Peterson vs. Marquez on July 14th on PPV at the Cowboys Stadium looking good, says Arum

By Boxing News - 01/31/2012 - Comments

Image: Peterson vs. Marquez on July 14th on PPV at the Cowboys Stadium looking good, says ArumBy Chris Williams: Steve Kim of Maxboxing.com is reporting that a July 14th fight between IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson and Juan Manuel Marquez at the Cowboys Stadium is reportedly close to reality.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told Kim “We’re pretty close. I’ve been talking with Barry Hunter [Peterson’s manager/trainer]; he’s pretty much on board…Marquez is on board…We’re going to give them tune-up fights on March 17th in Mexico city.”
This July 17th Peterson-Marquez fight would be a pay per view bout. It’s unclear whether the March 17th tune-up fights will be PPV or not, but you’d have to figure that it will be order to pay these guys the big money they’re asking for.

The March 17th tune-up fight will likely be used by Arum to gauge the fan interest in these two fighters before he pulls the trigger on a risky PPV bout on July 14th. Peterson has never been a PPV fighter, and Marquez has only been PPV with guys like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. It’s hard to imagine a fight between Peterson and Marquez bringing in substantial numbers. I can see this fight not doing well at all in terms of generating a lot of buys. It’s a great fight for boxing fans, but probably not one that fans will be willing to fork over a lot of money to see it, especially with Marquez having been beaten by Pacquiao last November.

Arum thinks the Peterson vs. Marquez fight will be able to draw between “30,000-40,000” fans at the Cowboys Stadium on July 14th. I find that a very hard to swallow number. At best, I think Marquez-Peterson may draw close to 15,000 and that’s under the best of circumstances. I think it’ll more likely come in between 10,000-12,000. Arum is dreaming if he thinks that 30,000-40,000 will show up to see those guys.

Peterson already has a nice offer to fight Amir Khan in a rematch on May 19th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Golden Boy has offered him a 50-50 deal along with one-half of the British television money. However, Peterson has an opportunity to fight Manny Pacquiao if Peterson can beat Marquez. Arum will likely be matching Pacquiao with Timothy Bradley in June, and the winner of the Pacquiao-Bradley and Peterson-Marquez fights will meet up in November. That’s a tempting possibility for Peterson, because he’ll make a lot more money if he takes Arum’s offer than he will against Khan.

The money for the Khan fight is like what’s being offered behind curtain number one. Peterson knows he’s getting a great deal with that fight. But if he takes the risk and fights Marquez, he can make potentially a great deal more. However, there’s risk involved, because if he loses to Marquez, then he won’t make as much money as he would have had he agreed to the Khan rematch. It all comes down to whether Peterson and his team believe he’s got a good shot at beating Marquez. If they don’t think he can do it, then he’s better off taking the bigger payday to fight Khan rather than facing Marquez.



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