LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 20: Manny Pacquiao (C) poses with members of his team and referee Kenny ... [+]
There are things are that can be debated and then there are things that are irrefutable. Manny Pacquiao's claim as the biggest name in boxing on a worldwide scale is just that. Irrefutable. Even if Floyd Mayweather thinks otherwise. What matters in this world is what you can prove and Pacquiao's numbers speak for themselves. The reason I'm pointing this out is because chatter around a second Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight is only going to grow in the coming weeks since Pacquiao defeated Keith Thurman in Las Vegas on July 20.
Pacquiao's outstanding performance and victory over Thurman not only proves that Pacquiao is still very competitive at the championship level at 40 years old inside the ring, but that he still excels over all of his peers in the welterweight division outside of the ring. Pacquiao is the clear undisputed champion when it comes to worldwide recognition, adoration and fanbase. It's not even a debate or conversation that Mayweather, Errol Spence Jr, Shawn Porter or Terence Crawford could even begin to make an argument backed up by data to suppose otherwise.
ListenFirst is a digital analytics platform that is able to assess fan growth. Their fan growth score measures the total growth of a brand's digital audience, meaning new Facebook page Likes, new Instagram followers, new Tumblr followers, new Twitter Followers, and new YouTube channel subscribers.
Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao
While Mayweather was the better fighter when he and Pacquiao fought on May 2, 2015, there's no question that Pacquiao was the fighter being most pulled for on social media. Pacquiao had a fan growth score of 452,370 on the day compared to Mayweather having a fan growth score of 161,966.
Tracy David, the Chief Marketing Officer for social analytics platform ListenFirst had this to say regarding the date:
While Manny Pacquiao should theoretically be in the twilight of his boxing career based on age, his social media footprint only continues to grow. He generated more new fans than Mayweather even in a loss on the day of their high profile bout, and has basically evolved into the game's goodwill ambassador in the four years since. As long as his bouts remain competitive, he'll likely remain a major draw based largely on that likability.
Additionally on May 2, 2015, Mayweather had a content response score of 823,621 while Pacquiao had a content response score of 1,488,452. ListenFirst content response score measures direct consumer responses such as Likes, Shares and Comments from Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube.
The above is despite Mayweather posting 14 pieces of content on his official social media accounts on May 2, 2015, compared to Pacquiao posting just three pieces of social media content on his official channels on the day.
PRESENT DAY
In the last year, meaning July 22, 2018 - July 21, 2019, Pacquiao had a fan growth score of 452,370. In the same time period, the now-retired Mayweather had a negative fan growth score of -57,343. Keep in mind the negative fan growth is because of Twitter purging bot followers during July 2018. For instance Mayweather had negative -366,149 fan growth during that month. This data is particularly interesting because it speaks to the different nature of both fanbases. The month of the Twitter purge, Mayweather lost -34.5 thousand fans on Facebook and -332 thousands fans on Twitter. Pacquiao also lost -74.2 thousand followers on Twitter because of the bot purge but that was offset by getting 188 thousand new fans on Facebook during the month. The reason I bring this up is because Mayweather has been more active on social media lately, even making headlines recently regarding a series of posts he made flaunting his wealth in addition to referencing his winning ways.
Pacquiao's posts have a dramatically different tone to them.
Compared to younger fighters, Pacquiao is still growing his social media following at a faster rate. For instance, between May 1 - July 21, 2019, Terence Crawford had a fan growth Score of 48,137 while Errol Spence Jr had a fan growth Score of 10,271. In the same time period, Pacquiao had a fan growth Score of 144,602.
With Pacquiao's big win over Thurman, on the heels of a dominating win over Adrien Broner in January and Lucas Mattyhsse last July, all which took place in a one year period. Take the highly controversial decision loss to Jeff Horn in 2017 in Horn's hometown of Brisbane, Australia out of the equation and Pacquiao's victories over Jessie Vargas and Timothy Bradley prior to that, one can make a powerful argument that Pacquiao's last legitimate loss was to Mayweather in 2015 in which Pacquiao has claimed to have fought with an injured shoulder.
ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL (SORT OF)
Mayweather's retirement has slowed down his social media growth which definitely plays a part in Pacquiao's dominance. What's also very different are the types of audiences. The totals between Mayweather and Pacquiao are much closer on Facebook, which is more a platform where people communicate with their families. Pacquiao is a family man and his fans respect him in a way that's much more sticky and isn't dependent on him winning a fight. They're Pacquiao fans for life.
Mayweather's fanbase respects his ability to get paid, show off everything he earned from his fights in flashy Instagram photos and back up everything he says in the ring. However he seems much more vulnerable to fickle fandom and fan loss, and you can make an argument based on how he's a once in a generation talent, he's actually underperforming on social media. They've both had great careers, but the fan loss issue for Mayweather indicates people like Pacquiao more in general. Although in fairness to Mayweather, we'll never really know until Pacquiao stops fighting.
With all of that being said, we're going to hear a lot of talk about a potential Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 2 fight as things continue to play out with Spence vs. Porter up next. While there are many viable options, Mayweather very well remains as one of them.
One thing is certain though. When it comes to having more fans on a worldwide scale, Pacquiao is second to none.
