Jan. 28--If either of them considers fate the final nudge to complete get a long-awaited deal, maybe it's significant that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao showed up at a Miami Heat home game in courtside seats across from each other Tuesday night.
The welterweight champions in negotiations to fight May 2 at MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas wound up chatting together briefly, with Mayweather in a photo widely disseminated on Twitter pointing Pacquiao to his mobile phone.
Both fighters are big basketball fans who attend games frequently.
"Getting closer," one official close to the negotiations called to tell The Times on Tuesday night.
Pacquiao's manager, Michael Koncz, declined to reveal what was said between the fighters, labeling it "a private conversation."
The fighters' representatives say there has been agreement from both on the purse split and drug-testing plan for a fight that has been discussed for more than five years.
Premium cable networks Showtime and HBO are negotiating a joint broadcast of a bout that would test Mayweather (47-0) against the No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world who in November beat Chris Algieri by unanimous decision.
