By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz is saying that Pacquiao can fight on other networks besides HBO for his fights. If this is possible then a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. would have more of a chance of taking place because both fighters currently fight on different networks. Mayweather fights on Showtime, while Pacquiao has been fighting on HBO.
Koncz said to RingTV “Manny’s not tied to any network, so if the fans still want to see this fight, we’re willing to do it.”
Pacquiao is going to have to look really good against Brandon Rios for Mayweather to even want to bother with him because he already said the fight’s not appealing right now because Pacquiao has lost his last two fights.
In addition to Pacquiao being open to fighting on other networks, he’s also reportedly okay with taking a smaller cut than Mayweather at 60-40 rather than a 50-50 split. Mayweather said he offered Pacquiao a fight not long ago but Pacquiao wanted a 50-50 split of the money. Mayweather offered him $40 million. That would have been a great deal for Pacquiao and I’m wondering if he’d turn that same deal down now if it were offered to him because where is he going to get that kind of green.
I know Pacquiao is fighting Rios in Macao, China next on November 23rd in a fight that will be televised in China on PPV for $5, but that’s an experiment. That may not workout at all for him. I’m not sure that the Chinese audiences will be open to pay $5 to watch boxing, especially a fighter that isn’t Chinese.
Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum might need to put the Chinese Olympic star Zou Shiming on the card to bring the PPV sales up, and I’m not even sure that would be enough to make decent money. When you’ve been giving away the product for free, it’s sometimes difficult to try and sell it once you start asking fans to pay to see the boxing.
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