UAE Investment Group Ups Ante, Makes It $120M For Floyd Mayweather Jr. To Fight Manny Pacquiao In Abu Dhabi

Can Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. run away from a guaranteed $120 million purse to fight Manny Pacquiao? That figure is the new offer from an investment group based from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates as per M. Albar Muhammad a long-time boxing enthusiast and promoter.

“The media has been speculating the offer has gone up $10 million to a guaranteed $120 million, and they’re right,” confidently confirmed Muhammad to boxingscene.com. “That said, 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 simply can’t and won’t be done. Such is the nature of today’s international financial landscape.”

Muhammad went on to challenge Mayweather Jr. and become “cutting edge” and a “trend-setter” as accepting their offer would mean “the largest payday for an individual fora single event in the history of sports.”

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In recent weeks, Mayweather Jr. has confirmed his intention to fight Pacquiao saying in multiple interviews that he wants the super bout to happen on May 2, 2015 or the Cinco de Mayo weekend. On the other hand, Pacquiao has never resisted the offer ever since the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight was talked about starting way back in 2010 and has also re-affirmed his desire to slug it out with the undefeated Mayweather.

But, who is M. Albar Muhammad? According to a report from The National, Muhammad was a manager of five world champions including former World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight champion Donald Curry in the 1980s. He also has had a good relationship with boxing great Muhammad Ali and promoter Don King and helped launch the Top Rank Boxing programme on ESPN during that time.

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“His record at bringing high-profile fights to fruition is spotty, though. Muhammad was reported by the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2002 to be trying to stage a Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson heavyweight title fight in Nigeria which never materialised. The Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation also reported in 2003 Akbar, with another promoter named Tiamho Rauf, were aiming to stage a Roy Jones Jr title fight in Nairobi, which never happened.” The National reported last Dec. 3, 2014. Muhammad is currently the president and chief operating officer (CEO) of Akbar Productions LLC based in New Jersey.

“We are committed to creating a celebration, the scope and magnitude of which has never been seen,” Muhammad added in the Boxing Scene article. “We want the biggest fight ever in Abu Dhabi.”

Muhammad also mentioned that the offer stands but that the players, particularly Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, have agree soon enough as they want the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao super fight in the first half of 2015. Can Floyd Mayweather reject the lure of huge money available in Abu Dhabi?