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Manny Pacquiao takes on Antonio Margarito in November at a still do be confirmed location, and one of the biggest questions surrounding the fight is what kind of buy rate the pair can achieve.
Pacquiao is as popular as ever despite a second failed attempt to put together a fight with arch rival Floyd Mayweather. He is also once again breaking records by challenging for an 8th world title in an 8th weight class. Margarito will be in his first big fight back since his suspension for using loaded hand wraps against Shane Mosley. His first actual return bout having been a tune up in his native Mexico.
So just what either is bringing to the table is as yet unclear. Margarito is something of an unknown quantity due to his time away and devastating loss before that. Pacquiao is as ever a big draw, but much like before his last fight is once again is a prohibitive favorite. The intrigue surrounding his fight against Miguel Cotto last year for the WBO welterweight title is not there for his jump to 154lbs. While some questioned his ability to make the climb to welterweight, light middleweight isn't being perceived to be as much of a challenge.
Equally as importantly to Pacquiao at least is whether they can come close to the 1.4 million pay per view sales that Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley achieved in May. The closer Pacquiao can get to that figure against Margarito the better the negotiating position he will be in should the two of them again resume talks later this year for a possible fight next May.
Pacquiao's drawing power?
Against obscure Ghanian Joshua Clottey last time out, Pacquiao sold 700,000 pay per views, the vast majority of which were probably to people who had never heard of the challenger before. Those that did know who Clottey was knew him to be tough and rugged, but also that he would also probably not make for an enthralling fight. Previously to this, Pacquiao achieved a buy rate of 1.25 million against Miguel Cotto. The numbers perhaps boosted in that case because of the fact that he was making a jump up in weight class, and definitely helped by the drawing power of Cotto himself.
Margarito's drawing power?
Although getting a rough idea of Pacquiao's drawing power is easy enough to do from recent performances, it isn't so clear what kinds of numbers Margarito can draw these days. After his recent suspension and subsequent year away from the sport, it is not yet clear how many of his previous fans he has left. He will undoubtedly always be fairly popular in his native Mexico, but that doesn't always equate into being a big pay per view seller.
Miguel Cotto and Margarito in 2008 managed around 450,000 buys, which was considered a big success at the time and was one of the bigger events that year. Against Shane Mosley in 2009 though, with Margarito then as the champion, the fight wasn't even shown in pay per view in the end, suggesting that he isn't the draw that Cotto was. His return bout against little known Roberto Garcia was a fairly low key affair, and sold poorly even in Mexico.
Source: Examiner.com
