Fansided

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight drew more than 4.4 million PPV buys

By Stanford Crissey

May 2, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao box during their world welterweight championship bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
May 2, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao box during their world welterweight championship bout at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight generated crazy amounts of money as the PPV take was more than impressive. 

It was billed as the fight of the century, and even if the fight itself didn’t live up to the hype, it certainly made the money one would expect from the “fight of the century.”

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ESPN’s Darren Rovell reports that the fight sold more than 4.4 million times on pay per view, which made an astonishing $400 million.

In addition to the pay per view sales, tickets generated more than $72 million.

That is a lot of money. But money well spent? Most fans don’t think so; the fight itself was a disappointment, as Pacquiao and his injured shoulder were no match for Mayweather, who won in a unanimous decision (well, unanimous unless you ask Pacquiao, who somehow still thinks he won).

It didn’t help that just before the fight was Clippers vs. Spurs Game seven, an instant classic that cost $0 to watch for people who already had a cable subscription.

Boxing shouldn’t count on a follow-up moneymaker anytime soon. Mayweather had this to say when asked about a rematch with Pacquiao:

Strong words. Fans probably wouldn’t have been interested in a rematch anyway, given the disappointment of the first matchup.

Boxing is the only sport that can deliver that kind of anticipation. Mayweather and Pacquiao were the world’s two biggest fighters, and they had been avoiding the inevitable fight for years; built up over such a long time, it grew to a status that it could not have possibly reached. But fans still expected something a bit better than this, especially at $100 per person. Nothing could possibly be worth that price to watch on TV; boxing fans should be disappointed anyway, as they could have gotten a good fight out of it at least. It wasn’t going to be worth it either way, but it could have at least been good.

Either way, the fight was very good to anyone capable of making money from it. It’s unknown how much Pacquiao and Mayweather themselves will make from the fight, but it’ bound to be an astronomical sum considering the pay per view and ticket sales. Pacquiao can go get himself a shoulder made of pure gold, then demand a rematch.

Now that would be worth it.

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