It will be Showtime instead of the premier sports network HBO that will telecast the showdown between pound-for-pound kingManny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 7. Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz, who returned to Manila from Los Angeles on Friday, told the Inquirer that they were “not moving out of HBO” but merely “trying something different this time around to broaden our audience.
“There’s no real reason other than change and we are not saying its going to be permanent. We’ve got some ideas that we think can broaden the audience for Manny and that’s why we are trying this.”
While HBO has a potential audience of some 28 million, CBS, which owns Showtime, reportedly has an audience of around 115 million.
He said that based on his conversations with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, the Pacquiao-Mosley fight will be on pay-per-view “but we will utilize the parent network CBS to promote the fight.”
Koncz revealed that Pacquiao “will go on a number of shows for the network and we will also utilize Jinkee,” Pacquiao’s wife.
Koncz indicated they could have different types of shows because the goal was to reach a wider household audience.
Koncz said that Pacquiao is not taking Mosley lightly and will train for eight weeks for the WBO welterweight title defense starting middle of March. Pacquiao will split training in Baguio and at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.
Ronnie Nathanielsz, Phil. Daily Inquirer
