The MJ of Boxing
– Via Bleacher Report –
According to BoxingScene.com, welterweight champion, Manny Pacquiao is in talks to take his product line from Nike to NBA legend Michael Jordan’s own Nike branch-off, the Jordan Brand.
Pairing up with one of the most well-known sports figures of all time will take Pacquiao’s already enormously successful career to a new level, even after he does eventually retire from boxing.
Hooking up with Nike has given Pacquiao’s career a boost, as his line is big success with his ever-growing fanbase, and adding Jordan’s name anywhere near Pacman’s will be a double threat that would surely boost sales of Pacquiao endorsed merchandise even more.
Fans in Pacquiao’s home country of the Philippines already compare him to Jordan, according to Antony Gordan, president of Creative Talent & Advisory Group, the company heading the talks about switching Pacman over to the Jordan Brand from Nike.
“…the infatuation of sports fans in the Philippines and surrounding areas in Asia with basketball finally hit a ‘marketing tipping point’ when the local media began branding Pacquiao as the so-called ‘Michael Jordan of boxing,'” Gordan said.
Along with fellow welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao is already one of the most known boxers since Mike Tyson, so it would be a no-brainer for Jordan to bring Pacquiao on board with the Jordan Brand, making him the third boxer to team up with the Jordan brand behind Roy Jones, Jr. and Andre Ward.
With Pacquiao saying he has two or three more fights left in him, he most likely has around one or two more years left in the sport of boxing. The Jordan Brand getting the hype surrounding partnering up with Pacquiao as he bids farewell to the sport that made him a worldwide star will help ensure Pacquiao’s presence in boxing won’t be gone even though he isn’t fighting anymore.
If the deal does indeed go through, as it appears it will, Jordan would give Pacquiao’s career a breath of fresh air, one that could have his career soaring, like Jordan once did on the basketball court.