Canelo Alvarez’ victory over Miguel Cotto on Nov. 21 "generated 900,000 pay-per-view buys valued at" $58M on HBO, according to Lance Pugmire of the L.A. TIMES. The figure "marked the first time" since the '02 Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis heavyweight bout that a fighter not named Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao "reached 900,000 buys." De La Hoya, whose company Golden Boy Promotions reps Alvarez, said, “Canelo is now officially the biggest star in all of boxing. Period." Outgoing HBO Senior VP/Sports Operations & PPV Mark Taffet said, "It puts an exclamation point on the biggest year in pay-per-view history" (L.A. TIMES, 12/4). ESPN.com's Dan Rafael wrote Alvarez and Cotto "delivered an entertaining fight in the ring and a lucrative one at the box office." In most years, Alvarez-Cotto "would have been the biggest-selling pay-per-view boxing event." But Mayweather-Pacquiao "more than doubled the pay-per-view record by selling 4.6 million subscriptions on May 2." Alvarez-Cotto "more than doubled the career finale of Mayweather, who fought Andre Berto on Sept. 12 and struggled to sell just more than 400,000 units." The sales total "figures to be a big boost to Alvarez, already Mexico's biggest boxing star" (ESPN.com, 12/3).
