PACQUIAO WATCH: 1.28M PPV buys

THIS column recently chanced upon Michael Koncz inside the coffee shop at the NAIA airport.



Koncz, along with Manny Pacquiao and lawyer Jeng Gacal, just arrived from the United States where the Filipino pound for pound boxing king shot a commercial with Las Angeles Laker’s Kobe Bryant and was on his way to General Santos.

After exchanging greetings, I asked him if the Pacquiao-Cotto is already a go.

No luck. Despite all the hype, no contract has been signed between Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto and Pacquiao.

The catch weight has become a thorny issue.

Cotto wants it done at 145-lb while Manny insists on 143-lb as the official weight.

Koncz says the two camps may eventually settle at 144.

As usual, Konz was coy about the fine prints of the contract.

That includes the guaranteed prize, the upside of the pay-per-view proceeds and other collateral income of the blockbuster fight.

With Cotto already a permanent fixture in the US professional boxing scene with a strong fan base in his adopted home city of New York, the fight, if it pushes through, should be a good bet to score pretty good at the box office.

But there should be no question as to who will get the bulk of PPV proceeds.

A 65-35 share – 70-30 even – in the PPV buys in favor of Manny should not be a problem.

This time, Manny’s camp should stand its ground as far as PPV proceeds are concerned.

When Manny fought Ricky Hatton, he was made to believe that Hatton will pull numbers in his native country England that could equal if not surpass the US PPV market.

Manny had to settle for a 50-50 split with the additional two percent, according to reports, coming from Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Golden Boy Promotions’ share from the PPV to sweeten the Filipino’s fight purse.

As it turned out, Manny got shortchanged in the deal.

According to Koncz, the US PPV buys for the Pacquiao-Hatton fight that ended in two rounds reportedly reached 930,000 while the UK proceeds was a “dismal” 350,000 bringing the total to 1.28 million buys.

The Pacquiao-Cotto fight should easily top the 750,000 mark.

It is essential, therefore, for Manny to get a guaranteed purse not lower than his last fight with Hatton. He should also gross no lower than US$15 million after all figures are added in.

Forget about Floyd Mayweather Jr., that superfight may not come at all before Manny plunges into politics next year.

This corner will be disappointed if Manny’s team cannot get the best in the deal.