Payout Perspect: Pacquiao-Algieri Perspective

Welcome to a special edition of Payout Perspective.  This time we take a look at Manny Pacquiao’s latest fight this past Saturday against Chris Algieri at the Venetian Macao off of mainland China.

Pacquiao posts 6 knockdowns in rout of Algieri

Maybe 2 of the knockdowns were due to slipping in Pacquiao’s corner.  Yet, the other four were legitimate and reflects the fact that Chris Algieri was not in the same class of Manny Pacquiao.  Although Pacquiao’s star may not be as bright in the U.S., the Macao fans were fully behind him. Pacquiao could not end Algieri short of the final bell but showed that he still had the speed and power to score some impressive knockdowns.

So what’s next for Pacquiao?  He is contemplating a move back down to 140 pounds where Roy Jones-trained Jessie Vargas, who was on the undercard, may be an interesting match-up.  Of course, there is that long-awaited fight with Floyd Mayweather looming.  Then again, everyone has heard these rumors for years.

Vargas, Lomachenko and Shiming score victories

Jessie Vargas, Vasyl Lomachenko and Zou Shiming scored victories on the undercard of the PPV.  Vargas, now trained by Roy Jones, Jr. defeated Antonio DeMarco, a Freddie Roach fighter, in the opener.  Lomachenko, in his first title defense, defeated Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo and Zou Shiming defeated a Thai Manny Pacquiao doppelganger, Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym.

Attendance

ESPN reported attendance a sellout at 13,201 at Macao’s Cotai Arena off the coast of mainland China.   Last year for Pacquiao-Rios was a sellout as well.

Promotion

Conspicuous by its absence, were the HBO 24/7 three part episodes.  Instead, we were given just one 24/7 but it was probably for the best.  While we could have been introduced to Algieri more, I’m sure HBO execs were unsure about how much to invest in the boxer still living with his parents.  Algieri had a good backstory and the first 5 minutes of 24/7 did a good job in drawing parallels between Pacquiao and Algieri. Also, I’m sure it’s becoming harder to find interesting stories for Pacquiao.  This time around they followed him around making the rounds as a politician and captured him playing for a basketball team he now owns.

Although Pacquiao and Algieri made the normal rounds to promote the fight, it felt like this fight did not have the usual Pac Man buzz.

Sponsorships

Sponsors in the ring included Tecate, the upcoming Fox series Empire and Philippine paint company Boysen.

Probably the best promotion for this fight was Manny Pacquiao’s Foot Locker commercial which played on the reaction of Manny Pacquiao when he mistakenly believed that Floyd Mayweather had accepted a fight with him.  In that commercial, Pacquiao sported a Nike, “Black Mamba Training” t-shirt.

Pacquiao had his usual sponsors including Nike. Ricoa, Café Puro and mobile app company Viber.

Algieri wore a Nike-sponsored Stony Brook (his alma mater) jersey to the weigh-ins and was sponsored by the swoosh for this fight.  Similar to Tim Bradley, the company made a logo for him.

Cerritos and South Coast Mitshubishi patches were all over boxers and corner men throughout the night.  It is the Dynamic Fastener of boxing.

Odds and ends

Dionesia Pacquiao, Manny Pacquiao’s mother was once again a part of the show. Notably, she was going around the ring post-fight with her rosary.

Having an annual event in Macao appears to be part of the plan for HBO/Top Rank as it seeks growth in the Chinese market.

Busy night for Freddie Roach with multiple fighters including Zou Shiming and Pacquaio on the card.

Possibly the fight of the night was the PPV opener with Jessie Vargas defeating Antonio DeMarco.  Vargas could be someone on the radar for Pacquiao.

Notably, comedian Dave Chapelle, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were all in attendance.  Chappelle had made the trip last year for Pacquiao’s fight.

Conclusion

There were over 500,000 google searches for Manny Pacqiuao Saturday.  Is that good?  Yes, but I am not confident that the amount of searches for Pacquiao would equate to PPV buys.  Pacquiao’s Macao fight last year against Brandon Rios did only 450K-550K PPV buys depending on who you asked.  It felt like there was less promotion done domestically and we may see this hurt the buy rate.  I would expect the same PPV range as the Rios fight last year.