Pacquiao vs Marquez: Fight Is Proving Champ Isn't as Popular as Floyd Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather is the undisputed king of boxing—at least in terms of public relevance.

He and Manny Pacquiao are the two biggest names in the sport, and while Manny is much more active in the ring, it has done very little to close the popularity gap on Mayweather.

Just look at the evidence.

HBO's 24/7

The first episode of HBO's 24/7 aired. I just thought I'd point that out in case you missed it. And judging by the reaction a lot of people missed it.

There is little buzz surrounding Pacquiao's addition of the HBO series just like there is little buzz surrounding his fight.

This is in stark contrast to Manny's rival Floyd Mayweather. Money Mayweather is more an event than a man.

He turned "24/7" into must-watch TV. He sent Twitter buzzing. People can't seem to get enough Mayweather. They either love him or hate him.

You'd be hard pressed to find a person who has listened to Mayweather talk for more than a second who doesn't have an opinion of the man.

Pay-Per-View Numbers

According to Elie Seckbach on esnewsreporting.com, Mayweather versus Ortiz brought in 1.3 to 1.7 million buys.

Keep in mind that these numbers are not official, and people report different numbers to serve their own purposes.

Pacquiao is coming off of a fight with Shane Mosley that saw him do a career best in pay-per-view numbers.

Here is Bob Arum on the subject, as quoted on the Las Vegas Review Journal:

"We're very happy with CBS and Showtime. They were a great partner, and this is the biggest pay-per-view result in Manny's career.

"It was a very successful promotion. Manny doing 1.3, 1.4 million buys is outstanding."

The fight leading up to the Mosley fight, Pacman took on Joshua Clottey and drew what was widely reported as only 700,000 pay-per-view buys. As a draw, David Ortiz is much closer to Joshua Clotter than he is to Shane Mosley.

While these numbers are strikingly similar in the Mosley fight, it took the power of CBS and Mosley's appeal to help generate career best numbers for Pacquiao. Mayweather needed little more than himself to promote his fight.

Conclusion

Mayweather has a flair for marketing. It is apparent in everything he does. Pacquiao simply is not that way.

The difference in styles shows in all facets—even their boxing styles. Mayweather fights with quickness and a captivating counter-attack style, while Pacquiao is more of a straightforward bulldog.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to argue that Mayweather is a better boxer than Pacquiao, but that clearly hasn't translated into him being less popular.