Pacquiao-Cotto PPV Numbers Exceed Buys For Mayweather Jr.-Marquez

HBO Sports on Friday announced that the November 14 Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight generated 1.25 million PPV buys and $70M in PPV revenue, making it the highest-performing boxing PPV event of '09 (HBO Sports). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reported the 1.25 million buys equaled the December '08 Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya bout and exceeded the 1.05 million buys for the September 19 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez fight. Of the 1.25 million buys, 650,000 "came from cable subscribers and 600,000 from satellite homes," and an "estimated 110,000 purchases came from Puerto Rico, Cotto's homeland" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/21). HBO Senior VP/Sports Operations & PPV Mark Taffet indicated that the Mayweather-Marquez and Pacquiao-Cotto bouts represent the "first time HBO pay per view has ever recorded back-to-back fights exceeding a million buys." The two bouts also mark the "first time since 1999 that two, pay per view boxing events have totaled more than a million purchases" (FANHOUSE.com, 11/20). HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg: "Boxing is back in the mainstream and this is what we've been working for so long." Top Rank Chair Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, was "thrilled with the result and expects the 1.25 million figure to grow as more results trickle in." Arum said that the "figure released Friday is 'very preliminary' and could get larger." YAHOO SPORTS' Kevin Iole noted it is "not unusual for cable companies to report additional sales many months after the fight" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/20).

WHAT EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE: In San Antonio, John Whisler wrote of a potential Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, "If ever there were a fight that will generate mainstream interest all across America -- something boxing hasn't had in a while -- this is it." The level of interest around such a bout is "rivaling the epic bouts of yesteryear." Whisler: "Maybe not quite Ali-Frazier, but certainly the great fights staged by Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns. When is the last time that happened?" Greenburg: "It's rare when you have the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world both in their prime in the same weight class. And when that happens, you seize the opportunity" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 11/22).