The Daily Gamecock

Column: Why Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is important for boxing

Floyd Mayweather, left, and Manny Pacquiao square off during a news conference at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. The two welterweights will meet in the ring on May 2, 2015.(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Floyd Mayweather, left, and Manny Pacquiao square off during a news conference at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. The two welterweights will meet in the ring on May 2, 2015.(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are considered by many to be two of the best boxers alive. However, negotiations to organize a "superfight" have fallen through numerous times in the past five years, and the boxers have never met in the ring. That will change a month from Thursday.

Pacquiao holds a professional record of 57-5-2 in the ring and is the first and only champion in eight different weight classes. Of his 57 wins, 38 were by knockout.

Mayweather however, is considered the favorite. The 10-time champion in five different weight classes boasts a perfect 47-0 record with 26 knockouts.

Pacquiao is the current WBO welterweight champion, while Mayweather holds the welterweight titles in the WBA and WBC. Arguments about payouts and stakes have derailed fight talks in the past, but on May 2 they will fight to unify the welterweight titles.

Boxing needs this fight, but its outcome is irrelevant. While Floyd “Money” Mayweather is favored by just about every sports betting company in the world, the sport itself does not care which boxer emerges victorious.

It just needs to be competitive.

Boxing is suffering from a lack of big names in the middle of their lineups. Whereas the other two big-time pay-per-view companies, the UFC and WWE, stack big names from the top to the bottom of their lineups, boxing struggles to sell fights other than those containing Mayweather or Pacquiao.

This means that while boxers like Pacquiao and Mayweather draw more revenue than any other names that any competing company can offer, any boxing fight without one of these two fighters is unlikely to draw comparable numbers to the average WWE or UFC broadcast.

While both of the companies are consistent with their sales regardless of who headlines a pay-per-view, UFC is the biggest threat to boxing and its revenue.

The UFC is still a relatively new company, debuting in 1993. The company is still on the rise, yet initial estimates show that in January and February of 2015 alone, the UFC sold more pay-per-views than all of boxing in 2014. Granted, boxing usually runs four or five pay-per-view fights per year.

Even so, the main event of UFC 184 was headlined by women’s champion Ronda Rousey, but contained no other stars and was co-headlined by a debuting female fighter against a 5-5 opponent — and it still outsold all non-Mayweather or Pacquiao boxing pay-per-views in 2014.

When you consider that Mayweather and Pacquiao are each expected to make at least $120 million on the fight, the numbers become that much more skewed. Especially when you see that the total payroll for UFC 182 in January was just over $1.3 million.

Still, people will tune in to watch Mayweather and Pacquiao go at it. Early estimates expect the fight to be the highest grossing event in pay-per-view history, and rightfully so.

However, Pacquiao is 36 and Mayweather is 38. Both are on the downswing of their respective careers.

The undercard for the bout will be key to boxing’s future success. Pacquiao and Mayweather won't keep the sport competitive forever. The event gives boxing the chance to push the future faces of the organization into the limelight.

If the various companies can put their individual bureaucratic interests to the side in favor of a common goal, boxing can make a comeback.

While boxing should be excited to have the two biggest names finally meeting in the ring, the other matches on the card will determine the future of the sport and if it can return to its heyday.

People will tune in this time, but the fights will determine if they continue to in the future.


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