Manny Pacquiao may be one of the biggest draws in boxing right now, but if his fight against Brandon Rios in China generates as much revenue as expected, there's a chance Pac-Man may never fight in the United States again.
According to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, promoter Bob Arum believes Pacquiao's fight with Rios will be extremely lucrative, which may compel the Filipino star to fight in foreign locales for the remainder of his career.
Also, the fact that Pacquiao has to shoulder much less of a tax burden outside the United States, according to Pugmire, makes fighting elsewhere extremely attractive to both the boxer and the promoter.
By fighting outside the country, as he’s doing in this Rios fight, Manny doesn't have to pay U.S. taxes anymore—at a rate of 40 percent for a foreign athlete.
If this pay-per-view and other things take off like we think they may, I can’t imagine Pacquiao will ever again fight in the U.S.
While it isn't as if a Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight was on the precipice of happening, the fact that Mayweather accepted a Sept. 14 fight against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez gave some fans hope that Pacquiao might be next.
Since Mayweather almost always fights at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, though, it's hard to imagine him locking horns with Pacquiao in a different country.
As long as both men continue to fight, it remains a possibility—but Pacquiao now has little incentive to fight in the United States, while Mayweather has no reason to chase Pacquiao, as he already has a record deal in place with Showtime regardless of who he fights.
Pacquiao may not be viewed in the same light now as he was prior to his losses against Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley, but it will certainly be a shame for American fans of his if he decides to never fight in the U.S. again.
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment