It is the nature of all kings. Once the crown is placed atop the ruler's head, delusions of grandeur soon follow. Such is the fate of the new pound-for-pound king of boxing, Manny Pacquiao.
It has been reported Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum has said the fight will not happen if an agreement is not reached by Wednesday of this week. This is after Pacquiao's camp reneged on a previously verbal binding agreement, which split the entire purse for the fight 50/50. Pacquaio's camp is now demanding a 60/40 split in favor of the Filipino icon.
This has happened before in boxing, as recently as with our last pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Floyd was notorious for demanding 60/40 purse splits, even though he was never proven as a major ticket seller or ppv draw. Mayweather, Jr. was only a draw as the B-side to major attractions, to both Hatton and De La Hoya, who were fan favorites and big time draws in their own rights.
De La Hoya/Mayweather did two million buys on the strength of HBO's 24/7 series and Mayweather's great portrayal of the bad guy.
Mayweather/Hatton did over 800,000 buys the large percentage of which were said to be English fans for Hatton.
In the case of Pacquiao, he has proven to be a solid, but not spectacular draw on his own.
Against Marquez in the rematch they sold about 400,000 ppvs, and his previous ppv outings hover around the 300 to 350,000 mark.
De La Hoya/Pacquiao sold over one million buys, only because it was De La Hoya that Manny was fighting.
There is no evidence to suggest post-De La Hoya Manny can sell at the level of the Golden Boy. This would seem to make his 60/40 purse demands even more ridiculous.
Then consider the quotes to The Ring Magazine Online given by Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer.“If I can get a hold of Manny, I’ll get him to do the right thing,” said Roach, who admitted he’s frustrated. “We all know where most of the money will come from. It’ll come from England, I think.
Now consider these quotes from Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, given to the LA Times.
"There's no way he's getting the 60-40," Arum told The Times Tuesday. "Unless he comes to his senses and his people start acting intelligently . . . we'll see if we can keep it together, but the split is supposed to be 50-50. We've all agreed to it. Now, people are whispering in Pacquiao's ear. If they keep pushing for 60-40, Hatton and Schaefer are pulling the plug."
Seems like Pacquiao might be getting some bad advice from his lawyer. Or maybe he is just looking to price himself out of a matchup with Hatton so he can fight Mayweather, Jr. later in the year instead.
Either way, there is no good reason Manny can't accept the 50/50 purse split for Hatton and pursue both fights. Manny would be a betting favorite to beat Hatton, which would most certainly build more steam for the proposed Mayweather, Jr. matchup later on.
Freddie Roach put it best.“It’d be a shame if it didn’t happen. We’d be missing out on a big fight. I like the Mayweather fight. But why not get both fights?
Source: bleacherreport.com
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