PAC WANTS TO BE AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD NAME
San Mateo, CA-When the Pay-Per-View numbers rolled in on Floyd Mayweather?s near shutout over welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir, it was clear that Mayweather was not boxing?s number one attraction. The fight had 325,000 buys, a lower figure than his previous bout against Zab Judah, who like Baldomir had never headlined a PPV. Could it have been that his long time promoter, Top Rank, was there to raise the numbers because expectations were high that this bout would sell more than Mayweather?s last bout? Now the focus is on Manny Pacquiao?s rubber match against Erik Morales, just two weeks after the last HBO PPV show, where fans left the arena before the final bell rang.
THIRD FIGHT BEING ON PPV A NO BRAINER
Manny Pacquiao is an icon amongst Filipinos around the entire world. With prices that were higher than any bout against Erik Morales (this being his last bout against Oscar Larios in Manila), the fight still sold out and many cable boxes in the San Francisco Bay Area blacked out due to high volumes of orders. The re-match against Erik Morales out sold its predecessor and the rubber match may very well have higher buys. This is because Erik Morales is a star, who has built a growing fan base the past eight years. He has sold out Las Vegas arenas multiple times and has headlined several PPV events before Mayweather even has his first. And to that ?Pacman Mania? and you can see why this will be a PPV success.
NON-PATRIARCHS SHOULD BUY THE FIGHT AS WELL
November 18th will one of sports? busiest days in recent memories. On the college football scene, Ohio State and Michigan will battle to see who will play for the National Championship. Fans in the west coast will witness rivals USC and California battle for the right to likely play in the Rose Bowl The night cap to a memorable day of sports should be the Grand Finale, a rubber match between two bitter rivals.
UFC PPV SHOULDN?T PRESENT A PROBLEM
On the same night, the fast rising Ultimate Fight ChampionshipS will present UFC: 65: Bad Intentions.. The loaded card will take place in Sacramento and will feature Filipino-American prospect, Brandon Vera. He has an undefeated mixed martial arts record of 7-0 and will take Frank Mir. The card will headline the rematch between Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre. According to Dave Meltzer, MMA and professional wrestling historian and overall genius in the sport, the UFC PPV numbers averaged 464,000 buys this year so far, a figure that is much higher than almost all of boxing. However, the featured writer of WrestlingObserver.com and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, expects that the overall hype surrounding the Grand Finale will result in the boxing PPV outselling this UFC event. This is just another reason how big Manny Pacquiao can potentially be with a huge victory of the Mexican great, Erik Morales.
IS THIS GATTI-WARD, OR GATTI-MAYWEATHER?
The harshest critics suspect that Erik Morales has been finished since 2005. All great fighters have one great fight left in them and most believe his upset win over Manny in the first encounter was Morales? last hurrah. Since that career defining win, Morales has never been the same, and it has only gotten worse. Therefore, boxing fans buying this PPV do so only to witness ?domestic violence? in a non-competitive match up. However, Erik Morales knows that his career is on the line. Not truly deserving this rubber match with Pacquiao, it was a clause in the contract that forced Pacquiao to once again fight Morales. Another loss will officially end the ?El Terrible? era and Morales will have no clauses to fall back on.
CAN AN IN SHAPE MORALES BEAT PACQUIAO?
Ignoring the fact that Morales has fought more brutal wars than anyone in boxing right now, can the former multi-division champion, who easily makes weight, beat Pacquiao? Obviously Morales will only weigh 130lbs for about 10 minutes (I?m guessing 10 minutes prior from stepping onto the scales this Friday). Assuming he simply ?doesn?t get tired?, the Mexican fully expects to repeat his performance in the first fight against Pacquiao. However, one can doubt if he can repeat that decision winning performance against a Pacquiao with two eyes and wearing Reyes gloves.
MANNY AND FELIX HAVE THINGS IN COMMON
Pacquiao is on the verge of being the featherweight?s version of Felix Trinidad, raking in huge PPV buys while thrilling the audience in every bout. With that evaluated status as a superstar, one receives bigger paychecks, bigger endorsements, and widespread mainstream popularity beyond the Filipino nation. For that to happen, Pacquiao must eliminate this featherweight icon and in memorable fashion. An in shape Morales can make realization (as inconceivable as it may have been back in 2001) for the GenSan puncher.
