Pacquiao vs. Hatton Brings in Big PPV Numbers

By Eric Thomas: According to Dan Rafael of ESPN, the May 2nd bout between boxing superstars Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand, was a huge success in terms of PPV buys, selling an estimated 825,000 domestic PPV (Pay per view) buys for the fight and it could go as high as 850,000, bringing in nearly fifty million. Rafael says that the PPV numbers in England could reach one million buys. The numbers are incredible when you look at the timing, which is coming with the economy in the tank and many people out of work.

It also shows that boxing isn’t dead now that Oscar De La Hoya has retired. Although Ricky Hatton’s star has faded as a result of his 2nd round KO loss to Pacquiao, there’s still the likelihood of huge money fights between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez which is coming up on July 18th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas.

Then ideal situation would be for Mayweather Jr., a big PPV star in his own right, to defeat Marquez and then move forward towards a mega PPV bout with Pacquiao, a fight which could possibly break PPV numbers if Mayweather looks good against Marquez and beats him impressively.

As for Hatton, he’s pretty much finished as a big PPV star in the United States unless he can stick around for a few more years and beat some quality fights to repair some of the damage done from his quick knockout at the hands of Pacquiao.

With many people advising Hatton to hang up his gloves, it’s doubtful that he will continue on with his boxing career for more than one fight if that. Even if Hatton does continue with his career, one wonders whether Hatton has the ability to take big punches from future opponents without getting badly knocked out once again.

As things stand right now, Hatton would be a poor opponent for any other big named fighters in the U.S. like Mayweather, Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley. The fight that most people are looking forward to on the horizon is the potential Mayweather-Pacquiao bout.

However, there’s a lot of uncertainty about whether than fight will ever come off. To start with, Mayweather Jr. has to get by Marquez, not an easy task even under the best of circumstances for Mayweather. But what makes it tougher for Mayweather is that he’s been retired and out of boxing for the past two years and will be taking on Marquez without any tune-up.

It’s a risky move for Mayweather, but even with a tune-up, it’s unknown whether Mayweather has lost some of his skills, particularly his hand speed. Mayweather’s style of fighting is centered on his speed, and without that he becomes vulnerable in the same way that Roy Jones Jr. became much more beatable after he lost a lot of his hand and foot speed.

If Mayweather has lost something then he may end up getting beaten by Marquez, who is still fighting at a high level. What bails Mayweather out somewhat is that Marquez is smaller than him, so even if Mayweather has lost a lot, he might still be able to win on size alone.

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