IT WAS pegged to be the biggest payout in boxing history so the expectation was that the ring action would match the money.
The money was there, indeed. Huge as the revenue estimate is at US $400 million, said to be more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of 29 countries. Imagine how revenue from one boxing encounter could be larger than the amount of goods produced by a country in a year.
HBO boxing sportscaster Jim Lampley said during the weigh-in of Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and undefeated American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May 1 that the $400 million expected revenue is ?larger than the annual GDP of 29 different countries.?
This GDP claim made by HBO/Showtime in its pay-per-view broadcast was knocked out or rejected by www.politifact.com, a website that finds the truth in public statements.
The website said there are only six countries, not 29, with a GDP of less than $400 million, as it cited the World Bank?s 2013 ranking. It defined GDP as the monetary value of all goods and services that an economy produces in a year and it is a standard measurement of an economy?s size.
The six tiny island-nations with less than $400 million GDP are Micronesia–$316 million, Sao Tome and Principe–$311 million, Palau–$247 million, Marshall Islands–$191 million, Kiribati– $169 million, and Tuvalu–$38 million.
This is an example of the hype generated before the fight and how it succeeded to raise expectations. Pronouncements by Pacquiao about giving the fans the fight they deserved fueled hopes for an action-filled bout.
That was not what happened, and many thought the ring encounter between two boxers said to be the best in their generation didn?t live up to expectations.
Mayweather didn?t change his way of boxing. He was known to run around the ring to win as a defensive boxer. Pacquiao didn?t show anything new in his own style.
He knew Mayweather was taller and reached farther but Pacquiao played the same and even withheld some punches. His killer instinct, that made some of his past fights exciting, wasn?t there. He said before fighting Mayweather that his killer instinct was back. It wasn?t.
Big money played a role in making this fight happen. And big money played a role in how the fight ended. As some analysts pointed out, both boxers were assured of big bucks, whatever the outcome, that there was no hunger in them to do more.
The fight ended as all hype with the result leaving fans unsatisfied. Just like the GDP story.
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Would you pay to watch a rematch of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight?
This was the question posted on the Sun.Star website?s special on Pacquiao at http://blogs.sunstar.com.ph/pacman/.
The poll was uploaded on the blog and on the Sun.Star–Philippine News account on Facebook last Sunday night. The response? An overwhelming ? ?No.?
?Ano ka hilo. This is not boxing. It?s business and money-making,? said Loren Sadicon.
?No more rematch, this fight is so disappointing,? said Maybelle Puerto Palomar.
?No! Let Manny hold his head high. He has nothing left to prove. He was the better fighter (not boxer) today and Mayweather does not deserve to stand in the same ring again with Manny,? said Dave Willmette.
