Payout Perspective: Pacquiao-Rios

Welcome to a special edition of Payout Perspective where we take a look at the return of Manny Pacquiao as he took on Brandon Rios at the Venetian Hotel on the island of Macau off the coast of China.

Pacquiao outclasses Rios

As many had expected, the speed of Manny Pacquiao was too much for Bam Bam. While the threat of the one punch KO was there, the movement and angles of Pacquiao muted any thought of a left hook from Rios.

Let’s pump the brakes on any talk of Floyd Mayweather. First, there’s the Top Rank/Golden Boy-HBO/Showtime schism which would prevent any such fight from happening  Pacquiao looked impressive and it appears that the 11 months away has helped.  Rios is a dangerous fighter but nowhere near the skill level of a Mayweather.  However, a Timothy Bradley fight seems the most logical and reasonable next fight for Pacquiao.

Bradley’s career has ascended since he won that controversial fight over Pacquiao in June 2012.  Most recently, he dispatched of Pacquiao’s arch-nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez.  Thus, promoting this fight should not be too hard considering this would be a rematch of a controversial decision.  With his post-Pacquiao fights, Bradley has proven that he belongs in the upper tier of boxing.  A return match against Pacquiao could serve as “passing the torch” to Top Rank’s next superstar or will serve as another reason for all parties to wait out Floyd’s Showtime contract.

Zou Shiming Shines

In terms of importance of a boxer winning Saturday, Shiming was a close second behind Pacquiao.  The reason for this is the overarching theme of tapping the Chinese market.  Shiming has the amateur credentials but has not really showed whether he could be a star as a pro.  He dominated his 6 round fight over Juan Tozcana in which the announcing crew questioned whether the fight should have been stopped.

If Shiming could show continued improvement, he has a built in audience and could ascend quickly.  Of course, at 32 years of age, the plan is for him to ascend quickly.

Attendance

Attendance at the Venetian Hotel in Macau where the event was held was a sellout of 13,200.  No gate figures yet although front row seats were selling for three times the amount that it usually would in Vegas.

In comparison, Pacquiao’s last fight in December 2012 against Marquez had an attendance of 15,430 for a gate of $10.8 million.  However, based on the front row seats going for three times what they do in Vegas, we can see a comparable gate here.

Paydays

Manny Pacquiao will receive a guaranteed $18 million with the potential for $30 million and does not have to pay the 39.6% U.S. tax since the fight did not happen in the states.  Rios, however, will receive $4 million but will need to pay Uncle Sam because he’s a U.S. citizen.

Pre-Fight Promotion

The incident in the gym between Freddie Roach, Robert Garcia and Alex Ariza provided some “propaganda” for the fight.  Was the dustup manufactured?  It received press and drew some emotions but looked bad for both camps. But, we all can assume the Roach-Ariza bad blood is genuine based on how Pacquiao’s team dispatched of Ariza and he was picked up by Rios.

The 24/7 series was well-done as always.  It seems hard to come up with angles to cover Pacquiao each series although the typhoon and the aforementioned ill-will between camps provided some topics.  We also learned that Rios curses a lot.

Sponsorships

The ring sponsors included Smart Communications, a Philippines mobile phone and internet carrier, the movie “Grudge Match” starring DeNiro and Stallone and Tecate. Tecate ran its usual promotion of offering rebates with a purchase of its product.  What was not present was the usual run up for a Pacquiao fight in the states which usual includes in-store promotions and sponsor activation.

Rios wore a Sigue Corporation shirt at weigh-ins. Sigue is a money transfer company specializing in US-Mexico transaction.

As always, Nike sponsored Pacquiao however this article by footwear blog Sole Collector details the little buzz from the swoosh over the Macau fight.  In fact, the online Nike store only has one shirt (from last year) from Pacquiao on sale.  This from a company that rolled out shirts, sweats and shoes for the boxer before past fights. This time, it seemed like the brand was in a “wait and see” mode.  Of course, it also could be due to Pacquiao’s newfound faith in which media outlets have interpreted (or misinterpreted dependent on how you view it) Pacquiao’s stance against gay marriage. Nike supports gay marriage. There were also the comments made by UFC president Dana White claiming the Beaverton, Oregon Company had dropped Pacquiao.

Odds and Ends

As predicted, the price point for Pacquiao in HD was $70.

Due to the time difference, the fight actually took place around lunchtime local time on Sunday which made fight day customs a little skewed.

NY Times writer Greg Bishop had a great piece preceding the fight correlating Pacquiao’s in-ring downturn with the rejuvenation of his religious faith and commitment to his wife.  There is something to be said for the lack of perceived hunger in Pacquiao if you were to compare him now as opposed to pre-Oscar de la Hoya.  Pacquiao was young and reckless socially which mirrored his fighting style.  The style in the ring amounted to interest and success, the style outside of the ring nearly cost him his marriage. After “returning to form” on Saturday, can we say that Pacquiao is born again boxing-wise?

Bishop also wrote an informative article on the logistical obstacles HBO and Top Rank faced in producing a PPV abroad.  This included bringing 300 cases of equipment by air and water to the location.

There were some that thought that the Carl Froch-George Graves fight should have been picked up by HBO to use as an appetizer for the fight later that night.  It would have been nice but would have run the risk of being “UFC”-like in having too much boxing on in one day.

Conclusion

Despite the lack of buzz and usual American “over the top” promotion, “The Clash in Cotai” had a purpose.  First, it was to reintroduce the world to Manny Pacquiao. The statement was that he was back to his “old” self.  More importantly, it was an opportunity to enter the fertile Macau market with its casinos bringing in $38 billion in 2012  and likely more this year.  Bob Arum would like to open up this region as a way to leverage it against Vegas as an option to hold a fight here.  Certainly, it would benefit Pacquiao as its closer to home and he saves on paying U.S. taxes if his fights are held outside of the U.S.  That being said, the costs for HBO/Top Rank to hold a show outside of the U.S. along with Pacquiao’s hefty payout may be something it needs to consider before committing time, money and resources to another fight in Macau.

For its first time holding a PPV overseas,  it’s likely that Pacquiao’s return will grab at least 850,000-950,000 buys.