Manny Pacquiao's promoter Top Rank "will produce and distribute" his Nov. 5 PPV card against Jessie Vargas, "bypassing HBO or any other traditional boxing network," according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. Pacquiao "still has a contractual agreement with HBO," but the Nov. 5 date he preferred because of his "political obligations was a non-starter for HBO." That was because of "concerns over competition from the likes of college football and the Nov. 8 Presidential election, as well as the proximity to HBO’s Nov. 19 PPV featuring Sergey Kovalev against Andre Ward, also in Las Vegas." Top Rank President Todd duBoef said, “It’s a little more empowering for all of us in the office because the decision-making is just us. We don’t run it up the flagpole to see what one of our network partners think. We typically, on all of our fights, do all the commercials, all of the artwork, all of the stuff ourselves in-house. Everything you’ve seen is generated in-house anyway.” Best notes "one challenge will be promoting a seemingly less-than-scintillating matchup without the power of a network such as HBO or Showtime behind it." Among the details Top Rank must address is "assembling an announcing team." duBoef: "Obviously we have a great relationship with HBO. Our relationship is we’re very close with them and talk regularly ... But the fact I can do it myself, I’m just saying this is a wonderful experience" (NEWSDAY, 9/8).
