Here's a sneak peek at Manny Pacquiao's training camp from HBO 24/7. Pacquiao faces Juan Manuel Marquez for a third time on November 12:
Really it's the promoters, but most fans (not most here) tend to blame fighters because they're the ones up front, and Pacquiao is in an interesting position right now, as is Marquez to a lesser degree (I'm not going to pretend he's not the clear underdog). With boxing's last two pay-per-view efforts on Sept. 17 (Mayweather vs Ortiz) and Oct. 15 (Hopkins vs Dawson) leaving many dissatisfied by fights that ended controversially and in four and two rounds at that, Pacquiao vs Marquez has a chance to exceed expectations and be a nice PR piece for the sport, for HBO, and for, well, the fighters, of course. They've had two sensational wars, and given the pride that both men have, I can't imagine the third will be a bad fight. Right now I don't think it'll be a close fight, really, but it's going to have action.
Whatever happens, it's unlikely to captivate public interest after the fight the way that Mayweather vs Ortiz did, unless Marquez wins, but that's a different story. As I've said about pay-per-view before, it's not what happens after, because only those you sold on buying it saw it anyway (or contributed to the bottom line at least). I said that about Maidana vs Morales' bad sales numbers, and that was for a really good fight that picked up some buzz. Mayweather vs Ortiz was, you know, what it was, and the post-fight buzz there was an unusual mix of rage, laughter, dismissal, and the classic, "Oh shit, did you SEE that?"
Manny and Marquez have a shot to win back some doubters right now, I believe. And Top Rank and HBO better hope they can do it, because they're going back to PPV three weeks later for Cotto vs Margarito II, and right now I don't think paying for boxing is really high on the list for a lot of people.