WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao for several years has been the second biggest seller of pay-per-views in the United States behind rival Floyd Mayweather.
Since becoming a fixture on U.S talk shows, adverts and with the absence of Mayweather however, Pacquiao's fanbase has been growing, and he recently achieved his biggest pay per view sales to date against Shane Mosley.
In November, Pacquiao fights Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time, and even though he is expected to win, most expect the fight itself to be a more interesting encounter than any of his recent bouts.
As a result, debate among fans over what kind of pay per view numbers the event will achieve has been widespread, with some believing that the guarantee of an exciting fight will help Pacquiao sell more than ever and others of the opinion that an undersized opponent once beaten will struggle to attract much interest.
Known, as most promoters tend to be, for optimistic predictions on how many pay per views his fighters will sell, Top Rank boss Bob Arum outdid himself earlier this week when he said to Sal Rodriguez:
"Pacquiao has long ceased to only be a product in the Philippines, the United States or Mexico. He is already a global icon, and therefore, we are going to travel the world [promoting] this great fight. We'll start this in August and end it in September, with the time required for both fighters to return to their camps. It will be a great fight, and we expect 1.6 million homes on pay-per-view,"
Of course, even with a world tour and the full backing of either HBO or Showtime and their parent companies, 1.6 million is a huge amount of pay per views to achieve.
Pacquiao's closest effort to date came in his most recent fight against Shane Mosley, with whom he achieved sales somewhere above 1.3 million. 'Somewhere above' being the optimal phrase because to date no solid figures have been officially released by Top Rank.
And to many, the third fight with Marquez is less intriguing than some of Pacquiao's past recent fights such as his welterweight debut against Miguel Cotto.
Nevertheless there is also a feeling of unfinished business between the Filipino and his Mexican rival.
The first fight between Pacquiao and Marquez was ruled a draw, and was close enough that both fighters to this day have fans claiming that they should have won the fight.
The second fight four years later was supposed to settle the score, but in that respect failed to achieve it's aim. Once again fans witnessed a thrilling back and forth encounter that saw Marquez knocked down and Pacquiao's usually rampant attacks countered effectively throughout. Once again though there was controversy.
Although Pacquiao took a narrow decision that time around, Marquez supporters once again still believe that he should have had his hand raised at the end of the fight.
And now we have the third installment.
This time around Pacquiao is perhaps the biggest star in the sport today, now fights three weights higher and Marquez, now 37, is beginning to show signs of slowing down.
Then there is the matter of Marquez's previous attempt to move north of the lightweight division.
In 2009 he took on Floyd Mayweather at welterweight and was dominated, with the bout looking at times like little more than a sparring session for the mercurial American.
Anyone who saw that fight knows that Marquez probably has no business fighting above lightweight. They also know however that he has close to the perfect style to beat Pacquiao.
Undoubtedly the Bob Arum masterminded bidding war between HBO and Showtime to air the fight will result in a certain amount of added buyers.
Whether this will mean Pacquiao will break his pay per view personal best will have to remain to be seen, but clearly by making such a bold prediction with Mayweathr vs. Ortiz only months away, Bob Arum must be confident.
Boris Zentsov, Pitt: "No way it sells 1.6 mill, Mayweather is going to rip Pac vs. JMM apart in every episode of 24/7 too before his fight. It does 1.4 maybe."
Source: http://www.examiner.com
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