By Michael Marley, Examiner.com
The number, according to Bob “I Never Lie” Arum, is about 24,000.
The probable maximum number, according to Arum when speaking to Steve Kim at Maxboxing, is 45,000.
I say Uncle Bob is too conservative. I say he’s showing a real lack of imagination with his red hot and smoking Manny Pacquiao product.
We’re talking about the Joshua Clottey-Pacman WBO welterweight title bout set for March 13 at Jerry’s World, Mr. Jones’ swanky football playpen in Arlington.
I say Arum is not shooting for the moon when he should be.
They are calling this “The Event,” aren’t they?
The head of Top Rank is aiming low by margins of 18,315 tickets sold and also by 13,891 ducats peddled.
The magic numbers—attention Dallas Cowbys marketing and publicity machines—are 63,315 and 58,891.
Let me explain as I was at both of these magical boxing events
The 63,315 was the paid attendance in the Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, in 1978 when Muhammad Ali beat upstart Neon Leon Spinks in their rematch.
Michael Marley asks, why can't Manny Pacquiao outdo Muhammad Ali, JC Chavez on paid attendance?
The 58,891 is how many people paid to put their respective butts into seats at the then new San Antonio Alamodome for the Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez superfight on Sept. 10, 1993.
Yeah, the one with the odious majority draw decision, a blatant robbery of Whitaker but we’ll get to that. later.
Then there was the Greg Haugen-Chavez bout in Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, when 132,000 tickets were sold and 136,000 filled the massive soccer stadium but don’t get me started.
Btw, this also took place in 1993, so it's astounding to note that Chavez sold at least 190,000 fight tickets in just two bouts that year. He fought four other times in the calendar year so it's safe to say that 200,000 people paid to watch "El Gran Campeon" fight in person during 1993.
Let’s stick to venues where there is a roof, retractable otherwise.
It’s not even Feb. 1 and Pacman-Clottey has sold almost 25,000 tickets.
The addition of returning from disgrace Antonio Margarito has been leaked but not formally announced. And the Cowboys peddle many football tickets throughout Mexico, especially around Monterey where a Pacquiao-Clottey presser will drive ticket sales south of the border.
The promotion has not even moved into second or third gear so why not aim for the moon, why not try to eclipse San Antonio or even New Orleans?
Greg Marotta, former football agent and nephew of legendary boxing cutman Ace Marotta, has done business with Jones and his staff. Marotta said the Pacquiao-Clottey fight can came close to or surpass the 63,315 and 58,891 attendance figures.
"In 1992 Jerry Jones, through his revolutionary deal with APEX ONE, re-wrote the NFL licensing book.Jerry's philosophy was simple. The Dallas Cowboys were going to return to glory and re-entrench themselves as America's Team-----and the Dallas Cowboys alone deserved to reap the benefits of all that hard work,” Marotta said.
“Why should the apparel licensing pie be cut up in equal parts when not every team put the same product on the field? The Cowboys were committed to greatness and deserved to garner their just financial reward for such commitment. His maverick, risk-taking style translated to other deals also, like Pepsi and American Express. The APEX ONE deal set the tone for how Jerry was going to change the NFL marketing business------he was going to market the Dallas Cowboys to those who wanted to be in business with The Dallas Cowboys. I would not bet against him changing how the great sport of boxing is marketed. He's going to change the entire landscape, once again
"I wouldn't be surprised if Jerry surpassed the 60,000 sold for Whitaker-Chavez. I wouldn't be shocked if he sold out the building. I really wouldn't." When we started the APEX ONE deal the Cowboys were selling single digit percentages of all NFL licensed apparel. It quickly went to 25 percent. Jerry is a results-motivated guy."
(More about the San Antonio event to follow.)
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
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