HBO Pay per View has televised Manny Pacquiao?s last seven or eight fights and they have benefited well from Pacquiao?s resurging popularity. Though not all of Pacman?s fights were instant blockbusters, the support that HBO gave to the Filipino congressman were enough to merit their entire team an average of one million PPV buys over the last three years. Not bad at all from someone from Asia who doesn?t even use English as his primary language.
So when I first heard about Bob Arum?s plan to stage the PPV broadcast Pacquiao vs. Mosley outside the arms of the powerful HBO, I thought it was a crazy move. Earlier this week, it was confirmed that CBS/Showtime will now host the Pacquiao-Mosley card and other Top Rank fights such as the Miguel Cotto/Ricardo Mayorga bout and will (temporarily?) leave HBO. The way I see it, Showtime easily snatched Pac and Top Rank from HBO. How did that happened? Was it all about money or was it something else?
Manny Pacquiao is one of HBO?s top guns and letting him go over the company?s main rival network Showtime may seem impossible and unimaginable. Besides, HBO has done nothing wrong with its commitment towards Pacquiao and Top Rank though there were unconfirmed reports that Arum may have some ?sulking? moments with HBO towards the company?s stance on the proposed Miguel Cotto-Vanes Martirosyan bout. Some might say that Top Rank and Pacquiao abandoned the network, which brought them millions of dollars and worldwide fame, but I believe it is a smart business decision on Bob Arum?s part. If we look at it on the good side of business, and of course the mainstream attention to the sport, Top Rank cards on Showtime would be beneficially great for boxing.
Showtime was a dominant network in the early 80?s and late 90?s putting on classics like Mike Tyson. Because of its much wider audience (115 million compared to HBO?s 30 million), boxing became a household sensation as it reached mainstream audience. Boxing became number one as both networks, HBO and Showtime, battled for supremacy which led to many great and entertaining fights. But as time went on, HBO became the number one PPV network and almost all of the big and mega fights were all under the umbrella of HBO. I believe it is now the right time that boxing reach a much larger audience. Bob Arum, I presume, wants to have Pacquiao known to every American as many as possible before retiring. It makes sense for Top Rank to explore different avenues and market the Pac-Mosley fight differently. But whatever the reason is, it is really good to see Showtime hosting one of the biggest cards this year and it will be interesting to see how they impose to boost the overall image of the sport of boxing, especially if the bout turns out to be as good as advertised.
So ladies and gentlemen, it?s SHOWTIME!!! BTW, does this mean that Money-Pac 24/7 reality showdown will be over? Let?s dissect the facts on the next article.
