Promoter says Manny Pacquiao could make more than $25 million from Saturday’s fight

 By Kevin Iole

LAS VEGAS -- Manny Pacquiao will make in excess of $25 million for fighting Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden and could reach $30 million if the fight does a brisk business, Top Rank president Todd duBoef said.

Pacquiao's guarantee on the Nevada Athletic Commission contract is $8.595 million, executive director Keith Kizer said Wednesday. Marquez will earn a guarantee of $3 million. But pay-per-view boxers like Pacquiao and Marquez earn much more than their guarantees.

Pacquiao will get a large chunk from his upside on HBO Pay-Per-View sales, which are expected to exceed 1 million and could equal the 1.3 million sales he reached for his Nov. 12, 2011, bout with Marquez.
Adding in foreign television money, that will easily put Pacquiao over $25 million, duBoef said.

DuBoef said closed circuit locations that show the bout are up from the 2011 fight between them, continuing what he said was a trend in Pacquiao fights. He said that despite the controversial result in his June 9 loss to Timothy Bradley, interest in Pacquiao doesn't seem to have waned.

"We're getting more of the bars and restaurants, the chains, the Hooters, the Buffalo Wild Wings, places like that, buying the fight," duBoef said. "If [interest in Pacquiao is decreasing], I am not seeing it."

 In a study of the highest-paid athletes from June 2011 through June 2012 done by Forbes, Pacquiao was second on the list with earnings of $62 million. According to Forbes, Pacquiao made $56 million in purses and $6 million in endorsements.

 Rival boxer Floyd Mayweather was No. 1 on the list, with $85 million in earnings, all from purses. Golfer Tiger Woods was third with $59.4 million in earnings.

Pacquiao and Mayweather each had two fights in the time period that covers the Forbes' study. Pacquiao fought Marquez on Nov. 12, 2011, and met Bradley on June 9. Mayweather fought Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17, 2011, and Miguel Cotto on May 5, 2012.

A fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao still would be the richest fight in boxing. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said he thinks it could do close to 3 million on pay-per-view.

Arum said fans are sick of the negotiations, but said if the fight were made, the interest would percolate again.