By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: I’m really not a big fan of Manny Pacquiao, but in my heart he deserves bigger pay days and bigger fights. He has accomplished a lot in his career and he should be reaping the benefits of it. He came from nothing to being a pay per view star. I have always stressed this and will continue to do so. Manny should be getting Floyd Mayweather like money and he’s not. No doubt, he is making way more than most of the fighters out there. Manny’s contract expired with Top Rank on December 31 of last year. I was really hoping he won’t resign, but he did extending his contract through December 31st of this year.
Manny is very loyal. Maybe too loyal at times. Top Rank did take his career from one plateau to another and I’m sure he’s grateful for it. But think about it. If Manny decided to use MP Promotions, there are two things that are guaranteed to happen. One, the middleman (Top Rank) would be cut out and the money would go straight to him thus increasing his paydays. Two, there would be no shortage of opponents as there are many who want a shot at the Pac Man.
There had been fighters in the past who left their respective promotional companies to fight him (Shane Mosley, Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez) and tried to leave (Robert Guerrero when his name became apart of discussions for the April 12th bout). But as it stands right now, no one gets a shot at him unless they are signed to Top Rank. And if HBO decided they wanted to cut ties with him, it would be no problem as I’m sure rival network Showtime would welcome him with open arms.
On April 8th of this year, Kevin Iole, ran an article showing where Manny ranked all time in pay per view buys and total revenue. Going into his fight against Bradley, he was third all time in total revenue ($661,061,000) and fifth on pay per view sales (12,193,000 buys). Those numbers will increase once the numbers come in from last Saturday’s night fight. He also tied Oscar De La Hoya for the most appearances on a pay per view event with 14. Manny is in good company on that list with De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather. But when one looks across the way at what Mayweather has done AFTER he left Top Rank, the results have been great. Floyd is number one in total revenue ($756,515,000) and second behind Oscar in pay per view sales (12,643,000 buys). Keep in mind Floyd has accomplished this in just 10 pay per events and took years off from boxing.
Against common opponents Manny’s BASE pays pales in comparison to Floyd’s. For example, against De La Hoya, Floyd’s base purse was 10 million. Manny’s 7.5 million. Against Cotto, Floyd’s was a then record breaking 30 million. Manny’s 7.5 million again. Now there will be some who will probably say I’m just hating on Manny. Far from it. For all the money he has made for Top Rank, he simply deserves better. He doesn’t need a promoter at this point in his career. In my humble opinion, he didn’t need Top Rank after his fight with Ricky Hatton. I’m not sure if Manny ever had a buyout clause in his contracts. But if there ever was, he should have taken it. But I have said this before and I’ll keep saying it. If Manny is happy with his situation at Top Rank and the money he is getting, then so be it.
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