There’s a war raging on televised boxing in the United States, and just as it happened a few years ago in the Philippines, it involves Manny Pacquiao. Over the weekend, various sources reported that the pound-for-pound champion’s May 7 fight against Shane Mosley will be carried by Showtime. It’s a major coup for the premium TV network in its battle with rival HBO, which has dominated the American televised boxing landscape for decades.

For years, Showtime has been trying to get into the big-ticket fight business, where HBO has been king since Mike Tyson’s early fights. Showtime became a major player in the ‘90s, carrying the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield ear bite fight, but ended up cutting back its involvement in boxing when the heavyweight division swooned, only doing the occasional pay-per-view.

But they’ve been trying to get back into the fight game, and they’ve had some success over the years, including the well-received Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament. Over the past few months, it has stepped up its drive by signing deals with top talent such as Lucian Bute, Juan Manuel Lopez, and Miguel Cotto. It helped that Top Rank Promotions head Bob Arum has had a running feud with HBO, which was probably a factor in Showtime securing the Pacquiao-Mosley deal.

But Arum is a businessman, and bottom line trumps any mere feud. And as business decisions go, this one just might change the landscape of boxing.

Reports say that Showtime, which is owned by broadcast network CBS, will be heavily promoting the fight on free television. Commercials to promote the fight would air during the March Madness tournament and CBS primetime programs – the network’s hit shows include Survivor, NCIS, CSI, and The Big Bang Theory. More importantly, there are talks that a 24/7-type reality show to hype up the fight will air on CBS, the most-watched television network in the United States.

What this means is that Pacquiao will be exposed to an even bigger audience, and his story would reach non-fans who are still not familiar with him. It remains to be seen if this would finally catapult him past Floyd Mayweather as the sport’s pay-per-view king – in spite of Pacman’s popularity, Money Mayweather’s bouts still end up doing better buy rates. It’s no guarantee, of course, because the Mayweather-Mosley match was perceived to be more competitive than the upcoming fight, but it gives Pacquiao a fighting chance.

Bob Arum got a lot of flak for putting together the Pacquiao-Mosley, a matchup that most hardcore boxing fans don’t view as competitive. But I doubt if the CBS/Showtime deal gets made if it had been Juan Manuel Marquez or Andre Berto were fighting opposite Pacquiao, because those guys don’t carry the same brand name recognition as Mosley.

And while there’s a chance that the fight will be a crapfest given the fact that Sugar Shane might be over the hill, there’s also a chance that Pacquiao will put on a phenomenal show before the biggest American pay-per-view audience he’s ever had. And if that happens, all bets are off; boxing might just return to American network television in a big way.

Scott Christ of Bad Left Hook put it best:

When you get down to it, Manny Pacquiao, without even really knowing he's doing it, may be causing an enormous shift in American boxing coverage. Nobody else in the sport could do that.