Pacquiao re-signs with Top Rank with 2-year contract through 2016

By Boxing News - 05/20/2014 - Comments

pac87By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) has reportedly re-signed with Top Rank and Bob Arum for 2 years. The contract will keep the 35-year-old Pacquiao through all of 2016, and ends on December 31st. What this means, of course, is that Pacquiao, like Tim Bradley, has essentially lost any chance he ever had of getting a mega fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. unless Mayweather changes his mind about not wanting to deal with Arum.

Pacquiao’s current contract was supposed to end at the end of 2014, and that would have left him a chance to get a fight against Mayweather. Pacquiao then could have gone back to Arum after taking the Mayweather fight and making a huge amount of money.

It was expected that Pacquiao would stay with Arum, because he’s shown him tremendous loyalty since Arum started guiding his career. In a way this is a good move for Pacquiao, because now the pressure if off of him to fight Mayweather. He doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. By extending his contract with Top Rank, Pacquiao’s chance of a Mayweather fight are very, very slim now. But it’s a good thing for Pacquiao because if he did fight Mayweather, he might take a bad loss against him, and that in turn would likely have a negative effect on his future PPV earning potential. We saw how Pacquiao’s PPV numbers dropped off after he was knocked out cold by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012. It’s quite possible that Pacquiao’s PPV numbers would drop off even further if he fought Mayweather and lost badly to him.

“We are pleased that together with our partners at HBO we will continue presenting to the public fights of the great Manny Pacquiao through the end of 2016,” Arum said. “The partnership among Manny, Top Rank, MP Promotions and HBO has been a wonderful one for all parties and for the public and it’s great that is will continue for the years to come,” Arum said.

If Arum is able to open up the Chinese market later this year for pay-per-view fights, Pacquiao could come out ahead because he’ll then make a ton of money no matter who Arum matches him up against. While Pacquiao’s PPV numbers may continue to drop in the U.S due to the lack of interesting opponents and the constant rematches that he’s involved in, but the Chinese PPV money could offset the dropping numbers if Arum is able to open up the market.

Of course, if Arum is able to open up the Chinese markets, you can bet Golden Boy and other U.S promoters will quickly follow, and in that case, Pacquiao actually won’t be better off. He’d be facing the likes of Brandon Rios, Juan Manuel Marquez and Tim Bradley in rematches, but still not making the money he’d get if he were able to fight guys like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Mayweather.

If Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya is able to take control of the matchmaking for the company from CEO Richard Schaefer, we could see matches between the two promotional companies in the near future. That would be a good thing for Pacquiao and obviously Top Rank.

It’s unclear, however, if Pacquiao would make more money by going off on his own rather than having Top Rank promote his fights and giving them percentage of his pay.



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