Top Rank Chair Bob Arum said that Miguel Cotto's 10th-round knockout of Sergio Martinez to win the world middleweight championship on June 7 generated “approximately 350,000 buys on HBO PPV,” according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. Although selling that many units generated more than $20M in PPV revenue, organizers projected that it would “compare more closely with the 475,000 subscriptions sold” for Martinez' decision victory against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a September ‘12 title fight. Arum: "The numbers were not great. All the numbers boxing has been getting on pay-per-view have been terrible. It's not disappointing; it just is what it is. There are too many (pay-per-view cards). … There have been pay-per-views every month and people resent the fact that they're asked to pay extra for anything halfway decent.” Martinez’ promoter Lou DiBella attributed part of the poor sales to the fact that the “publicity for the fight was hurt by the intense hype during fight week” of a potential Triple Crown winner at the Belmont Stakes, which took place a few hours before the fight, combined with the fact Kings-Rangers Stanley Cup Final Game 2 went into double OT during the card, which “hurt sales in the nation's two biggest media markets” (ESPN.com, 6/23).
