Pacquiao with everything to lose in Algieri fight

By Boxing News - 07/22/2014 - Comments

pac777By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum may have done his No.1 money fighter Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) in a small way by matching him against obscure fighter Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) in their fight on November 22nd in Macao, China, but Arum ultimately is putting the 35-year-old Pacquiao in a position where his career is going to be on the brink of implosion should he lost to the 5’10” Algieri.

The casual boxing fans, the ones that will be purchasing the Pacquiao-Algieri fight on HBO pay-per-view, have no clue who Algieri is. The ones that do know who he is are largely unimpressed with his power and overall talent.

If Pacquiao loses to Algeiri on November 22nd, then it’s very likely we’re going to see a further sinking of Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers. Pacquiao has already lost 2 out of his last 4 fights with his only wins over Top Rank stable fighters Tim Bradley and Brandon Rios. Arum has exhausted his pool of fighters in his Top Rank stable, so he’s now dropping down to the 140 pound division to possibly raid that division of fighters that he can match against Pacquiao.

Algieri is someone that doesn’t bring much to the table other than his unbeaten record. He’s fought only one named fighter and that was the badly flawed Ruslan Provodnikov. Before that, Algieri’s best wins came against Emmanuel Taylor and Mike Arnaoutis. Those guys aren’t top 5 world class opponents, and that’s why Arum’s move is so baffling and sad.

Arum realizes that the Pacquiao-Algieri fight won’t do well in the United States, but the money he’s going to be getting from China will make up for it, maybe. But what won’t help him is if Pacquiao loses to Algieri. Losing to a good fighter, even an old guys like Juan Manuel Marquez, brings Pacquiao and Arum a built in excuse that they can offer up to the fans. But losing to Algieri is pretty much a signal that it’s over for Pacquiao.

There’s no going back if he loses this guy because fans aren’t going to see Pacquiao in the same light after a loss like this. It’s not going to be the end of Pacquiao’s career, because he’s very likely going to continue to fight until he’s in his 40s. But the PPV numbers are going to start drying up if he loses this fight.

When you’ve got a fighter with 3 defeats in his last 5 fights, which is what Pacquaio will have if he loses to Algieri, you can’t get away with asking boxing fans to shell out $70+ to watch him fight.

You’ve got to discount him to keep the PPV buys/cash money up to where it was before, but there’s no chance of that happening. If Pacquiao loses to Algieri and whoever after, you can bet that Arum will still be selling his fights at full price in the U.S, hoping that Pacquiao’s loyal faithful fans will keep purchasing his fights regardless of how many losses his accumulates.



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