Ni Dennis Principe
Libre sa ESPN ang laban ni Pacman kay Horn.
HINDI bababa sa limang milyong American viewers ang tututok sa title defense ni Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao kay Australian Jeff Horn ngayong weekend (July 2 sa Manila).
Ito ang inaasahan ni fight promoter Bob Arum ngayong ipalalabas ito ng libre ng sports TV giant ESPN sa buong Estados Unidos.
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Ayon kay Arum, pabor kay Pacquiao at maging kay Horn na hindi na kailangan pa na magbayad ang boxing fans sa America mapanood lamang ang kanilang laban ngayong linggo (Sabado sa Australia) sa Suncorp Stadium sa Brisbane.
“This has become a more important fight for Manny than we envisioned because the telecast in the United States won’t be shown on Pay-Per-View which is a relatively limited audience but will be shown in the entire country for free on ESPN,” pahayag ni Arum.
“So we expect in excess of 5-10 million people to watch the fight from the United States and it’s a Saturday night in the United States.”
Tinuran ni Arum ang patuloy na pagbagsak nang bilang ng boxing viewers dahil na rin sa mataas na presyo ng Pay-Per-View.
“In the pay-per-view, they have to pay $60-$70 and a lot of people cannot afford it and the results have been going down. I think this will revitalize interest in Manny’s category and boxing in general,” pahayag ni Arum.
Sa pag-agaw ni Pacquiao ng WBO welterweight belt kay Mexican Jessie Vargas, umabot lamang sa 300,000 households ang bumili ng naturang laban sa PPV.
“When we talk about this fight primarily in the States, we tell people this is going to be a real test for Manny Pacquiao. That Jeff Horn is going to give him a really competitive fight. But it’s not going to cost people any money,” giit ni Arum.
Pinakamalaking tulong dito ay pagsagot ng Australian government ng halos lahat ng gastusin sa laban matiyak lamang na sisipot si Pacquiao sa Suncorp Stadium, ang venue ng 12-round title defense nito kontra Horn.
“When Queensland government and the Brisbane City government came up with this very, very large amount of money, guaranteeing that if Manny came to fight Horn in Brisbane, they would contribute lots of money to the event. And they did,” ani Arum.
Umaasa naman si Arum na babalik ang interes ng fight fans kay Pacquiao at sa boxing sa kabuuan lalo na kung maging maganda ang laban ng Filipino icon kay Horn.
