Will Pac-Bradley III Be A Pay Per View Dud?

Let's not all get too excited here

Will the third Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight be a pay per view dud? I frankly have no idea since I'm a boxing writer, not a marketing analyst. Still, I think there's a lot wrong here, which is too bad, since I'm actually eager to see this fight go down. The undercard is good, too, which makes me even more eager to watch the festivities. Again, however, there's a lot wrong here.

First and foremost, this third fight between these most excellent fighters is most certainly NOT a pay per view affair, at least not at the price being charged, it isn't. As I've written before, this has the makings of one of the best HBO fights around, a ratings bonanza, not a PPV epic.The high cost of doing business with top level stars, however, has led to something no one I know of really thinks is a good idea. It's a good matchup, sure, but fans shouldn't have to pay just because of fighter's salaries and production costs.

There's also the matter that fans are tired of the whole Manny-Mayweather era. People want to move on. It's only natural. To insist that last year's big tickets are still this year's big tickets borders on insulting, especially when more interesting matchups could have been made with the talent involved.

Lastly, there's the matter of Bob Arum. Sure, he used to work for RFK, but boxing is not the place for liberal politics. Indeed, it's not the place for ANY politics. Fans tune in to get away from that sort of thing and now Arum's brought the already bombastic 2016 presidential election into the boxing ring with him.

Exasperating stuff.

Like all fans of the sport, I'd like to see boxing succeed. If Manny-Tim III tanks out on pay per view, however, the people behind it have only themselves to blame.