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Manny Pacquiao is guaranteed to make at least $26 million on Saturday night for his HBO pay-per-view fight with Timothy Bradley, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. His commission-reported purse is $6 million, but that's pretty standard.
[ Undercard Purses: Arce's $300K Leads the Way ]
For those who think that Floyd Mayweather and his PR people had some big story "uncovering" this "scandal" in the recent past, please note that according to the Nevada commission sheet, Beibut Shumenov made $1 (that's not a typo) for his win last Saturday over Enrique Ornelas in Las Vegas. So please, don't start that whole discussion. It's just not based on much.
Bradley will make a career-high $5 million for the fight, which he's already noted he intends to save so that he doesn't have to stay in boxing forever.
Comparing this bout to Mayweather vs Cotto on May 5, Floyd made a guaranteed $32 million, while Cotto made $8 million. Both, like Pacquiao, had PPV upside, too. I don't think there's any arguing -- other than maybe from the people at Top Rank right now -- that Mayweather-Cotto was, quite frankly, a significantly bigger fight than this one, though. I really don't expect the PPV numbers here to come close to the 1.5 million that HBO reported for Floyd and Miguel.
Frankly, I'm not convinced that this does a million, as I don't think Manny alone is a guaranteed one million seller. Some knowledgeable folks do, though, and keep in mind that's not me taking a shot at Manny or Bradley or anyone. Some fights just aren't going to do that, and Bradley came into this thing an unknown to most of that PPV-buying public. Mayweather had a dance partner, plus the Canelo-Mosley fight. The draw here is really all about Manny, and whatever they've been able to sell with Bradley on 24/7, which I'm not sure is a lot (even though he's been great).