By Chris Williams: With WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) getting ready to fight light welterweight Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs), a fighter largely unknown by casual boxing fans, Pacquiao, his trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum are all suddenly talking about wanting a Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr fight in 2015.
The timing seems very odd to me. These guys could have been talking up a Mayweather fight before Pacquiao’s scheduled fight with Algieri. But with Mayweather’s name being dropped left and right by Pacquiao, Arum and Roach, it gives one the impression that they’re name dropping Mayweather’s name in order to create more interest – and more pay-per-view buys – for Pacquiao’s fight against the little known Algieri.
It’s no secret that Pacquiao’s biggest pay-per-view numbers were consistently coming in 2009-2011, when there was constant talk of him fighting Mayweather. Many boxing fans believed that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was just over the horizon, and that might have been one of the reasons why boxing fans paid to see Pacquiao’s mismatches against the likes of Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.
With Mayweather no longer being a realistic option for Pacquiao, we’ve seen Pacquiao’s PPV numbers slide dramatically in his last two fights against Brandon Rios and Tim Bradley. Granted, those are fights that arguably should have never been PPV to begin with because neither Rios nor Bradley have ever established themselves as being PPV worthy fighters. You can’t help thinking those fights would have brought in big PPV numbers if boxing fans thought that Pacquiao’s next fight after that was going to be against Mayweather.
You can make an argument that the Pacquiao-Algieri fight needs Mayweather’s name to be mentioned as much as possible, because this fight looks like it’s going to be lucky if it brings in even 400,000 PPV buys. Those are not good numbers when you compare it to the 1 million+ that Pacquiao was steadily pulling in when Mayweather was a possible opponent for him between 2009 and 2011.
“I would love to see these guys [Mayweather and Pacquiao] fight twice next year,” Arum said to the Sfchronic.com.
Why all of a sudden is Arum mentioning Mayweather’s name now? Shouldn’t Arum be talking up the Pacquiao-Algieri fight instead to get boxing fans interested in that fight just for the sake of it? With Arum, Pacquiao, and Roach talking up Mayweather now, it gives me the impression that they might not have confidence that a fight against Algieri is going to be a big enough name to attract interest in the November 22nd Pacquiao-Algieri fight in Macao, China. But if Mayweather’s name becomes the focal point, we could see Pacquiao’s PPV buys skyrocket for the Algieri fight if enough casual boxing fans listen to the name dropping and believe that Mayweather could be Pacquiao’s next fight in 2015.
Comments are closed.