MANNY Pacquiao earned at least $20 million from his purse and share in pay-per-view earnings from his showdown with Miguel Cotto, the USA Today newspaper reported Thursday.
“Pacquiao earned at least $20 million for the fight with Cotto, and the Puerto Rican will make at least $12.5 million if it reached one million pay-per-views buys,” the newspaper said.
Minus the 30-percent tax take by the US Internal Revenue, the $1-million trainer’s fee of Freddie Roach, plus other trainers’ and conditioning fees, cost of accommodation, airline tickets, food, allowances and miscellaneous expenses, Pacquiao could end up netting around $10 million.
The only official statement on Pacquiao’s purse as indicated in his fight contract with the Nevada State Athletic Commission was that the Filipino boxing hero had been guaranteed $7.5 million.
The gate from the “Fire Power” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was $8.84 million with 15,470 tickets sold.
That’s 3,500 more tickets sold and $2 million more than what Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s comeback from a near two-year layoff drew when he fought Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in September on Mexican independence weekend, USA Today said.
Even better, no tickets were sold beneath face value for Pacquiao-Cotto. For Mayweather’s bout, 94 tickets were sold at 50-percent discount and 895 were comps or giveaways, while just 46 comps were doled out for Pacquiao-Cotto.
Pacquiao, who began his career at 106 pounds, won a major belt in his seventh different weight class and captured a share of the lineal welterweight championship with a 12th-round stoppage of Cotto. Mayweather is the division’s former champion.
The fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather has not been made yet, but Las Vegas casinos are already taking bets on who will win if the two acknowledged best pound-for-pound fighters ever get into the ring.
Pacquiao, coming off his dominating 12th- round win over Cotto, opened as an 8-5 favorite at sports books operated by Station Casinos, and it did not take long for bettors to take a side. Several $20,000 bets were put down on Mayweather, forcing the line down to 7-5 in the early going, said Art Manteris, the casino operator’s vice president of sports book operations.
“It’s been pretty decisive in the early going,” Manteris said. “I think I made the line a little too high, but that’s the nature of the business.”
Manteris said he made Pacquiao the favorite based largely on the public perception of his big win over Cotto. Most of the early bets, he said, came from professional handicappers, who thought the line was too high.
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said he was ready to begin negotiations with Mayweather’s promoter on a fight, while Mayweather issued a statement Monday saying he wanted to hear from Pacquiao himself that he really wanted the fight.
“Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer, talk for him,” Mayweather said.
“I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself.”
Pacquiao told The Associated Press last month he didn’t think Mayweather wanted to fight him, and criticized the undefeated fighter for fighting too defensively and not trying to entertain fans. With AP
