Staying true to the long storied tradition of promoters making very optimistic predictions when it comes to the amount of pay per views that their events will sell, Bob Arum earlier this week made a bold prediction regarding the November junior middleweight showdown between Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito.
Speaking to the Manila Bulletin, Arum stated that he is expecting pay per view sales of well over 1.3 million, which is the amount that Pacquiao sold against Oscar De La Hoya.
Obviously Arum's predictions before an event are always going to be very high, and few industry insiders initially had the bout selling much over a million. Mainly because the main event isn't expected to be a close one and that Margarito's reputation with some of the fans is still in question.
Since the bout was announced though, Margarito has seemingly gained back a lot of the support that he lost due to his suspension, and helped by the big size difference many are now predicting a close fight that could go either way.
However the odds on anything except a knockout win for Pacquiao are growing longer, meaning that despite glowing reports from Margarito's camp and mixed ones from Pacquiao's, the big money is still being laid down on the Filipino. This in turn could mean either that the public won't be as interested, because they see the fight as having only one winner, or that a lot of people are putting money down and won't want to miss it.
Conversely the undercard of the event is packing a lot more drawing power than any of Pacquiao's recent fights, featuring the likes of Mike Jones, Kelly Pavlik and Guillermo Rigondeux, as well as several of Pacquiao's countrymen. Actually putting on an undercard worth watching is a big step in the right direction that both Golden Boy and Top Rank have recently taken, and it can only increase the pay per view sales in this case.
Pacquiao's March fight against little known Joshua Clottey sold possibly a lot better than expected at 700k, given that the odds were very long and that Clottey has a fairly small fan base. Part of that success though might have been from the novelty of staging a fight at the Cowboys stadium rather than the fight itself.
Against Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao achieved sales of 1.2 million, and the odds for the fight were much closer. Comparatively Margarito has a bigger fan base than Clottey, and is a more interesting character than Cotto, who despite his skill in the ring often comes across as rather flat in hyping up his fights.
Those being the current circumstances, it's difficult to say for sure just how well the fight will sell, but there is a growing feeling that the jump from welterweight to junior middleweight might be a lot more difficult for Pacquiao than the climb to welterweight was.
If that idea continues to spread, then the sales could well beat those that he achieved with De La Hoya, and if that happens, undoubtedly Pacquiao and Arum will both have an eye on beating the 1.4 million buys Golden Boy achieved with Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley.
Rob Grant, Denver: "Arum is talking straight crap as usual, the fight will be lucky to do more than a million. Margarito is nearly shot and most of the U.S fans don't like him cos he cheated"
Douggie Taylor, Pitt: "I can see it doing more than the Cotto fight, maybe not as much as Floyd and Shane though"
Comments
I think it will do more than the past Pacquiao fights. This is an interesting fight because of the size diference. and also every pacquiao fights bring something different to the table "very unpredictable".
SHUANG AY!!!
This is a must see fight. Unlike Manny's previous fights where his opponents had to go down and dehydrate themselves, this fight is in Margarito's division where he does not have to dehydrate himself and Manny has to move up. I'm a little bit worried about this fight especially with the distractions in Manny's training specifically the missed early morning runs because of basketball, missed sparring because of congress, cyclone Juan, etc. Is he biting more than he can chew? I wish not. A well trained Manny can easily beat Margo but I have doubts this time. I hope I'm wrong.
did you say this is margarito's division? ummm, maybe. remember margarito is a 147 pounder also which makes me scratch my head: why are they going to do it at 151, which is to margarito's advantage?
this fight would only do 800 thous PPV
flod is still the PPV king.
pacman is the catchweight king.
ulol,,floyd is OVERweight king..
FLOYD JR. IS THE ;
LIAR KING!!!!!
GAY KING!!!!!
ARROGANT KING!!!!!
IGNORANT KING!!!!!
LADY BEATER KING!!!!!
"I'M NOT INTERESTED IN BOXING RIGHT NOW, I'M ON VACATION"
....VACATION KING!!!!!
.....COWARD KING!!!!!
CHICKEN KING!!!!!
Floyd is a "Weight Cheater King".hehehehe!!!
ALSO YOUR IDOL IS P4P WIFE BEATER! HEHEHE! LIKE HIS UNCLE AND FATHER, FLOYD IS GOING TO JAIL!
YOUR IDOL FLOYD IS GOING TO JAIL! HEHEHE DONT CRY, YOUR IDOL CAN HANDLE IT IN JAIL! BECAUSE FLOYD IS FLEXIBLE, HE IS RUN, RUN, RUN P4P QUEEN!
floyd is the XYLOCAINE king
I'll buy this on pay per view. I'm going to lock my doors and close the blinds so my ilocano neighbor wont be able to see the fight. Freakin cheap bastard.
Dont forget to put your dogs inside, Ilocanos are notorious when it comes to pulutan.
Thanks for the warning bro.
WHO EVER MADE THIS COMMENT IS A COWARD CAUSE ALL YOU HAVE IS WORD NO ACTION
i don't care!
Ilocanos will have a colorum or bootleg feed of the fight on Nov 13. Or they'll ask their non-Ilocano friends to come over and watch the fight to let them pay for the PPV.
JewLocanos will feed their guests chicharon and adobong aso and tap water. If you're a good looking dude better watch out. The Ilocana wife will grab your crotch when Mr Ilocano is not looking. Or worse, the Ilocano son will follow you in the comfort room.
HEY MAN... IF YOU GOT PROBLEMS WITH ILOCANO....WHY DONT YOU GRAB YOUR AK AND GO POSTAL WORKER WITH ALL THE ILOCANOS.
I'M DEFINITELY SURE THAT RECENTLY OR MAYBE YEARS AGO, YOU HAVE COURTED A PRETTY ILOCANA GIRL AND SADLY YOU WERE BUSTED, BECAUSE MAYBE, JUST MAYBE SHE FOUND OUT THAT YOU WERE A SUPER MANIAC AND A LADY BEATER.!!!
........DON'T YOU KNOW ILOCANA WOMEN ARE VERY CHEERFUL, LOVING AND VERY CARING TOO!!!
.....SO DON'T YOU WORRY AS LONG AS YOU BEHAVE WELL, I MEAN BEHAVE AS A GOOD PERSON AND ESPECIALLY WITH GOOD MANNER AND RESPECT TO OTHERS, THEN MAYBE YOU CAN FIND YOURSELF THE RIGHT ILOCANA YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.. WELL THEN, GOOD LUCK TO YOU.!!!
...THIS IS ONLY A BROTHERLY ADVISE, DON'T TAKE IT TOO PERSONAL.!!!
What's up with all the hate towards Ilocano's?
yup i've noticed that ilocanos are more cheap than jews at least jews gave minimum wage while ilocanos barrows money then gone.
HEY MAN... IF YOU GOT PROBLEMS WITH ILOCANO....WHY DONT YOU GRAB YOUR AK AND GO POSTAL WORKER WITH ALL THE ILOCANOS.
I'm trying to find my AK-47s but can't locate them right now. If and when I find them, i'm going directly to Ilocos Sur then to Ilocos Norte.
Then i'm going to Hawaii to vaporize all the ugly, smelly, and arrogant ilocanos living there.
lemme guess....ilocanos stole ur ak...right?
I'M DEFINITELY SURE THAT RECENTLY OR MAYBE YEARS AGO, YOU HAVE COURTED A PRETTY ILOCANA GIRL AND SADLY YOU WERE BUSTED, BECAUSE MAYBE, JUST MAYBE SHE FOUND OUT THAT YOU WERE A SUPER MANIAC AND A LADY BEATER.!!!
........DON'T YOU KNOW ILOCANA WOMEN ARE VERY CHEERFUL, LOVING AND VERY CARING TOO!!!
.....SO DON'T YOU WORRY AS LONG AS YOU BEHAVE WELL, I MEAN BEHAVE AS A GOOD PERSON AND ESPECIALLY WITH GOOD MANNER AND RESPECT TO OTHERS, THEN MAYBE YOU CAN FIND YOURSELF THE RIGHT ILOCANA YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.. WELL THEN, GOOD LUCK TO YOU.!!!
...THIS IS ONLY A BROTHERLY ADVISE, DON'T TAKE IT TOO PERSONAL.!!!
JEALOUS! COZ YOU HAVE NOT MONEY! GASTADOR!
get rid of all ilocanos man...they menace to society. they are all bunch of gold diggers. and a bum
JEALOUS! PORR MAN! GASTADOR!
Hamburgesero,Gastadero,,Basurero,Muchacho .
WHATS WRONG WITH ILOCANOS? IM ILOCANO IM NOT A BUM, I JUST COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT AND WELFARE THEN DRINK ALL DAY. SO WHAT IF I LIKE TO EAT MY NEIGHBORS DOGS, THEY'RE DELICIOUS! I PUT SOME GARLIC AND GINGER AND VINEGAR OOOOOWEEEEE PULUTAN NA!
The Ilocanos should take Pacquiao too specially with that chihuahua face he has.lol
ilocano vs bisaya. kanino ka tataya?..hahaha,,
Pacquiao is scared to fight black boxers.
Margarito will knock out Pacquiao. Margarito will avenge the all the great Mexican warriors defeated by Pacquiao. Margarito is in the best shape of his life. One punch will end the fight.
I thick size will matter. My money for margarito.
uki ni ina yo amin!!!!
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