It is widely rumored Manny Pacquiao's November 12th trilogy fight with Juan Manuel Marquez now looks set to air on HBO and not Showtime who aired his May fight with Shane Mosley.
Stories from Philstar, Michael Marley and Fighthype earlier today all supported the idea, each of whom were informed by Top Rank insiders only for the promotional heavyweight to later announce that no official decision has yet been made.
Of course this could be Bob Arum's not so subtle way of creating a bidding war, unofficially informing Showtime that their offer needs improvement if they really want the fight. A typically shrewd move from the veteran promoter if this turns out to be the case.
Aside from the money side of things, which Arum commented recently was bigger than expected from both suitors, there appear to be two other reasons why HBO are now the favorites.
Firstly as FightHype revealed yesterday, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is scheduled to fight on HBO after dark the following week from Pacquiao vs Marquez III, and if HBO win will do so on the same broadcast as the replay of the pay per view fight.
Chavez Jr. despite already achieving impressive numbers by himself, will gain exposure, which in turn makes money for Top Rank who will likely develop him into a pay per view so long as he keeps winning.
Secondly, Pacquiao and Marquez's fights two encounters were both broadcast on HBO.
In promoting a third clash, what better way than to remind skeptical fans how close the first two encounters were?
And for that you need the rights to the footage, which Showtime in this case doesn't have.
Alongside advertisements on both HBO and possible other Time Warner owned channels, HBO would almost certainly show the first two fights in the weeks leading up to the third fight.
As well as showing copious amounts of clips from the first two fights during the 24/7 build up series.
After the rumor was first floated that Pacquiao and Marquez would be airing on HBO, the reaction amongst some fans was to declare that the Filipino's outing on Showtime must have been a failure.
The fact that Arum is happy to flit between networks however is likely proof of nothing more than he wants to get the best offer instead of limiting himself to one option. If indeed the fight does end up on HBO it will mean only that they offered the better deal.
Also regardless of whether or not we will see an immediate repeat performance from Pacquiao on Showtime, his debut should still be considered a success.
With an opponent very few believed had any chance of winning, Showtime and CBS helped Top Rank to sell in the region of 1.3 million pay per views.
Floyd Mayweather, against a much more lively looking Shane Mosley and with his considerably larger fanbase in the United States as well as unequaled ability to sell a fight, sold 1.4 million pay per views on HBO.
Robert Staley, Pitt: "HBO must have thrown huge money Arum's way to land this one, brilliant move by Bob to start a bidding war for Pac"
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