PACQUIAO TO EARN ADDITIONAL $5.2 M FROM PAY PER VIEW
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 11 Dec 2008
Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao stands to earn an additional $5.2 million from pay-per-view revenues generated by his “Dream Match” in which he battered Oscar De La Hoya into submission after eight rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last Sunday, Manila Time.
With HBO PPV Chief Mark Taffet reporting 1.25 million pay-per-view buys which translates into $70 million in revenues, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum described the numbers as “unbelievable considering the economy.” He indicated that when all the reports are in it could reach 1.35 or 1.4 million.
The all-time record was achieved in "The World Awaits" showdown between De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr with 2.4 million buts while at No.2 was the De La H oya showdown with Felix "Tito" Trinidad in 1999 which generated 1.4 million buys.
In an overseas telephone conversation with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Arum said the promotional tour which kicked off at the historic Statue of Liberty and the 24/7 series by HBO which he described as “fantastic” contributed to making the fight a huge success both in the jam-packed MGM Grand Garden Arena and on pay-per-view.
Arum praised Filipinos at home and those who live in the US for supporting Pacquiao. He noted that although Filipinos in the US “are not the most affluent, they are okay, but they really support Manny.”
Based on $70 million in PPV revenues, normally 50 percent goes to transmission, distribution, PPV promotions and other expenses which would leave $35 million to be shared by Pacquiao and De La Hoya on the revenue split of 32 percent for Pacquiao and 68 percent for De La Hoya.
This would give Pacquiao an additional $5.2 million above the $6million guaranteed purse earlier disclosed to us by Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer. The entire amount will be taxable. Because De La Hoya’s guaranteed purse was $20 million he will actually receive an additional $3.8 million from PPV income.
The PPV numbers also made the Pacquiao-De La Hoya “Dream Match” the third biggest selling non-heavyweight fight in the history of the sport placing it No. 9 overall in the all-time list.
The recent title fight between undefeated Welshman Joe Calzaghe and former pound-for-pound king Roy Jone Jr recorded total buys of a mere 225,000 which paled in comparison to the Pacquiao-De La Hoya bout and prompted Calzaghe to claim boxing is a dying sport.
Arum disagreed with Calzaghe pointing out that Pacquiao can take over from De La Hoya as the standard bearer for the sport. He said “I really think that’s going to happen. Even here in America there is a tremendous fascination among people, with Pacquiao. They are intrigued by him, they know who he is although they didn’t know that much before except the Filipinos and Mexicans. Now the regular Anglo population knows Pacquiao. He is beginning to get what looks like a great following and it crosses over all kinds of lines – economic, racial, everything.”
Arum added “as long as Manny is in the sport with his popularity even in this bad economy, boxing is in for a boom.”
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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