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Op-Ed: Pacquiao needs KO win over Horn to sell future fights

Except for his fight against Floyd Mayweather which garnered 4.6 million in pay-per-view (PPV) subscriptions in 2015, all his PPV revenues for his post-Marquez 1V fight failed to hit 1.0 million buys with the lowest recorded at 300,000 for his fight against Jessie Vargas last year.

While it is true that the PPV sales in the US have been declining the past few years, Pacquiao‘s PPV numbers shouldn’t have gone below 500,000 considering his huge fan base in the US and elsewhere in the world.

But the real reason why his numbers are down could be attributed to the absence of KO wins which he has been known for in the early to middle part of his career.

Pacquiao’s long-time trainer, Freddie Roach has blamed Pacquiao’s shoulder injury which became apparent even before his fight against Mayweather in 2015.

But even after Pacquiao’s successful surgery right after the Mayweather fight in 2015, Pacquiao fought twice but his PPV numbers were still down.

Boxing analysts say Pacquiao needs to score a KO win in order to regain public interest in his future fights.

In the build up to the upcoming Pacquiao-Horn fight, the fighting senator from the Philippines said he isn’t done with boxing at this time.

“I’m still handling my boxing career. I’m still there. I’m not done yet in boxing.” Pacquiao told reporters upon arrival in Brisbane.

Roach, who has repeatedly said he would be the first to tell Pacquiao to retire the moment he sees him slowing down in training or in a fight, believes Pacquiao is good for a few more fights.

When Pacquiao fought Timothy Bradley for the third time, Roach was impressed with his post-shoulder surgery performance. Pacquiao knocked Bradley down twice en route to a unanimous decision with all judges scoring 116-110 in favor of Pacquiao. It was short of a KO win for the 38-year-old neophyte senator.

On Nov. 5 2016, Pacquiao faced then WBO welterweight titlist Jessie Vargas. Like the third Bradley fight, Pacquiao also knocked down Vargas in the second round as Pacquiao again impressed Roach with his performance.

Roach believes a KO win is now possible against Horn on July 2.

“Manny hasn’t scored a knockout in a long time and it’s time that changed. He is working his ass off for this fight and we will be keeping the world title,” Roach told Courrier Mail.

“We’re going for the knock out,” Roach added.

If Pacquiao scores a KO win over Horn in Brisbane, his next fight would be easier to sell and his long-time promoter Bob Arum would be happy to arrange another lucrative fight for him and probably reinstate his usual $20 million guaranteed fee.

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