UAE Group Hikes Guaranteed Purse Offer To Mayweather To $120 Million Just For The Match To Be Held In Abu Dhabi

If the dream match between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr will finally happen on May 2, 2015, it would likely break at least two boxing records.

First is the guaranteed purse since the investment group from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) just increased on Tuesday its offer to $120 million from the last offer of $100 million. And that's just for Mayweather, the group hasn't disclosed how much it would offer to Pacquiao who had previously said he wouldn't mind Mayweather getting the bigger share.

The second one is the venue, since the group wants the match to be held in Abu Dhabi while the usual venue that the two boxers often fight is in Las Vegas, Nevada.

M. Akbar Muhammad, a boxing executive who had worked in the past with Don King and one of the principals in the UAE-based group confirms the higher offer by $10 million, which they plan to present to Mayweather Productions.

He believes no group can come closer to their offer of guaranteed purse, even as he dared, "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 simple can't and won't be done. Such is the nature of today's international financial landscape," quotes Boxingscene.

Muhammad, the president and CEO of Akbar Productions, said holding the fight in the UAE city would make it a truly global event since media tour won't be limited to the US but be worldwide where the two opponents would promote the dream match. He quipped, "There's more to boxing that just Las Vegas."

Besides the boxing match, the group will also hold as part of the event concerts with at least one heritage artists, tributes to Muhammad Ali, who was recently hospitalised, and some Arab leaders.

He wants the dream match to be the start of a working relationship with Mayweather Promotions.

Muhammad boasted, "The $120 million is the largest payday for an individual for a single event in the history of sports ... 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."

If Mayweather accepts the offer, it would be thrice his $40 million payout in his Sept 13 rematch against Argentinean boxer Marcos Maidana and would boost his total professional earnings to about $660 million.

To get in touch with this writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au