Forget PPV, Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn will be live on ESPN

By James Slater - 06/19/2017 - Comments

In what is great news for fight fans, for their pockets especially, it has been confirmed how superstar Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming fight will go out live on ESPN. The reigning WBO welterweight king will of course face unbeaten Australian puncher Jeff Horn in Brisbane on July 2, at the start of his planned world tour.

And though Pac Man has been a huge draw on pay-per-view over the years, and though his popularity remains enormous, Top Rank have decided to give fight fans the upcoming fight for free as it were.

“Manny Pacquiao has been one of the biggest global spots stars of his era, setting attendance and pay-per-view records for over the past decade,” Top Rank’s Todd duBoef said when speaking with ESPN. “Now, as he defends his world title in front of yet another anticipated record crowd, he will be doing it to his biggest U.S television audience on the world’s biggest and most prestigious sports network, ESPN.”

With fans not now having to fork out $50 or $60 dollars or more for the fight, Pacquiao-Horn can be expected to pull in huge TV numbers. It’s great how the promoters can, if you like, give back to the fans, when money is almost always the telling factor in the sport. Millions of fans are now almost certain to tune in next month.

And Pac Man, who is reportedly “90 to 95-percent” ready, having trained both hard and seriously, is looking for a KO win against Horn. It just might be that Pacquiao, whilst appearing on ESPN, scores his first stoppage win since way back in 2009.

Horn of course has vastly different ideas. According to his trainer Glenn Rushton, Horn, who has been sparring with Czar Amonsot to get ready for the biggest fight of his career, currently has a pulse-rate of 47 – “exactly where we want it to be,” the trainer told The Courier Mail.

According to Rushton, there is a “10-point plan” in place for Horn to use to score the big upset win in July.