HBO Reaches Deal With Top Rank To Produce, Distribute Pacquiao-Bradley Fight

HBO has “finalized an agreement with Top Rank to produce and distribute” the Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley Jr. fight June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. The Pacquiao-Bradley rights comes less than a week after HBO secured the rights to Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Miguel Cotto fight May 5 fight at the MGM Grand. Showtime was “in the running to land Mayweather-Cotto, but it did not come as much of a surprise that Pacquiao-Bradley landed at HBO.” Pacquiao had been “a staple on HBO PPV in recent years until Top Rank chairman Bob Arum and president Todd duBoef took him to rival Showtime PPV for his May 2011 fight against Shane Mosley.” Pacquiao's defection to Showtime “ultimately was a major reason" why former HBO President Ross Greenburg “was forced out in July and replaced with” former Showtime Sports GM Ken Hershman. Arum “brought Pacquiao back to HBO for his November pay-per-view fight against Juan Manuel Marquez" (ESPN.com, 2/21).

THE TIME IS NOW: MULTICHANNEL NEWS’ R. Thomas Umstead noted the “clock is ticking” on a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao bout and the “fight’s potential value.” Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions can “only cry wolf for so long before people stop responding.” The public has a “very short attention span and even less tolerance for nonsense.” They will “only hold out hope for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight for so long before they move on.” And they “won’t continue to ante up $60 to $70 each time Mayweather or Pacquiao get in the ring against other fighters.” It will be “interesting to see whether Mayweather-Pacquiao fatigue will set in when the buy-rate returns” for both Mayweather-Cotto and Pacquiao-Bradley (MULTICHANNEL.com, 2/20).