What will ultimately determine Manny Pacquiao’s earnings from his visually disappointing fight with Floyd Mayweather are pay per view (PPV) earnings. Pay per view programs are shows offered by cable TV companies on demand to their subscribers for a one-time fee. In the case of the Pacquiao-Mayweather spectacle yesterday, that fee could be anywhere from $50 to $100 outside of the Philippines. Within the Philippines, Pacquiao controls all TV rights, which means that revenues from all content licensed by Philippine broadcast media companies in the Philippines go to his pocket.
Just on the basis of a tech debacle that resulted in a delay in the start of the fight thanks to cable and satellite systems being “overloaded” by the reported massive volume of PPV orders being processed, one could get a good enough idea of just how many people were suckered into eating up the match. In the United States alone, an estimated 3 million households will have ordered the fight to the tune of $100 each.
Guess who will be, yet again, laughing all the way to the bank. You got it: Mayweather for playing it safe and applying a smart running strategy, Pacquiao for giving enough chase to please the fans while avoiding injury, and, yes, the media companies and promoters who invested gazillions over several years to prime the public to think less and dig deep into their wallets. The whole system will collectively walk away with billions (in US dollahs, dahlings, not pesos)!
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Talk about killing the goose that laid the golden egg. What is now emerging as one of the most successful media scams in history is now being regarded as marking the day that the sport of pro boxing was finally laid to rest. “Boxing is dead and Mayweather-Pacquiao killed it. Never again will people shell out $100 to watch two old men grab at each other for 36 minutes,” screamed USA Today which likened the so-called “fight of the century” to a pay per snooze…
But we ignored all this because we wanted the fight to be something greater than it was. We attached meaning to it when this was clearly a payout fight, at best. (Floyd even admitted as much.) Oh, they wanted to win, but this hardly evoked the memories of Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Sugar Ray, The Hitman and Hagler fighting brawls that would land them in hospitals for belts that defined them as athletes. This was just glorified sparring.
The hype grew so big that some of the greatest minds in boxing convinced themselves that things would be different. That Manny’s reach would suddenly grew longer. That Floyd wouldn’t throw love-taps for most of the fight, content to play defense and let one or two power punches give him rounds. They thought that the “whoosh” made by Pacquiao’s missed punches and the crowd noise that followed would fool us into thinking this was a real bout, not robbery with the press of a PPV button. They were selling a lie and we were all too happy to buy into it.
There is a bit of a silver lining in all this. Unlike audiences from around the world, Filipinos will be welcoming their “hero” back home with open arms, perhaps hoping that some of the loot Pacquiao will be bringing home that will be sucked off him by his planeload of hangers-on will somehow trickle down into the Philippine economy.
Oh and, by the way, there is also that other matter of Pacquiao being House representative for Sarangani and, possibly, a future president of the Philippines. Perhaps Filipinos, after all, actually gained more than they lost in Sunday’s bout.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
I think you are absolutely correct. The match, from what I hear (I was lucky not to have watched it), was so boring and corny. Now, we are hearing comments that it was not the fight of the century, rather it was the scam of the century. Pierce Morgan and others moaned that it was all crap. Apparently, there were already TV and media executives who were warning those involved that if it turns out to be a dud, and that if they fail to live up to the over-hype then it would have tremendous adverse impact on the boxing industry and the PPV biz — a shortsightedness that everybody would regret. There must be a lot of finger pointing in executive offices as of now. If that is true, then it was history in the making. It was the match that nailed the coffin of the boxing industry.
At least I’d watched more on the Game 7 of NBA Playoffs between LA Clippers and San Antonio Spurs on the same day that so called “Fight of The Century” especially on replays and it NOT really boring but on Pacquiao-Mayweather match? I admit it is boring to watch however I agree on what the results on the compubox, some boxing analysts and the 3 boxing judges who’d scored on that boxing event, and this is REALLY the real reason why the boxing fans all over the world didn’t like the result of the game in which sadly, they didn’t know that any kind of sports they’d watch there’s a “scientific” way on how a player or a team could win their fight against their opponents, and that’s the AWFUL truth about it. Its quality over quantity and every smart player or team knows it and they don’t care about fan favorites who they idolize it, and heck it’s NOT a reality tv show that they could vote a contestant and win the prize in the 1st place. It’s a sporting event, guys!
well speaking of NBA Playoffs between Clippers & Spurs, here’s a meme that I’d saw it on twitter and Kanye West made an epic announcement in the middle of the boxing ring: https://twitter.com/NBAMemes/status/594944415187111937 😀
That match is so fucking boring. Primarily because of Money May doing what he does best. He’s now, undisputedly, the best of this era (talent-wise). But I wish nobody follow in his footsteps and emulate his style, because that’s gonna be the death knell for this sport.
And I speak of this not as a Pacman fan, but a longtime boxing fan.
The ones who paid a big toe and a bit of a thumb for the tickets (and about a hundred dollars for the PPVs) were promised a world where Pacquiao tries to make Mayweather dance to his tune — take Floyd out of his defensive comfort zone so to speak. If they assumed far more than that (like Money actually slugging it out with Manny on a whim), it’s their problem.
uh-oh! A double trouble for Manny Pacquiao right now, not only he had a shoulder injury but also he’ll gonna face a sanction to Nevada Athletic Commission for not telling the truth about his injury just few hours before the main event on the so called “Fight of The Century” match: https://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/analysis-injured-pacquiao-faces-possible-sanctions-054032793–finance.html
And I thought that Manny Pacquiao is considered a born again Christian and why he’d lied to the boxing commissions in the 1st place? If you’re a true Christian, Pacman then you should had told the truth to them and leave the money behind that stained on that boxing event! Maybe you’d forgot to read this statement from the Holy Bible that the love of money is the root of all evil: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Timothy+6%3A10&version=KJV
End of my story.
more lawsuit against Pacquiao to come: https://ph.sports.yahoo.com/news/lawsuits-pile-over-pacquiao-injury-023605688–spt.html
btw, this is an ironic that he’s already a Born Again Christian yet he’d told a lie to the public about his shoulder injury & continued he’s fight against Mayweather. Religious fanaticism, Pinoy style at its finest!
What a load of b*** Pacquiao even with a broken arm did not disappoint he was engaging to watch and money well spent in my book. If you ever watched the marquez fight if 2 talented people actually slug it out one of them can actually win.
Now Mayweather on the other hand is an Las Vegas stooge if you ever watch his fights he’s an economic tool. Whose majority of wins are decided not by KO.. great fighters win by KO not decision fights.. Even the love taps by mayweather if you do a count (check youtube vids) you’ll find that pacquiao wins.. There are no fights that pacquiao throws less punches that his opponent even missed ones statistically speaking.. Pacquiao’s punches landed head and body clearly outnumber mayweather’s even on a close margin the fight was cooked from the start and finish. All Mayweather had to do is to not get KO! EZ peasy!
they fought to entertain, and those who watched were entertained, they couldn’t even forget it, so everybody won
I felt like I was the only Filipino who didn’t care about the fight. And I live in Las Vegas, 10 minutes from the MGM arena.
Funny, when I read this headline a week ago “PNoy to mark his place in history in final SONA” I’ve thought of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. The bout was expected to be the “Fight of the Century” but it turned out to be an anticlimax.