Floyd remains top earner
LAS VEGAS – It’s all quiet on the pay-perview front as numbers have not been released on how many hits last Saturday’s rubber match between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley generated. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said he’s confident the fight took in at least 700,000 hits. The conservative estimate is it booked 400,000 to 600,000.
It’s difficult to imagine that the third fight would outsell the rematch in 2014. Pacquiao thrashed Bradley in the second bout and not too many fans expected a change in the outcome of the third meeting. The first fight had 890,000 hits and the second, 750,000.
Pacquiao’s $20 million guaranteed paycheck boosted his total earnings to over $450 million since turning pro in 1995. If last Saturday’s fight kicked in at least 700,000 pay-per-view buys, Pacquiao’s share of the pie would be $10 million more. Before the bout, Pacquiao’s 19 pay-per-view events had registered 17.8 million pay-per-view hits with gross revenues of $1.1 billion. For sure, Saturday’s fight will boost his career pay-per-view buys to over 18 million.
While Pacquiao has now eclipsed Mike Tyson’s career earnings of $ 400 million, it’s still Floyd Mayweather sitting on the throne as the king of pay- per- view. In terms of gross income, his pay- per- view fights collected $ 1.3 billion on 19.5 million buys over 15 fights. His lowest total was 325,000 for the Carlos Baldomir bout in 2006. Mayweather saw action in seven fights with at least a million hits, including six in a row from 2009 against Juan Manuel Marquez to 2013 against Saul ( Canelo) Alvarez.
After facing Pacquiao, Mayweather took on patsy Andre Berto in his retirement bout last year. The swan song recorded 550,000 pay-per-view sales. Aside from Mayweather and Pacquiao, the other big pay-per-view fighters were Oscar de la Hoya (12.8 million hits for a gross of $612 million), Evander Holyfield (12.6 million hits for a gross of $543 million and Tyson (12.4 million hit for a gross of $545 million).
Mayweather, 39, has a 49-0 record and is a win away from eclipsing heavyweight Rocky Marciano’s mark of retiring as an unbeaten world champion. He announced his retirement from boxing after outpointing Berto last year. But Mayweather has un-retired twice before. The consensus is if there’s big money on the table for a comeback, he won’t turn it down.
Pacquiao, 37, has also retired from the fight game. His impressive performance against Bradley, however, has created rumblings about an eventual un-retirement.
“Mayweather and Pacquiao have retired if not at the top of their game then close to it,” wrote
USA Today’s Bob Velin. “They were two of the biggest pay-per-view attractions ever in the sport and Pacquiao has perhaps the greatest global following since Muhammad Ali.”
Before the Bradley fight, trainer Buboy Fernandez was convinced his bosom buddy would run roughshod over the Desert Storm. “I know Teddy Atlas’ style,” he said. “Atlas likes his fighters to stand and exchange. You saw that in Atlas’ first fight in Bradley’s corner against (Brandon) Rios last November. Manny likes it when his opponents engage and attack.”
Bradley tried to confuse Pacquiao by boxing from a distance and charging in occasionally. The key to executing his fight plan was to unsettle Pacquiao. As it turned out, Bradley got unsettled, not Pacquiao.
Oddsmakers set even odds for Pacquiao to win on points and Bradley a long-shot for the same result on a line of 7/2. Pacquiao was picked to win by knockout, also on a line of 7/2 and Bradley, further at 11/2. Some weeks back, a $300 bet would’ve won $100 if the fight went 11 full rounds. A $100 wager would’ve earned $250 if the fight was stopped within 11 rounds so that eventuality wasn’t expected. The betting line narrowed by fight night with a $200 bet to win $100 for Pacquiao and a $100 wager to win $160 for Bradley. Pacquiao was therefore a 2-to-1 favorite.
The referee for the third bout was Tony Weeks who replaced an ill Robert Byrd. The judges were Dave Moretti, Steve Weisfeld and Burt Clements. Curiously, Moretti and Clements were in the panel for Pacquiao’s fight against Mayweather. Weisfeld was a judge when Pacquiao was knocked out by Marquez in 2012. So the three judges had jinxed Pacquiao in the past. Last Saturday, Pacquiao reversed the hex.
Argentinian cutman Miguel Diaz, who joined Freddie Roach, Justin Fortune and Fernandez in Pacquiao’s corner against Bradley, said he’s proud of what the Filipino has done and continues to do for his country. He dismissed Pacquiao’s knockout loss to Marquez as an accident. “It’s not like Manny took a beating and got knocked out,” he said. “He was winning the fight when Marquez got lucky. That’s how it is in boxing sometimes. You walk into a punch. Something like that, you learn from and move forward.”