Manny Pacquiao: Top PPV Seller after Fight against Marquez

By Boxing News - 11/04/2011 - Comments

Image: Manny Pacquiao: Top PPV Seller after Fight against MarquezBy Isaac Anchondo: The beauty about statistics is that they don’t lie and it is hard to argue against it. The discussion of who is the biggest PPV prize fighter has evolved in the discussion of only two current greats. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have transformed the sport of boxing into a cash business for themselves, their promoters, along some disappointments for the fans.

Yet there is another man that must be thank for creating these two PPV monsters, and that is, no other than Oscar De La Hoya. Both Manny and Floyd had been great entertaining fighters along their careers, but not until they fought Oscar did they become the two mega stars in today’s PPV boxing greats. With that said, we can fairly say that the majority of the success to each respective fighter’s first PPV mega event should go to Oscar De La Hoya. That is to say that the 2.5 million PPV buys produced by the fight against Mayweather and the 1.25 million buys created by the PPV fight against Pacquiao should be respectfully credited to a boxing great named Oscar. Both fighters’ PPV careers were jump start by Oscar, but did their following success was as a result of their work alone. Let’s take a look.

Mayweather decided to fight Ricky Hatton following the mega fight against De La Hoya. But can you really say that the PPV buys for this fight were the mere work of Mayweather. At the time, Hatton (43-0, 31 KO) was as big of a sensation as Mayweather (38-0, 24 KO). The two undefeated fighters squared off in a PPV event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The bout reminded me of a soccer match with the many Hatton fans loudly chanting for their fighter. This fight produced 920,000 PPV buys.

Next fighter in line was the great Juan Manuel Marquez having gone up two weight classes to meet Mayweather in a title fight. Regardless the fact that Floyd came into the fight above the weight limit or any other excuse that the Marquez camp might want to bring to light; Floyd won that fight which produced a total of 1.05 million PPV buys. But again, was this great battle a creation of Floyd’s sensational fighting skills or was it as a result of a loyal Mexican fan base believing that their Aztec warrior could defeat one of boxing greats. I was personally at this fight, and it was clear by the fans reaction that the second of these two choices reveals a more accurate story.

After a long break, Floyd came back to fight Sugar Shane Mosley in a fight that produced 1.4 million PPV buys. Many people believed that an aged yet still dangerous Shane could defeat Floyd. Once again the critics were wrong and the fight was dominated by one fighter. But this fight did prove something else, that aside the many loyal fans of Floyd Mayweather, you also have a massive crowd that continues to believe that the next fighter could be the one to take the undefeated record from Floyd. Love him or hate him but he continues to sell fights.

This of course brought the next fighter that although largely flawed, Victor Ortiz appeared to be the young, strong and hungry fighter that would take the over rated “undefeated” accomplishment of Floyd. But this fight does not deserve a discussion other than it did sell 1.25 PPV buys, and that the crowd was largely Hispanic chanting for “Victor” most of the duration of the short fight. By doing the math that a toddler should be able to do, this gives Floyd Mayweather a total of 7.12 million PPV buys in four events including his fight against De La Hoya.

So now we move on to Manny Pacquiao and his fight against De La Hoya. This fight jumped started Manny’s PPV career with a total of 1.25 million buys. Even though De La Hoya was a faded boxer by then, many criticized him for being a bully taking the fight against a smaller fighter making it an unfair fight for Pacquiao. The result was an impressive victory for Pacquiao via a referee technical decision on the 8th round, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Next fight was Ricky Hatton at a lower weight class in an effort to try to revive his career on a fight that sold 850,000 PPV buys. The result was the destruction of not only Ricky but his boxing career by an unbelievable KO on the second round. So is it fair to say that Pacquiao was the mere reason why people watched this fight? Absolutely! I apologize to Mayweather’s fans for being biased here, but you cannot use the excuse of Pacquiao’s victory by saying that Hatton was by then a “nobody,” and for the sake of this argument try to give him credit for creating some interest in watching this fight.

Pacquiao then targeted Miguel Cotto on a fight that produced 1.25 million PPV buys. Manny was a favor but the fight still attracted many fans to watch these two fighters go to war. As a result the fans got the slow, painful destruction of Miguel Cotto in the 12th round. Yet, you cannot give Pacquiao the full credit for the success of this fight since Cotto has a great Puerto Rican fan base that most likely got their spirit slowly broken starting on the 4th or 5th round.

Not having many credible opponents, Manny moved on to destroyed Joshua Clottey after being handpicked by Bob Arum for yet another easy win. Needless to say, this fight still managed to produce 700,000 PPV buys on the pure Filipino love shown by Pacquiao’s fans.

Next!!!! The destruction of Antonio Margarito in a unanimous decision that should have been stop way before the bout was over. Margarito unfairly received that fight, and again was handpicked by Arum, but none of the less he was still in amazing condition and regarded a good fighter. Regardless, boxing fans knew Manny could put on a show and still produced 1.15 million PPV buys.

Lastly, Pacquiao fought Sugar Shane Mosley on a poor performance by both. Pacquiao came out victorious with a unanimous decision that produced 1.3 million PPV buys. So that gives Pacquiao a total of 6.5 million PPV buys in the sheer power of Manny’s exciting fighting style, loyal fan base support, and simply boxing fans love for the sport.

This Saturday the boxing world gets the privilege of witnessing a historic trilogy between Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez. Regardless of the success following their epic meetings in the past, boxing fans have not decided who has been the clear winner between these two great warriors. Even though the upcoming fight will take place at an unusual weight class, I expect to see fireworks inside the ring as each fighter is preparing like they have never done before. I’m expecting and wish for Pacquiao to come out victorious simply for the slim possibility of the mega fight between the two boxing greats. But one thing is for sure, my loyal love for my Mexican fighters will be fighting the emotions of that wish. I expect this fight to produce at least 1.5 million PPV fights making Manny the top PPV fighter with a possible total of 8 million PPV buys. Although do not be surprised if this fight becomes the new top PPV fight of all times.



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