Mayweather vs. Canelo has 2.2 million PPV buys & growing:
Last Saturday’s blockbuster boxing event The One: Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez now ranks as the highest-grossing pay-per-view of all time, with nearly $150 million in U.S. pay-per-view revenue reported to date. The news was announced Thursday by Showtime Networks Inc., in conjunction with event promoters Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions.
The Mayweather vs. Canelo PPV surpassed the previous record of $136 million generated by Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing event in 2007.
Preliminary reports from distributors show pay-per-view buys projected to be 2.2 million. While not fully reported from all distributors, the total buys could challenge the existing record of 2.48 million pay-per-view buys set by De La Hoya vs. Mayweather. The initial report immediately following the De La Hoya vs. Mayweather event in 2007 was 2.15. THE ONE has already exceeded the previous #2 event, the infamous World Heavyweight Championship bout between Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson II (1.95 million, 1997).
What had been called the biggest boxing event in years during the build-up proved worthy of the hype. Tickets for the event sold out within 24 hours of going on sale and set a new boxing record for live gate revenue at more than $20 million. The fight was also one of the most-watched programs in Mexican history, with 77% of television viewers watching the bout.
Mayweather’s guaranteed purse of $41.5 million is also the highest history. With all of the revenue coming in from the fight, more than $175 million thus far, it’s likely that Mayweather’s take doubles.
Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions reported earlier a record number of sponsorship and sponsor activation for a boxing event and additional distribution records for live closed circuit viewing (over 26,000 tickets sold in Las Vegas alone) and live movie theatre screenings at more than 500 theatres nationwide. On Friday, before fight night, the crowd at the official weigh-in was believed to be the largest on record, featuring an announced attendance of more than 12,000 excited fans.
