Boxing 2014: Bob Arum Confident of High PPV Buys in China for Possible Pacquiao-Marquez 5 Bout
Perish the thought of the Dream Match between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Both camps indicated on Tuesday that the two pound-for-pound champions have other opponents in mind.
Mayweather has picked Sept 13 as his next fight; while his opponent is still unidentified, boxing experts believe Pacquiao is not on the short list.
In the case of the eight-division title holder from the Philippines, Top Rank is working to have a fifth bout between Pacquiao and Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez who beat on Saturday Mike Alvarado.
Top Rank boss Bob Arum is working for Pacquiao's next bout to be held in Macau, China, to boost pay-per-view revenue by tapping the Chinese market and to be less reliant on the American market.
Pacquiao, though, clarified that so far there is no date, venue or opponent for his next fight since all these are still being worked out by his promoter.
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But it seems that it is not only Pacquiao's fights that have lower PPV buys - with his April 12 bout versus Timothy Bradley having only between 750,000 and 800,000 PPV buys - but also Mayweather's matches. ESPN said that Money May's May 3 bout against Argentinean boxer Marcos Maidana got only between 850,000 and 900,000 PPV buys versus the more than 1 million projected by Mayweather.
Although Marquez did not yet commit to a Pacquaio-Marquez 5 rematch, Arum believes he could convince El Dinamita to meet the Pacman again. Prior to Marquez's Saturday bout, there were speculations he would be open again to the 4th rematch with Pacquiao so he could retire with 6 titles, the 6th being the WBO welterweight title currently held by Pacquiao.
However, if Arum fails to convince Marquez, plan B is to have Pacman fight Russian pugilist Ruslan Provodnikov or other Golden Boy Promotions boxers after he had mended fences with former champion Oscar dela Hoya who owns Golden Boy.