Arum sees higher PPV buys for Pacquiao-Marquez III

Top Rank Promotions chairman Bob Arum believes the third meeting between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez is on track of becoming the biggest fight involving the Filipino boxing star in terms of pay-per-view hits. Four days after Pacquiao scored a majority decision over Marquez to retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Arum announced he's looking to top the benchmark of 1.3 million pay-per-view buys the world's top pound-for-pound fighter earned during his fight with Sugar Shane Mosley earlier this year. The clash with Mosley currently tops a Pacquiao fight as far as pay-per-view is concerned, surpassing the 1.25 million hits earned during the eight-division world champion's 2008 showdown with Oscar De La Hoya. With the way Pacquiao-Marquez III did, it appears a new record may be established in the next two weeks or so. "We're looking at a homerun," said the 79-year-old Arum from his Las Vegas residence. "It's not going to be lower than 1.3 million. It's way, way higher than that." Although Arum earlier hinted about a possible fourth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez, after a cloud of controversy continues to hound the result of their latest bout, the veteran promoter said it won't be at least another two weeks before a concrete detail of what and who's next for the 'Pacman' is known. "We'll know within the next two weeks about next year’s plan for Manny," Arum said. The Top Rank chairman, in the aftermath of the controversial outcome of Pacquiao's recent fight with Marquez, said there was no doubt that the champion clearly won the fight, despite claims by the challenger's camp that they we're 'robbed' a second time. "When you look at the replays, you will see it's fair," Arum said, adding that a 7-5 score is the worst to be given for Pacquiao. He added too much expectations by fight fans added to the perplexity of the situation. "The expectations were just too high," Arum said. "People we're expecting Manny to mop the floor with Marquez." — JVP, GMA News