Manny Pacquiao's Controversial Remarks Still Looming over Fight with Tim Bradley

There’s been a noticeable lack of heat just a couple of weeks before Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley step through the ropes at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for their rubber match on HBO pay-per-view.

The lack of buzz generated by this fight has a bit to do with the flat reception it received from boxing fans when it was announced Pacquiao would rematch Bradley rather than take on a fresh face like Terence Crawford or Amir Khan in what was being hyped as his final fight.

It certainly didn’t help when Pacquiao, who is running for a senate seat in his native Philippines, stepped into the mud (or some would say another similar substance) with disparaging and dehumanizing comments in which he referred to gay people as "worse than animals" in an interview on local TV news (h/t TMZ).

Pacquiao was widely criticized for the remarks, including by Nike (his main sponsor that has since terminated his contract), his network partner HBO and his promoter Bob Arum.

Nike called the comments “abhorrent” (per Darren Rovell of ESPN), HBO called them “deplorable” (per Sports Illustrated) despite electing to go forward with telecasting the fight, and Arum called them “reprehensible” and “unfortunate” (per Mitch Abramson of The Ring Magazine).

One man who has been noticeably silent on the subject, at least until now, has been Bradley, the four-time world champion who owns a questionable 2012 decision win over the Filipino boxing icon.

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Bradley opened up on the subject to George Willis of the New York Post, talking about his uncle Mitch Bradley who was gay and passed away eight years ago. He also said his belief is that you should judge based on who people are and not what.

“It’s pretty much irrelevant to boxing and what we are here to talk about,” Bradley began. “But if you ask me a question about gay people—I love all people for what they are. I respect all people. I judge people by their heart.”

That message is a drastic departure from the comments made by his opponent, who comes from a socially conservative country and has made several statements (albeit not to quite this offensive degree) in the past about his opposition to gay marriage.

It remains an open question what impact Pacquiao’s comments will have on the ability to drum up business in the United States’ PPV market, given the drastic evolution of public thought on the issue over the past decade.

Pacquiao subsequently apologized to those he hurt with his comments, while also reaffirming his opposition rooted to his belief in the Bible. That’s all well and good, and he certainly has a right to maintain his religious beliefs, but it had to make some money people nervous.

It doesn’t do to have one of the sport’s biggest international stars, a lock for induction in the International Boxing Hall of Fame and a PPV money-making machine embroiled in any sort of controversy ahead of a big fight that already had several handicaps to box-office success—the fans didn’t want it, and one of the participants was soundly defeated in a “Fight of the Century” that left many disillusioned and disappointed nearly one year ago.

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Arum refused to speculate on the potential fallout back in February.

“I have no idea,” Arum said, per Abramson.

“I mean we live in a country—look at the number of people who support Donald Trump and the (expletive) that he says. Who knows anymore? How can you make a prediction (on the PPVs)?”

It’s probably a fair assumption to say that the PPV numbers were going to be down regardless.

Pacquiao’s first fight with Bradley—known more for the firestorm of controversy prompted by the shady verdict than any action in the ring—generated approximately 890,000 buys on PPV, a solid number.

The rematch generated between 750-800,000 buys, which Arum labeled a “disappointment,” per Dan Rafael of ESPN.com—many fans didn’t see the need to watch given Pacquiao’s perceived dominance everywhere but the scorecards the first time out

The overall PPV market has been soft in recent years, with the noted exception of Mayweather-Pacquiao, as boxing’s biggest stars reach the end of their lines and new ones struggle to create demand that makes people want to part with between $60 and $100 to see them fight.

Even Miguel Cotto’s middleweight title defense against Canelo Alvarez, which featured an intense Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry and one of the most marketable and fastest-rising stars in the sport, only generated 900,000 remote clicks, which seems well beyond the ballpark of possibility for Pacquiao-Bradley III.

It’s not that this is a bad fight (it isn’t, and it could easily be the best and most competitive of the three) but the fans didn’t want it, and it certainly didn’t help that one of the participants decided now was the time to offend a good chunk of his potential market.