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GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – Mayor Ronnel Rivera is in a bind.
He wants to show Manny Pacquiao’s epic fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr free for residents in General Santos City where the Filipino boxing icon grew up and started his ascent to boxing superstardom.
The trouble is that the cost of showing the live feed of the most anticipated match this century has more than tripled and it could get Rivera into trouble.
“The pay per view is very expensive. Solar Sports is quoting us P800,000* ($18,032 USD) to show the match at the Lagao Gym,” Rivera said Wednesday.
Skycable on the other hand is offering it to city hall for P500,000 ($11,270 USD).
“We want the people to watch it free but it will be hard to justify such huge expense for a live feed,” Rivera explained.
He said he already called Pacquiao, a party mate and political ally, if the later could talk Solar Sports executives into bringing down the price tag of live cable feed at the 8,000-seat Lagao Gym.
Rivera did not disclose what transpired between him and Pacquiao regarding the live feed.
Since breaking into the elite group of marquee boxers, Pacquiao’s fights have been shown free to residents here at the Lagao Gym by the local government unit.
The gym has always been filled to the rafters.
The last time the city showed Pacquiao’s fight versus Chris Algieri, the city government coughed up P250,000 ($5,635 USD).
Rivera said he is hoping Solar or Skycable will offer the same price for the Mayweather fight of Pacquiao.
Rivera is skipping the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in Las Vegas and will just watch it at the Lagao Gym.
He was in Macau, China when Pacquiao toyed with Algieri en route to a lopsided unanimous decision, scoring 6 knockdowns in the fight. – Rappler.com
$1 = 44.37 Philippine pesos
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