By Chris Williams: Leonard Ellerbe, the advisor for Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0, 25 KO’s) is saying that the Mayweather’s May 1st bout against Shane Mosley brought in 1.4 million Pay-Per-View buys. All total, Mayweather made $40 million for the fight. Mayweather had a guaranteed $22.5 million for the fight. The $40 million comes up short of the all time total of $54 million by Oscar De La Hoya in his fight with Mayweather in 2007. The 1.4 million PPV numbers isn’t what Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer was expecting for the fight, however.

Schaefer initially said he thought it would be 3 million buys. Later, Schaefer was talking 4 million PPV buys, even though the Mayweather-Mosley hype was nearly nonexistent until the final week before the fight. Despite there being two stars involved, the fight appeared to be missing the kind of drama needed to make it the huge seller that Schaefer wanted it to be. Perhaps it was Mosley’s age of 38 or the fact that he hadn’t fought in over a year.

The fight turned out to be less than thrilling, apart from the 2nd round where Mosley staggered Mayweather with a couple of right hands. After that brief bit of excitement, the fight settled down into a routine where Mayweather did almost all the throwing and Mosley just catching shots to the head. Mosley had little left after the 2nd round and appeared to have gassed out while trying to stop Mayweather.

The $40 million is an outstanding number, because if Mayweather is able to make that kind of money with only 1.4 million PPV buys, you can only imagine what a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao would make for each fighter. It would likely do better than 2 million PPV buys and could put Mayweather in the region of more than $60 million.