Pacquiao vs. Broner a possibility for April 9th

By Boxing News - 12/17/2015 - Comments

LR_BRONER VS ALLAKHVERDIEV-FIGHT NIGHT-3423(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz is saying that WBA World light welterweight champion Adrien Broner (31-2, 23 KOs) is one of the possibilities for Pacquiao’s next fight on April 9th in 2016. Broner, 26, joins the other three fighters that Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank has personally hand-picked for Pacquiao to select from.

Pacquiao was supposed to have announced the name of his next opponent last Friday night during the Top Rank truTV card headlined by Felix Verdejo vs. Josenilson Dos Santos, but Pacquiao opted not to make a decision at that time. Arum is now hoping that Pacquiao will make his decision by the end of December so that he can start marketing the fight.

Broner would be like a proxy to Floyd Mayweather Jr. for Pacquiao. By facing the Mayweather imitator in Broner, Pacquiao would be able to avenge the loss that he suffered to Mayweather earlier this year in May in their “Fight of the Century” in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pacquiao vs. Broner would be a huge fight and it would likely bring in very good money to Pacquiao if he could get the fight negotiated.

There’s no rush,” Koncz said to the MB.com.ph. “We are not giving a strict timetable. I can’t tell exactly when because the fight’s in April (anyway).”

It’s thought by some boxing fans that Arum wants Pacquiao to select his Top Rank fighter Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs), because it would be a way for Pacquiao to make Crawford more popular by him beating Pacquiao and then taking over as Top Rank’s new pay-per-view attraction.

The problem is Crawford is not an attraction now, and if Pacquiao selects him, he’ll basically be shooting himself in the foot, because he can arguably make more money fighting other fighters like Broner. There is nothing wrong with Crawford as a fighter.

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Never the less, if Pacquiao can make more money and get more attention fighting a guy like Broner, then it certainly makes sense for him to fight him than someone like Crawford. It’s hard to know how much more money Pacquiao would make in fighting Broner than Crawford, but I would have to guess that it would be quite a bit more. Taking a lesser name and earning millions less would be like Pacquiao having a fire outside his house where he burns millions of dollars for nothing.

“Aside from the three guys Top Rank mentioned as candidates, Koncz also floated the name of Adrien Broner, the reigning world super-lightweight champion,” said writer Nick Giongco in his column at mb.com.ph.

The fighters from Arum’s three-fighter list are Tim Bradley, Crawford and Amir Khan. Bradley and Crawford are both Top Rank guys. There would not be much interest in Pacquiao fighting Crawford and Bradley except with the hardcore fan base. Where the money is made for Pacquiao’s fights is with the casual boxing fans, which is why it’s so important for him to get a notable guy that the fans know about and are interested in seeing.

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Picking out someone as a favor to Arum would not work for Pacquiao if he wanted to bring in a ton of PPV buys.

“I can wait until the end of the month,” said Arum via mb.com.ph.

What happens if Pacquiao does not make his selection by the end of the month? Does Arum go into panic mode? I think Arum only has one choice but to wait for Pacquiao to make his decision, because this could very well be his last fight of his career.

If Pacquiao gets elected into the senate in the May elections in the Philippines, then he won’t have time to continue his boxing career. That’s why it’s important for him to pick a guy that will bring a lot of money and excitement for his last fight. I wish I could say that Khan, Bradley and Crawford would bring a combination of money and excitement, but I cannot.

I think there would be excitement in all three fights to some extent, but I don’t think the money would be nearly the same for Pacquiao compared to a fight against Broner or another non-Top Rank. Broner vs. Pacquiao would sell in a huge way, because the fight would be seen like Pacquiao fighting a copy of Floyd Mayweather Jr. If Pacquiao could face Broner, it would be the closest thing that Pacquiao could get to a rematch against Mayweather.

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If Pacquiao beats Broner badly, then there’s always the chance that Mayweather could come out of retirement to try and avenge Broner’s defeat in the same way that Mayweather avenged Broner’s defeat at the hands of Marcos Maidana by beating him twice.

The one problem with a Pacquiao vs. Broner fight is how it would be negotiated. For the fight to happen, Arum would need to negotiate with Broner’s adviser Al Haymon. That could be a difficult negotiation, but it would still be possible though.



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