Pacquiao earns P1.3 billion (PPV generated 1.25 million buys)

Here’s one billion reasons why Manny Pacquiao should maximize his remaining potential earnings inside the ring.

Bob Arum, in a report by ESPN reveals Pacquiao will receive $22 million now that the official Pay-Per-View counting is about to be concluded.

Convert that to Philippine peso and that will translate to a whopping P1.3 billion based on yesterday’s 46.8 peso-dollar rate.

Arum’s estimation is based on an official HBO announcement that Pacquiao’s latest win over Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto generated 1.25 million buys and $70 million in domestic revenues.



The report said the numbers would still slightly increase as all other buys have still to be officially audited. Of the total PPV buys, 650,000 came from cable homes while 600,000 were from satellite feeds.

The official tally is sure to heat up the proposed megabout between the current pound-for-pound king Pacquiao and the once-retired but still undefeated former PPV ruler Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

“The way I look at it now, boxing is really on a roll,” Arum said. “We would be idiots now to slow the momentum and the only way we can keep the momentum is to make this fight.”

HBO sports president Ross Greenburg told the Associated Press that both Mayweather and Pacquiao owe it to the boxing public when it comes to realizing their commitment to the sport that gave them their current celebrity status.

“They have to deliver. The American public wants that fight. The two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world in the same weight class in the prime of their careers. It just doesn’t get any better than that,” Greenburg said.

Who gets the larger share of the pie is one issue that may hinder this gigantic bout but most experts privy to major boxing deals said a 50-50 split would be a fair deal for both Pacquiao and Mayweather if they soon realize how high the total revenue of their proposed fight would be.

On the side of Pacquiao, his political ambition as well as family matters are making the Filipino sensation hold back any official announcement about his future.

Pacquiao’s mother Aling Dionisia, who like his son is now into movies, has urged the boxing superstar to finally hang up his gloves and avoid any physical harm.

But surprisingly Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee said she wants his husband to fight one more time and shut the mouth of Mayweather in a stunning NBN-4 interview during last Saturday’s live coverage at the Quirino Grandstand.

“Siguro isa pang laban at nang matigil na ang yabang ni Mayweather,” Jinkee told NBN’s Snow Badua. “Kung dati confident ako sa mga laban ni Manny, I think yung fight kay Mayweather na siguro ako pinaka-confident.”

Boxing’s poster boy Oscar De La Hoya, after suffering humiliating losses to Mayweather and Pacquiao in his last two marquee fights also wants his tormentors to fight each other.

Already a successful promoter via his Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), De La Hoya sees no sane reason why the highly-anticipated bout will not happen next year.