Showtime exec wants Pacquiao vs Horn fight: 'Manny is still a name'
MANILA, Philippines – A top executive of US broadcaster Showtime has expressed interest in handling the broadcast of Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Jeff Horn on April 23.
Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, said the fight caught his interest due to Top Rank Inc. chief Bob Arum’s plan to put in on free television and not on pay-per-view.
“I think it (Pacquiao-Horn fight) would be great for the sport, in particular with those overseas pay-per-views that are a challenge to market in the US,” Espinoza said in a boxingscene.com report by Keith Idec.
“So there’s some logic to what Bob says. And if there’s an opportunity to be in that [Pacquiao] business, we would love to be in the running for it,” he added.
Interestingly, Showtime and its rival HBO passed up on airing Pacquiao’s pay-per-view fight with Jessie Vargas in November last year, forcing Top Rank to broadcast the card via its own production company.
Now with the Pacquiao-Horn fight eyed to be on free television, Espinoza has become receptive this time.
The network executive said Pacquiao is still popular, hinting that the fight could do well on free television.
“He Pacquiao’s still a name,” Espinoza said.
The same, however, cannot be said about the relatively unknown Horn, whose popularity is confined to his home country of Australia.
“There’s some challenges in the US with the name recognition of Jeff Horn. That’s remedied by not going to pay-per-view,” Espinoza continued.
The venue for the fight has yet to be finalized, although Australia is a frontrunner and Horn’s camp is keen on staging it at the 52,500-seat Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
And as far as Espinoza is concerned, the fight should be on free television.
“You look at the elements for a successful pay-per-view, it’s a competitive matchup and ideally, two known commodities that are available and able to market. And if you’re missing any of those elements, you probably shouldn’t be going to pay-per-view, if you’re looking for a big level of success,” he said.