MANILA, Philippines?The Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao showdown is shaping up to be in the same magnitude as the super-blockbuster battle between De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May last year.

A six-city tour of key United States cities?New York, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio and San Francisco and Los Angeles?starts on Oct. 1 to hype up the collision between two of the planet?s most popular fighters.

And though the mere mention of De La Hoya or Pacquiao already guarantees a sellout crowd, the prime movers of the mammoth prize fight are meticulously taking care of its promotion.

To guarantee that ring fans would stay glued to the television in the run-up to the Dec. 6 duel at MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, HBO will hold a 24/7 special coverage for the fight, like what it did for the De La Hoya-Mayweather tiff, according to a report by Steve Kim of MaxBoxing.com.

That battle, won by Mayweather, generated an all-time record of 2.15 million pay-per-view buys (1.225 million cable feeds and 925,000 via-satellite) which translated to $120 million in revenues.

The defeat?one of three in his last six fights?hardly affected De La Hoya?s popularity and marketability, however.

Eighteen fights involving the undisputed boxing PPV king commanded a total of 12.6 million buys.

While the record 2.15 million PPV buys may be too high a target for De La Hoya-Pacquiao, promoters say the fight will not go below 1.5 million, surpassing the 1.4 million buys De La Hoya?s fight against Felix Trinidad generated in 1999.

Aware that the US economic slowdown could affect PPV sales as well as gate receipts, Top Rank chair Bob Arum has the best tickets priced at $1,500 (about P65,000), $500 cheaper than De La Hoya-Mayweather.

Though tickets have yet to go on sale, promoters are certain that the 17,000-seat Grand Garden Arena would be filled to the rafters.

As expected, initial reports from oddsmakers put De La Hoya an 8/5 favorite over Pacquiao, who stands to earn at least $15 million from the fight.