Floyd Mayweather Jnr v Manny Pacquiao mega-fight nearing

Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao has given news what every boxing fan has been long waiting to hear, that a meeting in the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jnr is finally about to be agreed.

While the potential duel will have perhaps come years too late, as the duo are in their mid-to-late 30s, the date is still set to be worth £200m and would take place in Las Vegas on May 2nd.

Pacquiao, 36, said: “[The fight] is near. The negotiations are nearly finished. We agreed that this fight has to happen. We are ironing out the kinks. He (Mayweather) said he wants the fight to push through.”

The main stumbling block the last time two of boxing’s greatest ever pound-for-pound fighters nearly agreed to go head-to-head in 2010 seemed to be the fact that Pacquiao didn’t agree with Mayweather’s demands to have Olympic-style drug screening.

However, this time the eight-division world champion Filipino confirmed: “We agreed to their demand. In fact, I suggested a $5m fine if I test positive for drugs.”

Another factor in previous attempts to organise a duel between the two was over payments, with the American demanding he receives the bigger share.

Mayweather, 37, would be putting his undefeated record on the line (he boasts 47 victories from as many fights with 26 knockouts), but Coral make him the firm odds-on 1/3 favourite if this clash does happen.

That is perhaps due to the fact that 2000s Fighter of the Decade Pacquiao’s ability is seemingly declining, having lost two of his last five fights, with Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez – the latter by a knockout.

Pacquiao (who has a career 57-5-2 record with 38 KOs), though, has won his last three, including getting revenge over Bradley by inflicting a sole loss on the American in the process. You can back Pacquiao at 5/2 if you fancy him to be the first person to beat Mayweather too. A draw, meanwhile, is priced at 25/1.