Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn could play a key role in PacMan's future in boxing
With large TV audience expected, Pacquiao's brand could get the refurbishing it needs
•
4 min read
It would be easy to dismiss Manny Pacquiao's return Saturday in Australia as nothing more than a money grab considering the fact that most have never heard of his opponent.
But there's a showcase opportunity in play for Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs), now that promoter Top Rank has inked a last-minute deal with ESPN to broadcast the fight in the United States, that could play a major impact in who the Filipino star fights next.
Still, it's hard to ignore the sense of genuine malaise for fight fans as Pacquiao is set to defend his welterweight title against the unbeaten -- and largely unheralded -- hometown fighter Jeff Horn (16-0, 11 KOs) at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET). In many ways, it's completely justified.
The fight, which will air live in Australia on Sunday, offers a clear step down in opponent for the 38-year-old Pacquaio, snapping his incredible 22-fight streak of pay-per-view appearances dating back to his 2005 junior lightweight title defense against Hector Velasquez.
Considering the money Pacquiao and promoter Bob Arum are likely set to make for taking their show on the road "Down Under," it's hard to fault Pacquiao too much for taking a soft touch. Not only have many great champions (Muhammad Ali included) done the same thing historically late in their career, the eight-division world champion has spent much of his 22 years as a pro matching himself difficultly while making bold leaps in weight.
What's disconcerting in this case for Pacquiao, however, is how remarkably close to the elite level he remains despite closing in on 40, which tends to amp up expectations. Pacquiao remains in the top 10 on just about everyone's pound-for-pound list and has almost improbably retained his speed and sharp boxing skills despite the grind of 67 pro bouts.
Last year, with dominant victories over Timothy Bradley Jr. in their third fight and Jesse Vargas for the WBO welterweight title, Pacquiao became a sleeper contender for fighter of the year.
But don't look past the strategic element of what this fight could represent for Pacquiao financially, in ways that go beyond whatever site fee Arum was able to procure.
Despite the outlier of his record-breaking 4.6 million PPV buys against Floyd Mayweather in 2015, Pacquiao's brand has been quietly on the decline for years. With HBO uninterested in promoting his last fight against Vargas in November on PPV, Top Rank produced it independently to the tune of "around" 300,000 buys.
In one sense, the entire boxing PPV business has been on the decline (with Mayweather-Pacquiao hurting matters much more than it helped). But Pacquiao, a poor salesman with his mouth to begin with, hasn't helped his own cause in the ring with one solid, yet increasingly boring boxing clinic after another.
Eventually, the general public caught up to the fact that Pacquiao, who hasn't registered a knockout since 2010 (let that number sink in), is no longer anywhere close to the same fearless, destructive force he was in his welterweight prime. Factors like age and the psychological impact of his violent, one-punch knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 likely played a huge part. But so did, it appears, the drastic changes he made to his personal and spiritual life.
It's because of those reasons that Pacquiao's return to ESPN, against a tailor-made opponent who comes forward, feels like such a strategic move toward the future.
Pacquiao is such a household name on his own that just the offer of a free fight should draw a level of viewership that even HBO couldn't produce. And what if upward of 2 million to 3 million tune in and watch as Pacquiao snaps his KO streak while turning back the clock?
It sounds like the perfect advertisement for Pacquiao's PPV future. And provided that PPV future goes through unbeaten junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford, who shares the same promoter, there's enough reason for boxing fans to cheer for Pacquiao's television ratings to be through the roof on Saturday.
Both Crawford and Top Rank have talked about a Pacquiao fight for years. It's the kind of passing-of-the-torch event that used to serve as the boxing PPV business' foundation. Had Oscar De La Hoya, for example, not agreed to big fights late in his career with both Mayweather and Pacquiao, neither would've been able to elevate to the same level of stardom as easily.
Crawford (31-0, 22 KOs), who flashes a skill set and natural finishing ability that far outweighs his ability to sell himself, has all the makings to be one of the sport's next big stars. But he can only get there by sharing the ring, win or lose, with a capable legend like Pacquiao.
In boxing's already broken political infrastructure, where great fights go unmade on a monthly basis, this one is too easy not to jump on. And while Pacquiao has never seemed afraid at the suggestion of Crawford, he hasn't gone out of his way to make the fight and likely won't until the financials make it worth it compared to what else is on the board.
To that end, turning back the clock against Horn in front of a massive audience could prove to be the missing piece to remind boxing's casual fan base that Pacquiao is still here and still capable. Considering the egg he laid against Mayweather in terms of his aggressiveness (shoulder injury or not), it's a scenario that's much needed.
That's why, for all it lacks in terms of must-see star power, Pacquiao's return on Saturday could play an important role in the kind of fights we see him in throughout the twilight of his great career.
