What gives with Pacquiao – Arum?

By Boxing News - 08/27/2012 - Comments

Image: What gives with Pacquiao - Arum?By John F. McKenna (McJack): It was expected that when Top Rank CEO Bob Arum flew to General Santos City in the Philippines to meet with former eight division champion Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) in the first week of August that the name of an opponent for a November 10 match would be forthcoming.

Such was not the case, and now with the month of August rapidly drawing to a close “Pacman” still has not named an opponent. As a matter of fact, the date for Manny’s next fight is now up in the air with November 10 and December 1 both listed as possible dates for Pacquiao’s return to the ring.

Of course boxing fans are like anyone else. When left to speculate, the imagination runs wild with possibilities. Undoubtedly Manny would like to exact some revenge on the new WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (29-0-1 NC, 12 KO’s). Pacquiao clearly dominated Bradley last June, but in possibly the most horrendous decision in modern times the ring judges gave “Desert Storm” a gift decision.

Being the warrior he is, it is most likely that Manny would like the opportunity to win back his WBO title belt. It must be particularly galling for Pacquiao to endure the pretense by Bradley that he thought he defeated “Pacman” back in June.
But reading between the lines, it is just as likely that Pacquiao would want the same guarantee and financial arrangement for a 2nd Bradley fight that he had for the first fight.
Pacquiao reportedly received in the range of a $25 million guarantee for the Bradley fight.

Unfortunately despite Arum pulling all of his promotional rabbit tricks out of the hat, the Pacquiao – Bradley fight is rumored to have brought in only 700,000 in Pay Per View (PPV) buys. And it is unlikely that a rematch would equal the PPV buys of the first fight. The boxing public already knows who won the first fight.

There is also a school of thought which says that the decision awarding the fight to Bradley did irreparable damage to PPV buys for any fight, at least for the time being.

Boxing fans have become increasingly cynical over the rash of poor decisions in recent years.

It is quite possible that a 4th Pacquiao – Marquez fight would not do as well as the 1.4 million PPV buys it pulled in last November. Even a Pacquiao – Cotto fight may struggle to bring in the number of PPV buys that would warrant Manny receiving the kind of guarantee he thinks he deserves.

In the lead up to any Pacquiao fight Arum is quick to point out that Manny has the final say as to who he is going to fight. That may be true, but as in any business deal there are catches. “Uncle Bob” makes his presentation as to what he thinks each opponent will bring in. Pacquiao’s guaranteed purse is based on that.
It just may be that Manny is not happy with the figures he is being presented with. In the end, though Arum will most likely get his way.



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