Why the pressure is on Manny Pacquiao to put on a show

MACAU – Manny Pacquiao has something to prove. The WBO welterweight champion and Filipino congressman wants to prove that not only does he remain relevant, but that he's still capable of the explosive displays that once made him the world's most popular boxer.

It's been five years since Pacquiao last knocked out an opponent. His pay-per-view numbers are down, and he's seemingly in the homestretch of a career that will one day land him in the Hall of Fame.

But he wants to avoid the trend of a series of losses that many legendary boxers endure in their final bouts and the ignominy of losing to a largely unheard of opponent.

His opponent, Chris Algieri, also has something to prove. Algieri is desperate to prove he belongs on the world stage and isn't simply showing up to Cotai Arena on Saturday (Sunday in China) as cannon fodder for Pacquiao.

And promoter Bob Arum also has plenty he wants to prove. The innovative 82-year-old promoter wants to prove that his decision to bring big-time boxing to this island gambling enclave 20 air hours from the famous Las Vegas Strip wasn’t a harebrained idea and that it's the prelude to opening the lucrative mainland Chinese market.

So, much will be at stake when the HBO Pay-Per-View card kicks off Saturday.

As usual, Arum said indicators for American pay-per-view sales are promising. Pacquiao's 2013 bout at The Venetian Macao with Brandon Rios sold 475,000 pay-per-view units. Arum said Friday that early numbers for Pacquiao-Algieri are tracking ahead of the Pacquiao-Rios bout at a similar point.

But pay-per-view numbers are badly off across the board in combat sports. The UFC's once heady pay-per-view numbers are trending toward embarrassingly low figures. Even the pay-per-view king, Floyd Mayweather Jr., was unable to reach 1 million sales in his two 2014 fights, and he's been under a million in three of his four fights on his Showtime contract.

Clearly, this is a challenging time to sell pay-per-view. It would help, of course, if Arum could guarantee that the power-punching dynamo that Pacquiao once was would reappear on Saturday against Algieri, who won the WBO junior welterweight title by defeating Ruslan Provodnikov in June.

Pacquiao is saying all the right things, and he's attacked with a vengeance in his training sessions with Freddie Roach.

"He hit me with a body shot that just hurt so bad," Roach said a few hours after Pacquiao had finished a workout in a makeshift gym located in the bowels of the casino. "I didn't want to let on that I was hurt, but I had to step back to catch my breath."

Pacquiao is tired of hearing about his five-plus-year run without a knockout, and he grimaced when a reporter brought it up.

As much as he may not want to hear it, though, it's a fact, and the burden is on his shoulders to prove that the streak was simply a matter of strange luck and bigger, better opponents.

In Algieri, he'll meet a lightly regarded but highly confident New Yorker who has sneered at the many detractors and doubters who have questioned whether he even belongs in the fight, let alone can win.

If Roach is to be believed, not even Pacquiao himself believes Algieri poses much of a threat. Pacquiao has consistently praised Algieri, but Roach reiterated a conversation he'd had with Pacquiao in which the Filipino superstar predicted a short night.

"Manny told me, 'One round,'" Roach said. "He never does that. He won't repeat it publicly to you guys, but that's what he told me, that he'd get him in one round."

An impressive Pacquiao victory would make it easier to clear the way for a fight with Mayweather in 2015. Arum has said back channel talks aimed at getting a deal in place between the sides are ongoing, spearheaded by CBS Corp. chairman Leslie Moonves.

An Algieri win would spoil forever the possibility of Mayweather-Pacquiao, if the likelihood hasn't already been exhausted.

Algieri’s trainer, Tim Lane, is a former kickboxing champion who came to respect his fighter when they sparred and Algieri continuously took a beating yet kept coming back for more.

This is Algieri's first truly major fight, though he carried most of the promotion for his June bout with Provodnikov because Provodnikov speaks little English.

Algieri hasn't cracked or wilted or shown any outward sign that he's awed by the moment.

"Chris has been handling the pressure like there is no pressure," Lane said. "There is a lot of relaxation and meditation and ice baths after workouts. This is the Chris Algieri Show, like I said before. This is what he had visualized for years and now he has the situation the way he has always dreamed about having it. This is a dream come true, so there is no pressure. There is great energy and Chris is feeding off all of it and he is stronger than ever."

Algieri is a humble, easy-to-like guy who grew up watching fights with his grandfather. He always believed he'd make it to the big-time, even if few others did.

He relaxed when he went on a 27,000-mile tour in the summer with Pacquiao to promote the fight. He saw Pacquiao as a human and not as some mythical monster. He also witnessed how much he towers over Pacquiao.

"Seeing him helped me a lot," Algieri said. "It made him real."

It will be a real fight, and Pacquiao will need to find a way to negate Algieri's four-inch height and five-inch reach advantages.

Pacquiao can't let Algieri keep a jab in his face and use lateral movement to stay away.

"I've fought a lot of guys who are taller than me and I know how to deal with that," he said.

The bout is Pacquiao's second in Macau in a year and is helping to turn China into a boxing country. Boxing was banned during the reign of Mao Tse Tung and didn't become legalized until 1986.

Arum signed two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming of China last year and has had him fight five times in Macau. Each time, the Chinese crowd has become more engaged.

Arum and Ed Tracy, the boxing-crazy CEO of Sands China Ltd., the parent company of The Venetian Macao, say that upward of 350 million Chinese are expected to watch the fight on CCTV, the Chinese state television network.

Shiming is a hero in China and is responsible for building interest in boxing. But Arum hopes that leads to more frequent major shows, including some on the Chinese mainland.

"What we're doing here is laying the groundwork," Arum said. "Long after I'm gone, [Top Rank president] Todd [duBoef] and others are going to reap the benefits. This market has the potential to go crazy, and I'm not going to be around to see that.

"But what I'm doing here is to get the ball rolling and start building the interest. We were going to put this fight on pay-per-view [in China] for a modest price, but my partners explained to me why it was better to leave it on free TV. This is an investment and I believe very deeply that it's going to pay huge dividends down the line."

It would make it just that much easier if Pacquiao does his part and puts on a memorable performance.

That would help in the short-term by making a Mayweather fight a real possibility. It will also help in the long-term by perhaps converting some curious Chinese viewers into hardcore boxing fans.

Algieri can upset the best-laid plans by outboxing Pacquiao. But the Filipino congressman, who will earn "north of $20 million," according to Arum, is intent on showing Algieri what is what.

"He is talking a lot and he can do that," Pacquiao said. "But the talking won't matter when the fights starts."