Manny Pacquiao's willingness to 55-45 financial split puts onus squarely on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The burden, finally, is fully and entirely on Floyd Mayweather Jr. to make a fight with Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao agreed Thursday during appearances on two separate television shows on ESPN to give Mayweather a 55-45 advantage on a financial split should they fight, as the public has been demanding since late 2009. A match between them is expected to be the most lucrative bout in boxing history.

Pacquiao, who meets Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth time on Dec. 8 in Las Vegas, had been demanding a 50-50 split. Without such a split, he’d said repeatedly over the last 18 months that he would not agree to a fight with Mayweather.

The other major hurdle blocking the fight between the two men regarded by many as the two best in the world was Mayweather's demand for Olympic-style drug testing. Initially, Pacquiao balked at the testing. He has since changed his stance and has said repeatedly over the last year he would fully comply with the tests, just as Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz and Miguel Cotto have done in Mayweather's last three fights. In a telephone interview with Yahoo! Sports on Monday, Pacquiao made no mention of a purse split, but he was as optimistic about the possibility of a fight with Mayweather as he had ever been.

"I think Mayweather will be next," Pacquiao said, declining to specify why. But by agreeing to give Mayweather the lion's share of the purse, Pacquiao has shifted the onus to Mayweather.

Read more from the source: Yahoo Sports