Boxing fans should know which network will get the rights to the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez Nov. 12 pay-per-view fight by this weekend, according to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum.
“Our goal is that we’ll vote on it by the end of the week,” Arum told BoxingScene.com.
HBO and Showtime are the two networks in the running. Pacquiao’s last fight against Shane Mosley was on Showtime and generated roughly 1.3 million pay-per-view buys thanks to promotion on CBS.
In order to sway Arum, HBO is offering to leverage their relationship with parent company Time Warner.
“The [package] that [HBO has] offered to us is something a year ago that nobody would’ve dreamed of,” Arum said. “If it was still the same [nonsense], we wouldn’t even be debating it. We would’ve already signed a contract with Showtime/CBS.”