By Tan Wang
I keep hearing boxing fans argue back and forth about who is the bigger boxing star: Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. or Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao?
Many times you will naturally get a biased opinion, a Floyd fan will say Money May, and a Pacquiao fan will say Pacman.
From my observation and research, I would have to say Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the bigger star by a mile.
If you observe the fanbases of both fighters, you can see the differences. I will break down why Floyd is the most popular active boxer in the world today, and why Manny Pacquiao can’t even compare.
The main point here is DEMOGRAPHICS, Floyd has the youth on his side, while Manny has mostly older fans, maybe in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
Pacquiao isn’t really hip to the younger crowd. Most of Manny’s fans are old people, a lot of democrat and republican politicians like him, but that is only because Manny is a congressman and national hero in his country of the Philippines and if they praise Manny it will help them with Philippines-USA relations. It seems they only like Pacman because of the possibility of him being the next President of the Philippines so they are establishing relationships early on with him. Besides Filipinos, the majority of Pacquiao fans tend to be older White people and the only Black’s that like him tend to be conservative. Manny doesn’t seem to have many Latino or Black fans compared to Floyd. I also laugh when people say that Pacquiao is a draw with Asians, if that were true his pay-per-view buys would break 2 million every fight. Most Koreans, Japanese and Chinese people I know never order his fights or follow him, the only Asians around me that follow Pacman are Filipino. Again, this is just my observation.
Floyd Mayweather has the youth on his side. He is part of the cool crowd and the Reality TV generation loves him. He has millions of younger fans following him on Twitter and Facebook, while Manny barely has any Twitter followers or Facebook fans (Look for yourself who has more followers? @MannyPacquiao or @FloydMayweather). Floyd also has the looks and charisma to attract many female fans, Pacquiao isn’t physically appealing to many women, so, Floyd has that demographic locked. Women tend to follow sports stars because they are attracted to them, sure, some of them will actually like the sport, but they are attracted to either the looks or personality of that person and that is what draws them in as fans. I’ve asked many women at different bars and lounges where I watch pay-per-view fights who they like more Floyd or Manny? The overwhelming majority say Floyd because he is so fine and he has swagger. I remember watching the Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, and Shane Mosley fights and every time hot girls were rooting against Manny Pacquiao and wanting him to get knocked out. There was a few times that females rooted for Manny Pacquiao, to no surprise, they were all Filipino chicks. And unlike Pacquiao, Floyd has a diversity of fans, he has a lot of British fans, Black fans, White fans, Mexican fans, Asian fans, etc.
Pacman fans will bring up Pacquiao’s endorsements deals. He has commercials and deals with big name companies but he isn’t earning much from them or his boxing pay-per-views because in an article released by the Boxing Tribune, it said that Manny Pacquiao is only worth $26 million U.S.A. Dollars, and that is after generating close to $400 million in revenue. Floyd Mayweather will make more than $26 million in his next fight versus Victor Ortiz. So Floyd Mayweather makes more money for one fight than Manny Pacquiao is actually worth. Only a top boxing attraction and pay-per-view star can earn the type of money Mayweather does, it’s not even close, when you look at the numbers. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the biggest star and biggest draw in the sport.
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