By Chris Williams: Last night’s knockout of Manny Pacquiao by Juan Manuel Marquez drove the final nail in the coffin of a possible mega fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight, if it were to still happen, won’t be the mega fight that could have been now.
The knockout for Pacquiao showed clearly that a fight with Mayweather is now possible, at least terms of the huge cash that could have been made. And with Bob Arum talking Marquez-Pacquiao 5 next year, it’s really not going to be possible to make a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight that will bring in the big bank that it could have made. I expect Pacquiao to get knocked out cold again if he fights Marquez again, and then who in their right mind would want to pay to see Mayweather and Pacquiao fight?
It wouldn’t be a marketable fight unless you dropped the price down to really low levels for pay per view. Asking boxing fans to see Pacquiao fight Mayweather after having been knocked out twice in a row and beaten in his last three fights [four if you count Pacquiao’s questionable win over Marquez last November] would be way too much for the boxing public to stand.
I think Arum is blowing it if he puts Pacquiao back in with Marquez. Forget that, Arum needs to try and stabilize the bleeding because the gravy train is starting to come off the tracks with his fighter.
The last thing you want to do is put your cash cow Pacquiao in with a guy that’s gotten the better of him in four consecutive fights but was given the shaft in the three of them. What Arum needs to do is put Pacquiao in with Brandon Rios or better yet Tim Bradley and look to hoist his broken fighter back to his feet because throwing him in with Marquez right now would be a big mistake.
Arum could try and get a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight now, but he’d have down with the percentage for his fighter from 55-45 to say 70-30. The fight still wouldn’t be even close to what it would have been, but that’s still a heck of a lot more money than what they’ll get in a Pacquiao-Marquez 5th fight.
I know it would look like Arum is cashing out if he tries to make the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight now, but he needs to realize that Pacquiao is going to get knocked out again if he fights Marquez one more time, and then I can’t see Pacquiao as being able to continue as a PPV fighter. Like I said, who would want to pay to see a guy that’s lost three fights in a row?
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