The contracts for the fourth Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight on Saturday night have been submitted to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Top Rank Chair Bob Arum said that while Pacquiao’s “guarantee -- the minimum he will earn -- is $26 million,” he will have a chance to earn “much more depending on how well the pay-per-view sales are,” according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. The official purse that Pacquiao will take from the fight is $8.6M, but "that does not tell the full story.” Arum said that it was “supposed to be" $10M, but that figure “goes down as less because Top Rank is being paid back money that it has advanced Pacquiao.” Still, regardless of “what the commission contract says,” Marquez’ bout contract with the commission “is for $3 million, but Arum said that he is guaranteed at least $6 million.” Yuriorkis Gamboa on the undercard “is due to earn $50,000,” which seems like a “very low figure but it could be because he owes new promoter Curtis Jackson (aka rapper 50 Cent) money for buying out his contract from Top Rank earlier this year” (ESPN.com, 12/6).
IN DA CLUB: In N.Y., Tim Smith reports 50 Cent has “already invested $2 million in SMS Promotions by signing boxers” like Gamboa, and the sport “represents another business opportunity” for the entertainer. 50 Cent on Thursday said that he is “aware of the cutthroat nature of promotions from his dealings in the music industry.” He knows there are “sharks in the water.” He said, “I’ll work my way past those obstacles, because I will continue to be surrounded by more great talent moving forward. It will create more influence and power where the networks (HBO and Showtime) will have to roll or they will lose the ability to utilize the fighters.” Arum said of 50 Cent, “He is the one person that has the ability to reach out and attract the urban audience that we’re lacking from our fan base. If he can energize the urban market where only [Floyd] Mayweather has been able to do that he could add hundreds of thousands of customers to the fights” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/7).
