Despite the announcement earlier in the week that the MGM Grand has officially sold out for the May
7th clash between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley, Top Rank is discovering that the widely- criticized match-up is a tougher sell than even they had imagined. As a matter of fact, the lack of buzz in the boxing community for this contest is palpable.
Looking at things objectively and not from the point of view of a fan or supporter, Pacquiao’s selection of opponents has been, to be optimistic, rather opportunistic.
Being a heavy betting favorite in each of his last four contests, Team Pacquiao’s main chore was in trying to market his bouts to the casual and hardcore fan alike. With his massive popularity, Manny will always be a draw, but even the biggest of draws needs a marketable and intriguing opponent to help boost buy rates.
Against Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto, the event was an assured success due to both fighters’ loyal fan base from England and Puerto Rico, respectively. By all estimates, both could easily have brought in between 300,000 and 400,000 buys from their countrymen and long-time fans.
Against Antonio Margarito, a loyal Mexican fan base was dumped into the mix, as well as the buzz created by the controversial Tijuana Tornado’s dubious return to the ring.
Even against the relatively unknown Joshua Clottey, the event could count on a publicity boost created by the debut of Dallas Cowboys Stadium as a boxing venue.
But Shane Mosley?
Coming off a poorly-received pay-per-view against Sergio Mora, Mosley can hardly be seen as a viable, marketable opponent with a clearly-defined and loyal fan base. And, in the fight before last, he lost a one-sided, unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather jr., so many are just not seeing him as a viable opponent in terms ability to compete or challenge the eight-division champ.
Despite the Pacquiao publicity machine cranking at full speed and churning out story after story, the
buzz among fight fans is just not there and not even some mainstream exposure on CBS seems to be helping this promotion. No doubt, Pacquiao-friendly media sources like Boxingscene and Examiner.com will be working overtime to help push this show in the final three weeks before the event, but, this time, it might not work.
There’s just no angle to this fight, no selling point. Manny is expected to win fairly easily and Mosley, who is truly a nice guy, is not the type of opponent who can ignite controversy or, even, much public interest at this point. The Mosley of old, who was a supremely talented and entertaining fighter, sold fights on his talents alone, but this is the 39-year old version of “Sugar” Shane.
But Pacquiao-Mosley doing more poorly than expected may be for the best. It may make the folks at Top Rank and Team Pacquiao realize that they just can’t sell any old product to Pacquiao fans. It may make them understand that most real fight fans want competitive match-ups for the top fighters and not easily-marketable mismatches disguised and promoted as real contests.
If Pacquiao-Mosley tanks, we may actually see Manny in the ring with someone with a legitimate chance of beating him.
Pacquiao deserves the opportunity to prove himself against the types of fighters he’s said to be avoiding. And the fans deserve the right to see a real war where the ending isn’t pretty much pre-determined.
