HBO PPV Punches Up De La Hoya-Pacquiao
Dec. 6 Bout Should Cap Strong Q4 For Industry
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 8/28/2008 11:59:00 AM
Dec. 6 could be the final chance for video distributors to make some green off the Golden Boy.
Oscar De La Hoya will battle Manny Pacquiao, considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, in a 12-round bout that night in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand on HBO Pay-Per-View. They will fight at 147 pounds.
PPV pricing for the event, co-promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, has not been determined at this juncture.
De La Hoya had been hoping to square off in a September rematch with Floyd Mayweather before the latter elected to retire.
De La Hoya, a 10-time champion, is the highest grossing boxing attraction in PPV history having generated 12.8 million buys translating into revenue of some $626 million, according to HBO PPV officials. That total includes the record 2.4 million buys for his May 5, 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather, which generated a PPV-best $134.4 million.
A four-division champion, Pacquiao has also left his mark on PPV coffers. His trilogy against Erik Morales connected on over 1 million buys, while his battle this March against Juan Manuel Marquez notched 400,000 PPV purchases and $20.2 million the most ever for a light weight (140-pound) class.
In his last bout on May 3, De La Hoya pounded out a unanimous decision against The Contender finalist Steve Forbes at the Home Depot Center.
“It is important for boxing that at least once a year there is a matchup that truly transcends the sport, which captures the imagination of sports fans everywhere, and has everyone buzzing,” said HBO PPV chief Mark Taffet. “De La Hoya-Pacquiao is that matchup for 2008. It is a battle of kings -- the pay-per-view king De La Hoya versus the pound-for-pound king Pacquiao -- and features two of the biggest and most popular stars in boxing today.”
The bout highlights what should be a big fourth quarter that features a pair of other HBO PPV cards: Kelly Pavlik-Bernard Hopkins from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins from Madison Square Garden in New York.“Following Pavlik-Hopkins on Oct. 18 and Calzaghe-Jones on Nov. 8, the Dec. 6 De La Hoya-Pacquiao megafight willcap off what we believe will be a record fourth quarter for HBO Pay-Per-View, resulting in a very strong 2008 following 2007's record year,” said Taffet.
