PACQUIAO AND PAY-PER-VIEW
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 02 Sep 2012
Pay-per-view revenue is the main reason why until now, Manny Pacquiao has not chosen his next ring opponent. His latest tormentor Timothy Bradley is considered as a long shot because their recent fight generated only 900,000 PPV buys. While the third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez earned 1,450,000 PPV sales.
The fight with Miguel Cotto raised 1, 250,000 PPV buys same as that of Pacquiao versus Oscar de la Hoya. Other Pacquiao fights earned PPV?s as follows: Ricky Hatton 920,000, Joshua Clottey 700,000 and Antonio Margarito 1,150,000 and Shane Mosley 1,340,000.
All is not lost however in luring co-world number two pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, Jr. for a mega-fight. He and Oscar de la Hoya hold the biggest PPV draw in boxing history with 2,500,000 last May 5, 2007. The fight generated roughly $134.4 million dollars in PPV revenue, making it the most profitable prizefight of all time.
Boxing fans were first introduced to pay-per-view with the Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier fight "Thrilla In Manila." There was also another PPV in 1980 when Roberto Duran defeated Sugar Ray Leonard. A major pay-per-view event was the fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas "Hitman" Hearns for the Welterweight Championship.
De La Hoya is the leader in PPV sales has approximately 12.8 million units in total buys, giving $612 million in domestic television revenue. In second place is Mike Tyson with 12.4 million units ($545 million). Third is Evander Holyfield with 12.6 million units ($543 million) and Mayweather has generated 9.6 million buys and $543 million in revenue.
HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg identified pay-per-view "the biggest economic issue in boxing." He further says: "I can't tell you that pay-per-view helps the sport because it doesn't. It hurts the sport because it narrows our audience, but it's a fact of life. Every time we try to make an HBO World Championship Boxing fight, we're up against mythical pay-per-view numbers. HBO doesn't make a lot of money from pay-per-view. There's usually a cap on what we can make. But the promoters and fighters insist on pay-per-view because that's where their greatest profits lie."
The top HBO fights with at least one million PPV buys are:
1. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather - 2,500,000
2. Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield 2 - 1,990,000
3. Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson - 1,970,000
4. Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield 1 - 1,590,000
5. Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley - 1,550,000
6. Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto - 1,500,000
7. Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez - 1,450,000
8. Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman - 1,400,000
9. Oscar De La Hoya vs. F?lix Trinidad - 1,400,000
10. Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley - 1,400,000
11. Mike Tyson vs. Frank Bruno 2 - 1,370,000
12. Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley - 1,340,000
13. Mike Tyson vs. Donovan Ruddock 2 - 1,250,000
14. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao - 1,250,000
15. Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto - 1,250,000
16. Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz - 1,250,000
17. Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis 1 - 1,200,000
18. Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito - 1,150,000
19. Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel M?rquez - 1,050,000
20. Bernard Hopkins vs. Oscar De La Hoya - 1,000,000
(Photo by Lee Jimenez/AKTV)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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