Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao combined for $1.6 billion in PPV sales
LAS VEGAS -- It's hardly a secret that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are going to sell a lot of pay-per-views on Saturday when they meet at the MGM Grand Garden for the WBA-WBC-WBO welterweight title in what is expected to be the largest grossing fight in boxing history.
Their full pay-per-view history, though, shows the extent of their popularity.
Mayweather, who turned pro in 1996 after winning a bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympic Games, began fighting on pay-per-view in 2005. In all, he's fought 13 times (nine times on HBO Pay-Per-View and four times on Showtime PPV) on pay-per-view and generated 14.5 million sales and $873 million in gross revenue.
Pacquiao made his pay-per-view debut in 2006, fighting twice on smaller Top Rank PPV cards before graduating to the big-time. In all, Pacquiao has made 20 PPV appearances (one on Showtime, two on Top Rank and 17 on HBO). He's sold 13.4 million units and generated $741 million in gross revenue.
Combined, they've sold 28 million pay-per-views and generated $1.6 billion in revenue. Mayweather has averaged 1.12 million sales per fight, with a record high of 2.48 million for his May 5, 2007, bout with Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao has averaged 728,000 and surpassed 1 million sales in fights against De La Hoya (1.25 million); Miguel Cotto (1.2 million); Antonio Margarito (1.15 million); Shane Mosley (1.2 million) and in his third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez (1.25 million). His fourth bout with Marquez finished at 990,000.
As incredible as those numbers are, it's nothing compared to what is expected Saturday. Several online sports books are taking bets on the total pay-per-view sales. SportsInteraction.com has the over-under at 3.8 million, with over at minus-167 and under at plus-120.
The fight is already trending well ahead of the pace that Mayweather's 2013 bout with Canelo Alvarez was. That fight sold 2.2 million pay-per-views, which is second all-time, and set a record with $153 million in PPV revenue.
The bout last week was ahead of the pace that the Mayweather-Alvarez fight was on Wednesday of fight week. It's impossible to know if that will hold up, but it's a sign to expect a very robust number.
Speaking of robust, HBO has put on 187 pay-per-view events. They've sold 59.3 million units that have generated $3.1 billion in revenue.
That figure is going to go way up on Saturday.
Related: Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole breaks down Pacquiao-Mayweather
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