Pacman tiff to be aired on HBO?

MANILA, Philippines - HBO just won’t let the big fish get away – a second time.

After losing out to Showtime in airing the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley bout last May, it seems that HBO has won the bidding war regarding Pacquiao’s fight with Juan Manuel Marquez on Nov. 12.

Pacquiao’s adviser, Michael Koncz, said he would talk with Top Rank chief Bob Arum today regarding the decision but he did not confirm nor deny that HBO had sealed the deal.

“Bob and I will talk tomorrow,” Koncz told The STAR.

A report, however, came out of Fighthype yesterday saying HBO may have gained the inside track because of its HBO World Championship boxing card featuring Julio Cesar Chavez on Nov. 19.

The report said Top Rank could show the replay of the Pacquiao-Marquez fight alongside the HBO card while Showtime, as of presstime, couldn’t put up a card the week after the Pacquiao bout.

“The decision to go with HBO would make the most sense for Top Rank, which will no doubt be looking to use the replay to help maximize the exposure of Chavez Jr,” wrote Ben Thompson of Fighthype.

But more than that, it’s probably all about the money involved.

Arum, who had received and reviewed the bids from both HBO and Showtime, had said that the third clash between Pacquiao and HBO could be worth as much as $15 million.

For the Mosley fight, which sold more than 1.3 million pay-per-view hits with Showtime/CBS, it was worth around $10 million.

HBO just couldn’t afford to lose airing a Pacquiao fight a second time. All it had to do was up the ante.

“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 some weeks back.

Arum said it was unbelievable how Showtime and HBO, which had sold over five million PPV buys in probably half a dozen fights with Pacquiao, wants this one so bad.

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