Bob Arum: Manny Pacquiao's anti-gay remarks 'really hurt' promotion of fight vs. Timothy Bradley

LAS VEGAS - Even though the furor over Manny Pacquiao's religion-based anti-gay comments has died down considerably during fight week, Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, said they have hurt the promotion of his 12-round fight against Timothy Bradley.

Their meeting at MGM Grand on Saturday is the rubber match. Bradley won the first in 2012 in one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history, and Pacquiao won the second in 2014 by unanimous decision.

"Things on this promotion got (messed) up when Pacquiao opened his mouth saying those terrible things," Arum said Thursday night.

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Those things included Pacquiao saying in February that people in gay relationships are "worse than animals" because animals only procreate with the opposite sex.

Pacquaio, 37, has since apologized for those comments, but has said he remains opposed to gay marriage, based on his religious beliefs.

Nike immediately and unceremoniously terminated Pacquiao's endorsement contract after the remarks went public. HBO, which is airing the pay-per-view event (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET), condemned the comments, calling them "insensitive, offensive and deplorable." However, the premium network said they would honor the contract and televise the welterweight fight, which has a strong undercard featuring a WBO super-middleweight title fight between champion Arthur Abraham of Germany, and rising undefeated Mexican star Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez.

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"I know it hurt the promotion," Arum said. "For example, every fight promotion we did with Manny, he was on Jimmy Kimmel, who loves him. Disney wouldn't allow Kimmel to put him on. So we've run into a lot of resistance, because people are actually offended, or they don't want to offend their customers who happen to be gay. So, yes, it really hurt us."

Arum said that the pay-per-view number are very low right now, but that's not uncommon in a PPV event, he said, where in today's market, "things don't start picking up until Friday, really picking up. And on Saturday they explode. Because people think, 'Why would they buy it in advance if they can just hit the button before the fight.' "

Arum's Top Rank Promotions has "tried everything here, with the Hispanic 'no-Trump' undercard, and so forth," the 84-year-old promoter said. "I just don't know how well we're going to do."