THE pay-per-view numbers for the “Fire Power” showdown between pound-for-pound phenomenon Manny Pacquiao and former World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto may reach 1.5 million buys.
That’s the view of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum after the early numbers came in for last Saturday’s fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which Pacquiao won by an impressive 12th-round TKO.
Puerto Rican reporter Rey Colon of “El Vocero” claimed the mega-fight drew approximately 2 million buys and around $120 million in revenues.
“I have pretty much the final numbers for Puerto Rico alone and it [fight] set a record by surpassing the previous record of 80,000 for the Felix Trinidad–Oscar De La Hoya fight,” said Arum. “The Pacquiao-Cotto fight did a little bit more than 110,000.”
Stating it was only a guess, Arum figured the fight would do around 1.3 million, although he said there were no numbers from New York, Pennsylvania, which are big points, adding that he didn’t even have any California numbers, although he had the figures for San Diego and Hawaii, “which were good numbers.”
Arum recalled that the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight last December did 1.25 million. “In the East, so far we are doing 40 percent better and in the West we are doing about 10 percent less. We are happy because we did well over a million homes and I think it will be closer to 1.5 million.”
Meanwhile, Pacquiao has had a temporary splint put on his right hand because of a contusion.
Arum informed said that Pacquiao had gone to a doctor in Los Angeles to get his ear taken care of and any remaining blood or fluid from a ruptured cartilage cleaned up and have his hand attended to.
Arum joined his friend Dr. Jeffrey Roth M.D, a well-known plastic surgeon in allaying fears that the bleeding in his ear was dangerous, insisting that Pacquiao will be fine.
In fact, Arum said he was going to talk to Pacquiao a few minutes after Standard Today’s call, about his next fight before he leaves for Manila.
“Pacquiao is going to come back [to the US] in a month or so,” said Arum “The biggest clamor for is [Floyd] Mayweather Jr. and there is no impediment on making that fight on our side. None. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach likes the fight, Bruce Trampler [Top Rank’s matchmaker] likes the fight and they really think we have a great opportunity to make history by knocking Mayweather out.”
Arum said the question is whether Mayweather “is serious or is he posturing?”
Responding to Mayweather’s statement that Pacquiao hasn’t once called him out, Arum said: “Manny is not a ghetto kid that calls out another fighter. Pacquiao told me he wants to do that fight and that’s enough.”
