Manny Pacquiao News Update: Manny Pacquiao accomplished just about everything he set out to do when he faced Bradley in a rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He reclaimed the WBO welterweight title he'd lost to Bradley via dubious split decision on June 9, 2012.
The elite boxer used his angles, his footwork and his quick hands to win 10 of 12 rounds on one judge's scorecard and eight of 12 on the other two, Yahoo Sports reported.
While Pacquiao regained much of his honor, it didn't translate into pay-per-view dominance. Pacquiao set an incredibly high standard as a pay-per-view draw from Dec. 6, 2008, when he met Oscar De La Hoya, through Nov. 12, 2011, when he faced Juan Manuel Marquez for the third time.
In the seven fights in that period, Pacquiao sold a minimum of 1.15 million pay-per-views in five of them. He averaged 1.079 million buys in those seven matches.
The pay-per-view numbers for the rematch with Bradley have yet to be released, but by all indications, they won't hit one million. It's likely to settle into the 800,000-to-825,000 range when the numbers are finally counted.
The range will bring in a massive amount of pay-per-view revenue, but it's significantly less than Pacquiao had been doing not that long ago and it leaves him badly trailing rival Floyd Mayweather in sales.
In addition, Kevin Iole, Yahoo Sports reporter said that the most obvious answer for that decline, of course, is Pacquiao's failure to score a knockout in any of his last eight fights. Knockouts aren't a prerequisite for sales - Mayweather is in the midst of a streak in which each of his last seven fights was announced at one million or more in sales, yet he has just one KO in that time - but they had become expected of Pacquiao.
Fans tuned in to see Pacquiao destroy his opposition and doing so, particularly in the 2008-09 era when he was at his peak blowing out bigger and stronger men, led to escalating pay-per-view sales and made him a superstar.
Regular ongoing media attention plays a major role in a fighter's success which Pacquiao missed for many of those 11 months he was off due to health reasons.
The Pacquiao-Rios fight in Macau, his comeback after knockout loss to Marquez, sold 475,000 on pay-per-view, the lowest for a Pacquiao fight since he did 206,000 in a lightweight title fight against David Diaz on June 28, 2008.
The UFC found out repeatedly when it put on pay-per-views from outside of North and South America. The decline in sales rate is a significant reason why it hasn't held a pay-per-view in Europe, Asia or Australia since UFC 127 at Sydney on Feb. 27, 2011.
The event in Macau was well-staged, but there were few North American media at the event and the sales suffered.
Pacman is going to generate a lot of money no matter whom he fights, but the days of $60 million or more in one night are history unless he finally gets in with Mayweather.
Pacquiao remains a valuable property, but to maximize his value, there is no question he needs to get a deal done with Mayweather, report says.
