Pacquiao-Bradley 3 gets less than 500K PPV buys

Manny Pacquiao and TImothy Bradley Jr. during their fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, April 9, 2016. Pacquiao beats Bradley via unanimous decision in his “last fight.” PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA

Manny Pacquiao’s third fight against Timothy Bradley last Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Las Vegas wasn’t expected to be a pay-per-view blockbuster.

At the most, promoter Bob Arum projected it to deliver over 700,000 PPV buys on HBO following the brouhaha stirred by Pacquiao’s anti-gay remarks.

When the figures started pouring in, however, it turned out to be much lower, just between 400,000 to 500,000 PPV buys, Arum told RingTV.com.

This despite Arum’s loading the fight card with Hispanic fighters, hyping up the new tandem of Bradley and trainer Teddy Atlas, and Pacquiao’s pronouncements that he’s going to retire after the bout.

Very few people believe Pacquiao would hang his gloves, however, including Arum himself.

Though the numbers are still coming in, the 84-year-old Arum knows that’s (400-500K) where the figures are headed.

“It is what it is. That’s all I can say.”

The third fight figures are also well below the 890,000 PPV buys in their first encounter in 2012 and even in their rematch in 2014 which netted between 750,000 to 800,000 PPV hits.

If any consolation it surpassed the 300,000 PPV buys posted by Pacquiao against Chris Algieri in Macau in 2014 and is about even with the 475,000 hits posted by Pacquiao-Brandon Rios in 2013.

Pacquiao’s losing effort against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year produced astronomical numbers of 4.5M PPV buys and total sales of $600,000.

For the record, Pacquiao has exceeded the one million PPV mark in his fights against Oscar De La Hoya (1.25M in 2008), Miguel Cotto 1.25M in 2009) , Antonio Margarito (1.15M in 2010), Shane Mosley (1.3M in 2011), and Juan Manuel Marquez (1.45M) for the third time in 2011 and again Marquez (1.15M) for the fourth time in 2012.

Pacquiao arrived to a grand welcome in Manila early Thursday, reaffirming his retirement.