Arum forbids the Pacquiao-Hatton numbers, and here are the numbers
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Veteran promoter Bob Arum has been reluctant to allow pay-per-view numbers to be released after the triumphant second-round knockout performance by his fighter, Manny Pacquiao, on May 2 against England’s Ricky Hatton.
‘These early numbers are never accurate, so I forbid these numbers to be released for six months until everything is settled,’ Arum said. ‘I’m sick and tired of releasing these numbers that are not accurate. They’re just projections. The fighters hear it, then they complain if those aren’t the final numbers.’
Nevertheless, sources with information about those numbers who were not authorized by Arum to divulge them said there were at least 825,000 pay-per-view buys in the U.S. for Pacquiao-Hatton, and that the final number may rise to 850,000. More buys will come from England, but authorities say those numbers do actually require months to be tabulated.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. knew the numbers. His own December 2007 fight with Hatton finished with a reported 925,000 buys. And as Mayweather prepares to return to the ring July 18 for his first fight since a brief retirement, he maintains nothing has happened to let Pacquiao surpass him as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter.
‘Numbers,’ Mayweather said of the Pacquiao-Hatton figures Monday, ‘don’t lie.’
Even Arum expects Mayweather’s popularity -- substantially escalated by his 2007 victories over Oscar De La Hoya and Hatton and his memorable turns on HBO’s reality series ‘24/7’ -- to carry Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez to PPV buys beyond the March 2008 Pacquiao-Marquez number (408,000).
Tickets for that bout go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster.
‘Both Pacquiao and Mayweather have had tremendous exposure since [Pacquiao-Marquez II],’ Arum said of a split-decision bout won by Pacquiao.
‘I know the numbers in Manny’s fight against Hatton were good, we did very well,’ he said, adding that Pacquiao is owed a percentage of each pay-per-view dollar earned.
That said, Arum said that thoughthere are calls to make a third Pacquiao-Marquez fight, that bout ‘will probably never happen’ if Marquez -- moving up in weight from 135 pounds to 144 -- loses to Mayweather.
‘This fight [Mayweather-Marquez] is not seen as particularly competitive,’ said Arum, who used to promote both fighters. ‘If Marquez, by some stroke of luck, beats Mayweather, then sure it’ll happen. But if Marquez loses, why fight him? It won’t be a mega-fight. And that’s what Manny wants.’
-- Lance Pugmire
