A shrewd businessman that he is aside from being an Ivy League lawyer, Bob Arum made no mincemeat about what all Manny Pacquiao fights are all about from hence on.
They boil down to the Benjamins. And in case you are not familiar with them, they happen to be the faces in one of the denominations of the American currency.
Who brings the biggest money on the table will have the inside track in the Pacquiao sweepstakes, plain and simple.
Counting out the biggest prize money of them all ? Floyd Mayweather Jr ? it looks like Shane Mosley is going to be Pacquiao?s opponent in the spring of 2011.
As Top Rank?s Bob Arum said, three names are now clearly in the radar as far as who gets to fight Pacquiao next.
These three boxers have different fan base and cash register appeals. But I believe Arum wants his guy to be guaranteed at least US$20 million in all his fights next year.
And by the looks of it, only a Mosley fight can deliver that pile of cash in April. Juan Manuel Marquez may be able to match that but not until he fights at least one top-tiered welterweights not named Manny Pacquiao sometime next year.
Mosley may be an ageing fighter but he rings a name among American boxing fans. If the Antonio Margarito fight generated 1.15 million pay per view (PPV) buys for Pacquiao and Bob Arum, I do not see any reason why a Mosley fight will not be able to top that.
Assuming a Pacquiao-Mosley extravaganza could only match the Margarito fight, Pacquiao stands to earn at least US$25 million on the following purse split scenarios:
? Pacquiao is guaranteed US$20 million as purse money plus upside of PPV sale
? Pacquiao gets 80 percent of the live gate receipts, close circuit TV rights and sale of fight mementos and commercials in the US and exclusive rights over free and cable TV in the Philippines
? Pacquiao gets another 20 percent of the promotional profit from Top Rank
? In return, Mosley gets US$3 million in purse guarantee and a dollar or two for every PPV buys.
A Marquez fight in April, the one that many scribes are lobbying for, will not attract as much PPV as the Mosley fight. In fact, his last fight was not even on PPV and attracted less than 5,000 fight fans at the MGM Garden Arena that is easily filled up with 17,000 enthusiastic fans whenever Pacquiao fights in Las Vegas. Marquez has to sell himself with one or two more fights to make the casual fight fans believe he can match up with Pacquiao at the welterweight class.
Andre Berto is virtually a no name among the PPV audience in the US and making the fight will drive Bob Arum crazy selling it on PPV.
While both Marquez and Berto can not command purses bigger than Mosley, they also have marketability as their downside.
But with Manny Pacquiao, nothing is definite until he signs that dotted line. Ion fact, sometimes a signed contract is not a guarantee. Just ask Oscar de la Hoya and the American-Mexican entertainment promoter who is now suing Pacquiao for breach of contract.
