Fans can appreciate Roach’s view more in the wake of Bob Arum’s recent disclosure that Pacquiao will no longer receive the usual $20 million guarantee he got whenever he is featured as a pay-per-view (PPV) event’s main attraction.
Boxing Scene’s Steve Kim writes: “According to the veteran promoter, Pacquiao is no longer guaranteed $20 million like he has been in the past.”
“Manny understands that the time when we guaranteed him $20 million for a fight – because it was always there – is no longer the case,” Arum said. “So we’re talking about a guarantee of far, far less.”
There is absolutely no sense in Pacquiao facing Terence Crawford or Jessie Vargas if the eight-division world champ receives “far, far less” than the $20 million usual guarantee.
If Arum wants to build Crawford as the next PPV star by using Pacquiao to boost his PPV image, the veteran promoter should be able to compensate Pacquiao by maintaining his usual $20 million guarantee. It’s his investment in building up his next PPV star and ultimately his new cash cow.
Pacquiao’s overhead has gone up in the wake of his rapid transformation as the world’s second highest-paid athlete — he needs to take care of his training staff and huge entourage whenever he trains for a big fight. Paying him a measly amount would be unfair, if not downright insulting.
Arum should instead work harder to secure a Mayweather rematch for Pacquiao because it is the only fight that is guaranteed to hit over a million PPV buys — and perhaps half of the 4.6 million buys that Mayweather and Pacquiao made from their fight last year. If he does, Arum will have no problem with the $20 million guarantee.
On the fighters’ side, it would be mutually beneficial to both Mayweather and Pacquiao to do the fight within the year as they are quickly aging. If they wait for another year to stage the rematch, there is a possibility that no one will care about their fight because they’re already past their primes.
Pacquiao’s manager and adviser Michael Koncz should be able to lay the cards open to Pacquiao with regards to the sum they expect to get out of facing Crawford or Vargas. It won’t be surprising to find out that Pacquiao won’t make money out of it because of his new level of spending, especially now that he will be travelling with tight security, being a newly elected senator of the Philippines.
Arum claims he has now a good rapport with erstwhile rival Al Haymon, who advises Mayweather, and there is little doubt they both can persuade Mayweather to do the rematch within the year. It would be a win-win situation for everyone including the fans who believe Pacquiao deserves a rematch with two good hands working for him this time.
If Arum wants to get maximum exposure for Crawford in his wish to make him his new cash cow to replace the fast aging Pacquiao, he needs to wait until Pacquiao is done with Mayweather this year.
