Saturday night's Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Canelo Alvarez boxing match "generated the highest rating in Mexican television history," according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. The fight aired on broadcast network Televisa, and Golden Boy Promotions noted that the main event drew a 41.5 national rating and 22.1 million viewers. The full telecast, including undercards, earned a 30.1 rating and or 16.2 million viewers. Alvarez "has never garnered fewer than 7.5 million viewers for his eight appearances on Televisa" (ESPN.com, 9/18). Meanwhile, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer yesterday said that the numbers for Saturday’s fight are "tracking in such a way that the buys will surpass two million, ‘no question about it.’” He added, “It’s definitely the highest-grossing pay per view of all time. There’s a possibility that it could be the highest numbers of buys as well, but we’re still collecting data. I don’t want to make the statement that it’s going to surpass the buys (2.5 million) as well, unless I’m absolutely sure.” Schaefer: “It is looking very strong, but I hope that I’ll have more concrete information by the end of this week” (RINGTV.com, 9/18).
