The truth behind the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather PPV numbers

November 21, 4:55 PMNorfolk Boxing ExaminerGlenn Wilson

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Floyd's only choice is to play the bad guy.

Warner Bros.

The news from the Floyd Mayweather camp is the classic combination of good news-bad news. Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe told the Grand Rapids Press this week that in fights that Floyd and Manny had common opponents, Floyd was the bigger draw. HBO ppv numbers seem to tell the same story.

When Mayweather and Pacquiao fought Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ricky Hatton, Floyd out drew Manny by 1.2 million, 625,000 and 140,000 buys respectively.

The problem lies in the 60/40 split that each fighter has claimed would be necessary for the fight to take place. The good news is that when you are talking about this much money, deals usually have a way of working themselves out.  To reiterate that point, Ellerbe said that team Mayweather has given Golden Boy Promotions the go ahead to start negotiations with Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum.

This writer was actually shocked to see the pay per view buys despairity between the two boxers. After some thought, I realized that the numbers are probably the result of two variables, the Philippines and Heath Ledger.

The Philippines play into the ppv numbers in many different ways. The first and most obivious is that it is Manny Pacquiao's home. Being such, it is almost impossible to find a non Pacquiao fan in the country. The problem that that represents is that the Filipino people are a proud people, but unfortunately, a very poor people on average. If just one fifth of it's people could afford the enormous fees of pay television and ppv, how many more millions of fans would buy it to see their beloved Manny? Could the Miguel Cotto fight have reached three millions buys?

Instead, companies buy the fight and show it for free in large arenas. Needless to say, these venues are always filled to capacity. And that is the way that it should be for the millions that support him, but can't afford the luxury of buying the fight.

The second reason for Floyd's success in the ppv buys could be that Floyd Mayweather is the Joker. As in, Heath Ledger's version of the Joker.

The Joker stole The Dark Knight film, but he was still the bad guy. And the bad guy is a role that Floyd plays to perfection. So much so that many of the people buy his PPVs hoping to see him lose. They only do this when Mayweather has an opponent in front of him that has a legitimate shot at upsetting Floyd. So far no one has figured out the Joker, so the ppv buys will keep going up, provided Floyd fights someone of some consequence.

So the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight could be billed as Batman lll. The Joker will continue to make outrageous claims while Batman quietly waits for his opportunity to pounce and end the Joker's reign of terror. We know that the Joker has already beat fellow good guys Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto. Has he taken on more than he can handle in the crime fighting Pacquiao?