Manny Pacquiao vs Joshua Clottey Shows the Huge Potential Cross-Over Audience Boxing Could Bring to the UFC

HBO executives went on the record saying that less than 5% of their boxing Pay Per View buyers were also customers of MMA PPV's. Then we have multiple reports of the expected huge success of last night's Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight. Kevin Iole reported the optimistic pre-fight promoter talk:

Only a few hundred of the 45,000 tickets for the card remain, prompting Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Friday to offer standing-room tickets at $35 apiece.

Jones refers to his standing-room seats as "party passes," and Arum will be partying for a week if early indications of the fight's popularity prove true.

The closed-circuit locations and presales in the East are at record levels, surpassing where they were in 2007 for the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight. Indications are that the pay-per-view is tracking better than expected, and Arum said he won't be shocked if it touches 900,000 buyers.

Bad Left Hook's Scott Christ had a more conservative estimate, after discussing the amazing live gate sales in Dallas he commented:

But can it sell on PPV? I think this might be a reverse of the Mayweather-Marquez situation last year, where the live gate and attendance in Las Vegas were very disappointing, but the PPV numbers shocked everyone in and around the sport. The gate for this isn't going to set any records (well, it'll set the record for boxing in Texas, which is currently held by last year's Marquez-Diaz fight), but the attendance is obviously something that American boxing hasn't seen in a dog's age. But on PPV? I'm just not sure.

Pacquiao's fight last May with Ricky Hatton did around 800,000 buys, and his November bout with Miguel Cotto did about 1.25 million, matching what Pacquiao did against former PPV ruler Oscar de la Hoya the year previous.

MMA Payout had a different take:

The fans won't be happy until they see Mayweather-Pacquiao, but in the mean time the interest level in these two fighters has never been higher. I, too, would be surprised if this fight didn't hit 700,000 buys; and Mayweather-Mosley will like exceed 1 million buys.

Regardless of whether Pacquiao vs Clottey winds up doing 700,000 or 1 million buys, if only 5% of that audience has also ordered an MMA PPV, that means there is potentially a large potential MMA audience segment out there untapped.

The conventional wisdom is that boxing fans are older, more conservative, and ethnically more diverse than MMA fans. It is also widely believed that boxing fans are not just disinterested in MMA, rather many boxing fans actively dislike MMA.

But with the numbers being this big, it's no wonder that there is serious interest in the MMA community in fading champs like James Toney and Ricardo Mayorga. 

Many in the boxing community reveled in Ray Mercer's crushing victory over former UFC champ Tim Sylvia, seeing the fight strictly in terms of boxing vs MMA rather than as a bout between two individuals. You have to think that a few hard-core boxing fans -- including many who proudly attest their hatred and contempt for MMA -- will tune in to see if their aging champs Toney and Mayorga have what it takes to KO the MMA fighters they face in the cage.

Boxing legend Freddie Roach talked to Inside MMA about how boxing technique translates to MMA (transcript via USA TODAY):

"Definitely, the biggest thing is to get them to be more comfortable being closer to their opponent. In boxing, they can't use their legs for kicks and they don't need that room that they might when they are using the legs. ...

"I have to take into consideration that they may be kicked in their fights and so forth. That's why I ask a lot of questions and I learn as we go.

"It's like bobbing and weaving in MMA. It's really not the best move in the world to make for an MMA fighter. And I didn't realize that at first, because I forgot about the knees."

He also talked about the striking skills of B.J. Penn, Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko. Notable is this regard for the abilities of B.J. Penn, "I think he's one of the best strikers I've ever worked with. He can really punch."

He also discusses the abilities of Fedor Emelianenko, a man who KO'd his pupil Andrei Arlovski last year:

"His balance isn't that good. He's flat-footed a lot. He's kind of easy to box if you use in-and-out or side-to-side motion. He can be outboxed, but the thing is, he's such a good puncher -- you've got to be careful with that."

With Fedor having earned the grudging respect of Roach, I would think that many other boxing fans might be pleasantly surprised by what they see if they tune in to see a freak show featuring James Toney or Ricardo Mayorga.