Nevermind the result of Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 4; both sides will walk away happy. After all, their contracts ensure they'll be doing so with millions.
And in Pacquiao's case, it could be up to $30 million.
The fight, won by Marquez on a sixth-round KO, took place at MGM Grand Garden in Nevada and was expected to draw a heavy pay-per-view audience.
Pacquiao's contract with the Nevada Athletic Commission for this fight is $8.595 million. Marquez's contract is quite a bit smaller, but he's still taking away a guaranteed $3 million.
But that's just the beginning. The eventual purse for both fighters could be much, much larger.
This event was broadcast on HBO pay-per-view and was projected to garner over one million buys. The last Pacquiao-Marquez fight earned 1.3 million buys.
Pacquiao is perhaps the biggest draw in the sport, and the views reflect that.
A large chunk of Pacquiao's sum will come from his upside of the pay-per-view sales. And if it does well, Pacquiao will earn multiple millions from HBO.
Add that to his potential earning from the international broadcast of the fight and Pacquiao is easily projected to clear the $25-million barrier. Marquez is also expected to receive a significant sum from pay-per-view sales.
Top Rank boxing, the company that promoted this fight, expects it to do even better than the last edition of this bout. According to Top Rank's president Todd duBoef, Pacquiao's popularity hasn't lessened since his loss to Timothy Bradley; if anything it’s increased. (via Yahoo!)
We're getting more of the bars and restaurants, the chains, the Hooters, the Buffalo Wild Wings, places like that, buying the fight," duBoef said. "If [interest in Pacquiao is decreasing], I am not seeing it.
Pacquiao is among the highest-paid athletes in the world. From June 2011 to June 2012 Pacquiao was the world's second-highest paid athlete, earning $56 million. The only person he finished behind was, of course, another boxer, Floyd Mayweather.
Source: http://bleacherreport.com