Pacquiao vs Algieri a huge draw

MACAU – Manny Pacquiao was here in Macau beating Brandon Rios almost the same time last year.

Now he’s back for Sunday’s title showdown with Chris Algieri, one that should surpass the Rios fight when it comes to pay-per-view sales.

That’s what the promoter, Bob Arum, thinks.

That’s what he wants.

“For Brandon Rios we did 475,000 buys,” said Arum, who in just a short period of time has made Macau a big venue for the big fights.

“Now we’re looking at some great results here and a great result is if we double the Rios or do close to a million buys,” he said.

It may be a little tough to hit a million buys but Arum is saying that it’s not impossible to do that.

For one, it’s a Pacquiao fight, and second, it’s about Algieri, a boxer and aspiring doctor who will never run out good stories to tell.

“This kid (Algieri) thinks he can win the fight and he’s in great shape. Manny is in great shape also so it’s a tough fight,” Arum went on.

Based on the media attendance, Arum said this should be the biggest fight ever in Macau.

There are a couple hundred members of the media that were accredited for the fight, and close to a hundred of them, according to Arum, came from mainland China.

They came here to cover the Pacquiao fight and with great interest in Zou Shiming’s own fight. 

Organizers said they can’t fit all the media at ringside that’s why they’re issuing credentials limited to the main press center on the day of the fight.

Arum said members of the foreign media are here in full force, with newsmen coming from New York, Los Angeles, the United Kingdom and the Philippines.

“Everybody’s here,” he said.

Arum added that the fight will be shown in mainland China on free TV.

“They estimate the size of the audience between 300 to 350 million,” he said.

“That means more people in China will watch this event more than the entire population in the United States,” Arum said.