Pacquiao Returns To Basic Cable To Prove He’s Still A Pay-Per-View Star

Manny Pacquiao is 38 now. But unless you regularly purchased pay-per-view fights over the last dozen or so years, there's a good chance you've never really seen the eight-division world champion and future Boxing Hall of Fame enshrinee.

And even if you or a friend dropped $99.95 on his 2015 loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.—still the highest grossing fight in pay-per-view history—all you witnessed was an injured Pacquiao struggling to overcome a bad shoulder against one of history's greatest (and most boring) defensive boxers. You didn't get to enjoy the Pacquiao whose ferocious power helped him climb from light flyweight all the way to welterweight while not only remaining competitive, but at times, unbeatable.

Your chance will come on Saturday night on ESPN, when Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) puts his WBO welterweight title on the line against Australian Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs) in front of over 50,000 screaming Aussies at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

Technically it will actually be Sunday in Brisbane, but American audiences can turn to ESPN at 10 p.m. ET and decide for themselves whether or not Pacquiao is still an elite boxer at his advanced age.

"I think Manny has looked good in his last couple of fights," Horn said during a conference call with reporters. "He probably doesn't pull the trigger a little bit when he had the chance. Look, he is still a super fast fighter that has easily taken apart his last few opponents. I don't know if he has a knockout in him but who knows? I will finally find out though."

Pacquiao certainly hasn't looked bad since the Mayweather loss.

The veteran southpaw won the rubber match of his trilogy with Timothy Bradley Jr. in April of 2016, dropping the American twice and receiving 116-110 marks from all three judges.

Pacquiao may have been even better in November, winning a unanimous decision over Jessie Vargas to take the WBO title.

But to anyone who has watched the Philippine senator fight over the years, it's hard to argue that he's the same fighter. Pacquiao hasn't scored a knockout since his TKO win over Miguel Cotto in 2009. And dating back to his 2008 win over Oscar De La Hoya, Pacquiao has gradually become a less active fighter. Over his last 10 bouts, he's averaged 68.9 punches thrown per round, according to CompuBox.

That's a steep decline from his 2008 knockout of David Diaz, when Pacquiao was throwing nearly 90 punches per round.

Over his last five fights, Pacquiao, under the guidance of longtime trainer Freddie Roach, has thrown 41.8 punches per round, according to CompuBox, while landing an average of just 13. What's worse, he landed just about three jabs per round over that time because the 5-foot-5 Pacquiao simply doesn't have the size to box bigger welterweights at a distance. He needs to get in close to do damage, and even though he's been as good at that as anyone, Pacquiao will be playing with fire when he tries that on Saturday. Horn lands an average of 18.2 power punches per round, compared to just 9.9 for Pacquiao, according to CompuBox.

"I think I have a style that Pacquiao has not fought before," said Horn, who has never fought in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 people. "I think he is going to struggle with my style. I am bigger than him. He may be faster than me but I am pretty quick as well. I could hit him with the right shot and nobody knows what could happen."

Horn's trainer, Glenn Rushton, said he believes Pacquiao is "fairly close" to his peak, and Horn knows that he's not going into the ring with a washed-up veteran who's seeking a payday. Pacquiao wants to use the exposure on ESPN to remind audiences that he's still among the best boxers on the planet. And for him to have a future as a pay-per-view fighter, he's going to need to fight like one in Brisbane.

"This is a great opportunity to show the fans of boxing that we are still here and not done in boxing," Pacquiao said. "So this is a good chance and we believe that a lot of people will be watching and we spoke to [promoter Bob Arum] and we decided to give the people a chance to watch the fight on a free station in America."

Arum, Top Rank's founder and CEO, speaks of Pacquiao's decision to put this fight on basic cable as some sort of act of charity.

"Manny is a level above the ordinary fighter," Arum said. "He is now in the senate in the Philippines. He thinks in terms of the people and he did say to me 'I want this fight seen in America, which has been so good to me, by as many people as possible, for free.' We were able to make a deal with ESPN and we will have, by far, the most people to ever watch a Manny Pacquiao fight will be Saturday night, July 1—the start of the 4 th of July weekend. So in effect I think it should be viewed as a gift to the American public by Manny Pacquiao, who has spent so much time and has done great things in the United States."

For his part, Arum told reporters he would like to bring more fights to basic cable, so Pacquiao-Horn could be the start of something with ESPN, which also recently inked a deal with De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

As for Pacquiao, this weekend's fight—easily the biggest in Australia's history—is an opportunity to extend his career. Those who saw him struggle against Mayweather or get knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 know he's not the Pacquiao of old. But if he can still win fights and thrill crowds, he might not have to be.

"One thing about Manny, we don't take anyone lightly," Roach said. "Jeff is not that well known but he does have 16 wins and he has fought a couple of names out there. But again, we get ready for everyone and we are in great shape for this fight as we would be for anybody else in the world."