By Lem Satterfield
Top Rank's CEO, Bob Arum, advised BoxingScene.com that Manny Pacquiao's upcoming trilogy fight with Juan Manuel Marquez will go to the network that offers them the best deal. Pacquiao's pay-per-view career was built on HBO. But for his recent fight with Shane Molsey, which took place on May 7th in Las Vegas, Pacquiao and Top Rank went with Showtime.
The Showtime network has a clear advantage over HBO. They have the ability to use a nationwide network like CBS to promote the event. CBS televised several episodes of the "Pacquiao-Mosley Fight Camp 360" reality series. The numerical advantage is heavy for CBS, with their abilty to reach 115 million homes compared to HBO's 28 million homes.
Pacquiao-Mosley reportedly generated between 1.3 to 1.4 million pay-per-views purchases, which makes it the highest buyrate figure in the entire pay-per-view career of Pacquiao - and also squashes any exisiting fears, among promoters, of leaving HBO to use Showtime as a pay-per-view outlet.
"Here's what I can say. Whoever offers the best and the most assets to us in publicizing and promoting the fight, my feeling is that we will go with them. What Showtime and CBS did was to level the playing field, in effect," said Arum to BoxingScene.com. "Because prior to the fight, there was a question as to whether or not their involvement, where they didn't know the pay per view business, would hurt the pay per view sales of the fight. But that question was answered with a resounding, 'No.'"
Pacquiao's advisor, Michael Koncz, is very happy with the way Pacquiao-Mosley performed with Showtime/CBS.
"I had dinner with Michael Koncz [on Wednesday,] and Michael was really very ecstatic. Extremely ecstatic over what the CBS-Showtime involvement did for the last fight," Arum said.
Pacquiao-Marquez will take place on November 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.