Boxing Manny Pacuiao: The Tax Angle

Even though the Golf Channel and the Tennis Crowd would like to depict boxing fans as a horde of knuckle-dragging troglodytes, some of the smartest people in the world are involved in boxing.

In a sport that can bring in $25-$40 million dollars from a single matchup, it's only natural that smart people would follow the boxing fans into the arena. One such smart guy is Bob Arum, who promotes Manny Pacquiao's fights. 

Arum was asked recently why Manny Paquiao, who has fought fourteen professional fights in Nevada or Texas, bringing in tons of revenue to those states, suddenly decides to fight Brandon Rios in Macau?  The question is particularly relevant when you consider that the overall purse was smaller in Macau than it would have been in the U.S.

Bob Arum has the answer: 

"Manny can go back to Las Vegas and make $25 million but how much will he end up with-- $15 million?" 

If you never think of these things when you're watching boxing, consider that the tax rate in Macau tops off at 12 percent.  Compare that with the U.S. at 39.5 percent and if you come up with the right answer, you may be a contender.  Another factor Pacquiao's people consider:  Texas and Nevada have no state income taxes.

The Arum quote, by the way, is from the Wall Street Journal today.  

Pacquiao v. Rios was a 'Deja Vu All Over Again'

The major reason I didn't buy last night's Rios v. Pacquiao fight was the sense it might turn out the way it did, with Rios being the showcase punching bag for a guy with superior boxing talent.

So it was what it was, and I still stand behind my blog yesterday in worrying about permanent damage to both fighters, but especially to Brandon Rios who uses his head as something like a third fist.

What amazes me most about the fight, though, is that Bob Arum managed to sell it and managed to sell it with a degree of genius.  What was the promotional strategy?

• You enlarge what's there already, which was the Paquiao was so sensationally KOd by Juan Marquez that fight fans might think PacMan was still out there in the regions of space.  Expounding on this scenario, and magnifying it by comments to the sports press, incites the general boxing fan to believe they will  see Brandon Rios 'shock the world.'    In fact, the only shock fight fans will get will come when they see they 60 dollar cable bill.
• The second embellishment is that you portray a Manny Pacquiao who is distracted by the typhoon in his country, by his political life, and by a long layoff.  That anyone would consider this any more than a fleeting thought astounds me.  Professional fighters may get sick, injure themselves, do foolish things as Mike Tyson did in his first loss to Buster Douglas, but they are not any more distracted when they step into the ring than a football player who does a tap dance in the end zone.  This scenario would only have credibility if Manny Pacquiao had his legs tied together.   You have to remember, even with the hard partying that Mike Tyson did in Japan, he still put Buster Douglas on his butt with a big uppercut that almost ended that fight.
• Of course, the enlargement of Brandon Rios as an opponent is necessary to a good fight promotion.  Today, most sportswriters and fans speak of his slowness last night compared to Pacquiao's speed.  Perhaps some people, with the exception of the ENTIRE WORLD, had not noticed that before.  But Arum's crew, and Paquiao's crew, stitched together through comments, hints, suggestions, and various innuendo the idea that Rios was a force to be reckoned with rather than a symbol of courage in the public mind. 
• HBO boxing commentators are fairly decent people, but even decent people are swept up into the sweepstakes of big money, big celebrity, and a sense of self-importance.  It's all part of promotion, and they work for HBO so they will contribute to drama even when drama is lacking.  When you heard Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman talk about Rios last week, you'd think they were talking about Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Okay, so the one thing I haven't mentioned is that most boxing fans enjoyed the fight. I got that impression, at least, from reading the commentaries beneath the fight coverage.  With regard to PacMan, some of the big questions were answered, one being that he can still take a punch (perhaps not punches in bunches but still) and that he has a great deal of personal courage and determination.

We knew that before though, didn't we?  Call this fight the way Yogi Berra might have, that is, a 'Deja vu all over again."

Brandon Rios Versus Manny Pacquiao

Gordon Marino writes a sports column in the Wall Street Journal and covers boxing.  He may not be your go-to guy for the hardcore boxing fan but he's very professional and writes in a way that offers boxing knowledge in a broad, easily digested human interest fashion.

I like the hardcore boxing stuff, okay?  But I'm up to here with its repetitive conventions.  You already know this much:

Brandon Rios is the hard-punching, straight forward marching, punishment taker that he always has been.   It's hard not to like a guy in the tradition of Mickey Ward, Carmen Basilio, Jake LaMotta -- and I like him.  

I like him so much that I hope he takes big earnings from this fight and goes home to take care of his wife and family-- like forever.  Not only does Rios take punishment well, he prides himself on putting his head right in the lion's jaw.

He does this for the crowd's pleasure, not for mine.  Even if he enjoys it, and many people say he does, he shouldn't be allowed to pursue his masochism beyond ordinary, acceptable limits.

Which means yeah, I get it.  I appreciate that Brandon Rios can take a beating and keep on fighting.  I can take a beating too, but I know that's not exactly the best recommendation for a career in the ring.

However,  when a beating becomes a primary motive, more primary than winning, I vote the other way.   A beating is not the point of the exercise is what I'm saying.

On the other hand you have Pacquiao.  Let me confess that, in most of Pacquiao's fights, I leaned the other way.  I cheered Marquez' KO victory that would have allowed the referee to have "counted to 600," as Marino says in his column.

Most of Marino's column is aimed at the toll knockouts take on its victims.  Some fighters are capable of rising from the ashes;  others seem locked into the limbo of an eternal ten count.

Unless Rios steps in early with KO power (and I don't think Pacquiao will let that happen), he's in for a rough night.  A merciful ref would stop it in the 7th as the fight settles into a sustained beating. 

I give Pacquiao credit for foregoing the easy tuneup and taking his chances with a guy like Rios.  There is always the puncher's chance, especially with a game fighter like Brandon Rios.

I wish there were some middle ground between "with your shield or on it," as the Spartans used to say.  For fighters like Brandon Rios, there isn't.