By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he definitely wants light flyweight Zou Shiming (1-0) against a still to be determined opponent as the co-feature for Manny Pacquiao’s next fight in September. Arum wants to put the fight in Macao, China and have the fight televised across all of China like tonight’s Fist of Gold fight card from Macao, which was headlined by Shiming facing a little known novice fighter by the name of Eleazer Valenzuela (2-2-2, 1 KO’s).
Shiming made $300,000 for the fight, and it was reportedly seen by 200 million Chinese viewers.
Arum said to timesofnews.co “The biggest thing that I have ever done in my life, opening up a nation of a billion and 400 million [1.4 billion] people, monetizing it and having the Venetian as an exclusive partner.”
So Arum wants to figure out a way to get the Chinese people to pay to see his Top Rank fight cards, which he’ll be sticking Shiming on pretty much all of the cards. Last nights’ fight wasn’t a huge money maker because it wasn’t PPV, but if Arum gets his way and has the Chinese public paying to see Shiming – and Arum’s other Top Rank fighters – then you can only imagine how much money Arum and the fighters will make if they charge the Chinese fans $60 to purchase the fight cards. If Arum can’t monetize Shiming and his Top Rank fights then it’s much a waste of time for him to be doing this because that’s the only advantage in him doing this other than saving his foreign fighter a few bucks in taxes if he were to put the fight in the United States. The only way it pays off for Arum is if he can make these fights PPV in China to pool from the huge 1.4 billion population.
In the U.S, it’s considered a big deal if one of Pacquiao’s fight cards draws 1 million buys and the all-time PPV record is 2.4 million in the U.S. If Arum can get the Chinese boxing fans to pay to see him fight in China, then we could see anywhere from 100 million to 200 million buys. That’s just incredible to even think about because it’s so much money. Even if the PPV fight cards sell for only $20 instead of $60 in the United States, that’s still a massive amount of money for Arum and the guys in his Top Rank stable. Arum will literally be swimming in green cash if he can get 100 million or more Chinese to pay to see his Top Rank fighters.
Arum says he’s looking to sign other top Chinese fighters and if he can get them on board, he’ll be havin them fight on his cards from Macao as well.
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