks, according to the Associated Press, said Pacquiao has “sufficient evidence to continue his lawsuit that alleges Mayweather and others acted with malice by accusing the Filipino boxer in a series of interviews of using performance-enhancing drugs.”

Although the super-bout is virtually dead in the water now, Arum still entertains the possibility of the two superstars taking each other on. That is, if Mayweather would be much more realistic if another round of negotiation will take place.

“We want the fight to happen; Manny wants the fight to happen, we all want the fight to happen,” Arum said. “ But it takes two to make this fight happen.”