FIRST, the fight date.

Now, it’s the fight purse.

In the continuing drama of trying to put up a mega-fight pitting Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. another stumbling block cropped up the other day after the undefeated American made known that he’s not in favor of a 50-50 split in the sharing of the prize money.

Pacquiao, 33, apparently asked Mayweather about the equal sharing in the purse when Floyd Jr. called up and talked to the Filipino boxing superstar last Thursday.

“He asked about a 50-50 split and I told him no, that can’t happen,” said Mayweather of his short conversation with the `Pacman’ in an interview aired over ESPN Sportscenter.

“But what can happen is you can make more money fighting me than you have made in your career,” Mayweather Jr continued. “I also let him know I’m in control on my side, but he needs to get on the same page as his promoter so we can make this fight happen.”

Earlier, Mayweather Jr already called out on the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion to step on the plate and face him on May 5 in a fight expected to go down as the biggest and richest in the history of boxing.

Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Inc. however, said a bout of such magnitude is not feasible to be held on a date as close to May 5, suggesting instead that they meet on May 26.

But Mayweather won’t budge, stressing its May 5 or bust for him.

And now, it’s Pacquiao’s side which is not budging about getting the smaller share of the purse.

“This is not the normal way you put together a big fight. The normal way would be for us to sit down somewhere. Mayweather said he won’t agree to a 50-50 split with Manny. Now that’s something blocking the fight, something we won’t agree to,” said Arum in a talk with veteran boxing writer Michael Marley.

If no agreement is reached with the Mayweather group, Arum stressed there is always a fall back to be considered.

Before Floyd Jr’s call out to Pacquiao, Arum already presented the Filipino four possible opponents for a June 9 ring return, namely, Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez, junior middleweight titleholder Miguel Cotto and light-welterweight champions Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson.

Arum said Pacquiao already had a choice, but would not rather announce it until next week, although a lot of speculations swirl around that it’s Cotto who’s the no.1 lock.