Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao has been more than five years overdue.
The claim for this fight started when Pacquiao retired Oscar De La Hoya in their welterweight clash in 2008. But Mayweather during that time was in his shell, serving his self imposed retirement.
The clamor for this fight became more intense after Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO's) blew Ricky Hatton in Round 2 and battered Miguel Cotto too, in route, to Round 11 stoppage.
Mayweather (47-0, 26 KO's) came out of retirement and fought Juan Manuel Marquez -- the fighter Pacquiao struggled to win in three fights. Until Marquez leveled Pacman in 2012, to put a decisive performance to end a rivalry that started in 2004.
Mayweather won with ease against Marquez at welterweight.
In 2013, Mayweather made a stunning decision; jumping to Showtime from HBO. He got a multi-million dollar 6-fight deal in three years that makes Mayweather to fight twice a year. He fought Guerrero first and then the Mexican young top gun Canelo Alvarez that breaks all records in terms of revenue.
Showtime's massive deal with the number one pound-for-pound kingpin made a major hurdle for the network in 2013 over rival network HBO.
Showtime secured the best and compelling fights in 2013. Many top fighters in the sport of boxing follow Mayweather's lead to Showtime. Most of them signed and advised by the mysterious Al Haymon.
Showtime's reasons to deal with Mayweather were explained by Paul Magno of "The Boxing Tribune". In Magno's Monday column, "Magno's Monday Rant" He said that Showtime is not making fortune from Mayweather.
No, Showtime is not making a fortune from Mayweather, nor did they ever intend on making a fortune from his presence on their team.Signing Mayweather was all about publicity and, perhaps more importantly, about luring to the network all of the top shelf fighters eager to take a crack at boxing’s cash cow. It was also a move to formally invite all other Al Haymon-advised fighters to follow their leader to the new network." Magno writes.
I think magno is partly right here. I agree that Showtime might use Mayweather solely for publicity. Having the biggest draw fighter in their network would mean topping rival network HBO.
But I don't agree that Showtime is not making big fortune from Mayweather. Not until Showtime will pressure Mayweather to fight the Filipino star before his contract ends.
If Showtime will not demand for Floyd to fight Pacman, then the network is comfortable with the revenue Mayweather were generating by fighting hand pick opponents.
So, far Mayweather has very limited choices for opponent in his next fight that would hit the desired revenue, if he chooses not to fight Pacquiao.
Earlier, I wrote an article hinting that Showtime might pressure Mayweather to fight Canelo. Floyd's first fight against Robert Guerrero reported under-performed.
Until now I never saw any report of the PPV and gross revenue of the Mayweather Maidana II. It is a fact that I can conclude that the rematch did not perform well business wise. So, for two straight occasions, the Mayweather fight under-performed.
Then, if Magno is right, I should see a pressure coming from Showtime to force Mayweather to fight Pacquiao. I believe, although 5 years overdue, Mayweather-Pacquaio is still the biggest fight to date. Each fighter estimated to guarantee 50M dollars each fighter.
If Showtime indeed, lost for investing on Mayweather, then network has still two fights left on Mayweather's contract. They can still work for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight and yield from the investment.
There were reports saying that two big networks, HBO and Showtime are initiating talks to put on the fight that as a boxing fan has long been waiting for.
Two of America's biggest TV sports network, HBO and Showtime, are reportedly initiating talks on how to bring Mayweather and Pacquiao in the ring for the staging of the biggest boxing event with expectedly the biggest boxing payday for both fighters estimated at least $50-M each." writes Manny Pinol on Philboxing.com.
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