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Pacquiao promoter: Dallas’ $25-million offer isn’t final

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Manny Pacquiao‘s promoter, Bob Arum, said Saturday night that the $25-million guarantee from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to stage the scheduled Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight at his NFL stadium will likely increase.

‘I know Texas people and I know that a first proposal doesn’t mean it’s the final proposal,’ Arum said Saturday night in Palm Springs, where he watched his boxer Lamont Peterson lose a unanimous decision to world junior-welterweight champion Timothy Bradley. ‘I know we can get the greatest offer in history from Cowboys Stadium. It behooves the promoters to explore that.’

Arum was responding to earlier news Saturday when a source told The Times that Jones had offered a $25- million guarantee to stage the mega-fight between the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Mayweather is 40-0, Pacquiao is ready to win a second straight fighter of the year honor.

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Arum said he ‘agreed’ with Mayweather promoter Richard Schaefer that both sides may be ready to announce the fighters have agreed to all parameters of a bout scheduled for March 13. That announcement, said Arum, could include news of where the bout will be fought.

A source involved in the site talks told The Times that the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has the potential to generate $28 million in live-gate sales, while MGM/Mirage properties will offer 40,000 closed-circuit seats, charging $100 a head for a possible $4 million surplus making a Vegas site worth a possible $32 million.

‘Can he guarantee that?’ Arum asked of Schaefer. ‘Let him guarantee that to me. I’m guaranteeing my fighter $25 million. I ain’t going for pie in the sky on this.’

Arum said he wants to go ‘where the most money is’ because of his responsibility to Pacquiao ‘to get him the most money.’

Arum also ruled out Staples Center as a possible fight destination after arena owner AEG last week offered a $20-million guarantee. The promoter said the fighters being subject to California state tax is too daunting to overcome. A Pacquiao advisor said the Filipino star would have to pay $3.5 million to $5 million in state taxes if the bout were staged at Staples. Nevada and Texas will not levy state taxes from the fighters’ purses.

‘Staples is not a factor at all,’ Arum said.

Dallas, says Arum, is thus worth re-visiting. Schaefer cancelled a planned trip to tour the 100,000-plus capacity facility with Jones, Arum and HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg earlier this week. Dallas officials claim their pitch includes the sell that this is not just a typical fight fought in the boxing mecca.

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‘Everybody involved has an obligation to see,’ Arum said. ‘Whoever has the best deal, that’s where I want to go. That’s what I feel, and that’s what my client in the Philippines wants.’

--Lance Pugmire

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