Pacquiao can’t afford another loss if he wants to remain a relevant PPV star

By Boxing News - 04/09/2013 - Comments

jmm_ko_pac - CopyBy Chris Williams: Bob Arum needs to think hard about who he wants to put in the ring with his fading star Manny Pacquiao next September in Macao, China, because Pacquiao has lost his last two fights and another loss could put the Pacquiao pay per view gravy train to a full stop or close to it.

I know Arum wants to keep the Filipino at the top fighting for as long as possible, but how is Arum going to be able to sell his fights if he loses his third straight fight? This reminds me of Evander Holyfield when he suddenly started going downhill and losing over and over again.

Arum wants to monetize his Top Rank fights being televised across China and Pacquiao figures into all of that because Arum wants to pair him with Chinese star Zou Shiming in fight cards that are televised to the huge Chinese audiences.

Shiming will be Pacquiao’s co-feature for many fight cards to come. It’s probably just a matter of time before Arum announces that his Top Rank Pacquiao and Zou cards will be PPV in China, but if Pacquiao loses his next fight and keeps losing steadily after that, how can Arum sell Pacquiao’s fights to the Chinese audiences.

Better yet, how is he going to sell Pacquiao’s fights to the U.S audiences? What kind of marketing slogan can Arum come up with that will distract from the fact that Pacquiao is losing more than he’s winning no. I guess he can just show replays of Pacquiao landing punches and then ignoring the part where he’s getting knocked out and his opponent’s hand is being raised. But I think Arum is going to need to step Pacquaio backwards to softer opposition if he doesn’t want to have his bad luck in the ring continue.

What Arum needs to do is scout out the same kind of opponent that he put in with the two-time former Olympic Gold medalist Shiming last Saturday night by finding novices with zero experience and zero power for Pacquiao to fight because that’s one surefire way of making sure that Pacquiaos’s losing streak ends and he continues to bring in the green stuff with his PPV bouts. But if Arum is serious about wanting to match Pacquiao up with Brandon Rios, Juan Manuel Marquez, Mike Alvarado and Tim Bradley, I see nonstop problems for Pacquiao.



Comments are closed.