Bob Arum. AP FILE PHOTO
Promoter Bob Arum has modest goals for Manny Pacquiao’s third fight against Timothy Bradley on April 9 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
He’d be happy if the duel for Bradley’s World Boxing Organization welterweight title hit a million PPV (pay-per-view) buys.
That’s because the first two fights between Pacquiao and Bradley did less than that, with the 2012 duel hitting 890,000 buys and the 2014 rematch posting 750,000.
“Will we do the same numbers for the first two Bradley fights? Probably not,” Arum told fightsports.tv recently. “We’re going to try to come as close as we can, and hopefully exceed it, but I understand what we’re up against. I’ve run my numbers and I have done my math. I’m not out here with my head up my [expletive].”
Though the 84-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer believes in Pacquiao’s drawing power, he knows that fight fans believe there’s no need for a third fight.
The Filipino eight-division world champion won the second fight, and a panel of judges, tasked to review the result of the first clash won by Bradley by split decision, said Pacquiao should have been declared the winner by unanimous decision.
To drum up interest for Pacquiao-Bradley III, Top Rank will do a blitz promotional tour, starting at Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles on Jan. 19 and the Madison Square Garden on Jan. 21 in New York City.