Showtime, HBO start bidding war for bout

MANILA, Philippines - It’s a heavyweight showdown between Showtime and HBO for the pay-per-view rights of Manny Pacquiao’s third clash with Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

Bob Arum, in his forty years in boxing, had never seen anything like this.

“We’re in the process of getting our proposals from HBO’s Time Warner and CBS/Showtime, and I must say, that there is a frenzy,” said the 79-year-old big boss from Top Rank.

Pacquiao’s biggest fights over the last couple of years were with HBO, until Showtime came into the picture, and earned the PPV rights for the Shane Mosley fight last May.

Showtime, backed by CBS, hit the jackpot as the fight sold over 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, even surpassing the 1.25 million of the Pacquiao-Dela Hoya dream match of 2008.

Heads almost rolled at the HBO offices for letting that one slip away, and this time, HBO wants to make sure it won’t be the one left without a chair when the music stops.

“To prevent another Showtime coup, HBO is bringing out the heavy guns by involving their parent company, Time Warner,” wrote Lem Satterfield of www.boxingscene.com yesterday.

Arum said something like $10 million was involved for the Mosley fight, and for this one, the third and perhaps the last between Pacquiao and Marquez, it could go as high as $15 million.

“It’s unbelievable. They’re offering for the promotion an unbelievable amount of support. Like I’ve never seen before,” said Arum.

“We estimate that CBS, that their support was worth about $10 million out on the open market for the last fight (Pacquiao-Mosley). And both HBO and CBS/Showtime are way above that now,” he added.

Arum said the proposals could be worth around $15 million this time.

“But I won’t have an actual number until the end of the day as to what the real value is,” he said.

The proposal from HBO will come first, and Arum said the one from Showtime will arrive sometime next week.

“This will be the most incredible marketing plan and publicity plan ever for an event in history. Any event. We’re really excited about this one,” said Arum.

No wonder Arum is planning a press tour that will take both fighters around the world, with stops in Manila, Tokyo, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, New York, Los Angeles and Mexico City.

This time, Arum said they’re no longer dealing with HBO’s sports department, but with their chief executives.

“We’re in the process now of making a decision within the next week. HBO blew us over last night with its proposal. I never believed that they would come out with anything like this,” he added.