By Daniel Hughes: It’s amazing to see how many sports fans around the world have commented and feel shortchanged about the recent Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight on May 2nd. The ‘fight for the fans’ was about the realistic state of where both fighters currently stand.
It was a fight about generating revenue numbers now, not about their current respective talents, at their peak both fighters would have looked at a split of $50 – $60 million dollars.
By Chris Williams: Last Saturday, HBO commentator Max Kellerman sounded off on his view of Manny Pacquiao’s revelation of him fighting with a preexisting shoulder injury for his May 2nd mega-clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas, Nevada. While Kellerman acknowledges that a lot of boxing fans believe that Pacquiao sold out by choosing to take the $100 million+ payday for the fight by choosing to go through with the event despite a bad shoulder injury that he sustained last April, Kellerman thinks that Pacquiao did an admirable thing by going through with it.
By Chris Williams: Despite problems with the major cable companies on the night of the “Fight of the Century,” the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight has reportedly brought in more than 4.4 million pay-per-view buys in the United States.
Additionally, the revenue for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is over $400M with it likely to come in over $500 million when the tally is complete. The total has dwarfed the $150 million that the Mayweather vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight brought in back in 2013.
By Yannis Mihanos: Many people were surprised with Manny Pacquiao’s (57-6-2, 38 KOs) reaction right after the fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao basically said that he fought while injured with a right shoulder problem.
In all pre-fight videos and especially in the media work out day, Pacquiao was flying: he appeared as strong, as sharp and as relaxed as ever. As the days passed we also witnessed an almost complete reverse in betting odds presenting Pacquiao not as an underdog but close to favorite for the fight.
The boxing blockbuster event, Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, shattered the previous record for total pay-per-view buys and now ranks as the highest-grossing pay-per-view of all time. Initial reports from distributors indicate that the event generated more than 4.4 million U.S. buys and more than $400 million in domestic pay-per-view revenue alone. With additional revenue from the live gate at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, international television distribution, sponsorships, closed circuit and merchandise sales, the event is expected to generate in excess of $500 million in gross worldwide receipts. The news was announced jointly by Showtime Networks Inc., a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, and HBO in conjunction with event promoters Mayweather Promotions and Top Rank, Inc.
By Chris Williams: Boxing great Bernard Hopkins says that Manny Pacquiao had the burden on him in his mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. to produce the things that he’d talked about before the fight. When Pacquiao failed to do that, he was reduced to making excuses about being injured before the fight.
Hopkins notes that Pacquiao revealed the injury to the public after the fight when he was going to get paid for the fight. It doesn’t seem to sit right with Hopkins that Pacquiao didn’t tell the boxing world about his injury before the fight. Pacquiao’s team told the USADA drug monitoring agency about the fight, but he reportedly didn’t inform the Nevada State Athletic Commission until the day of the fight.
By Chris Williams: If you listen to WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman talk, he says that Manny Pacquiao is no longer even the No.2 or No.3 fighter in the 147 pound division. Thurman thinks that there are several other fighters in the welterweight division besides Floyd Mayweather Jr. that can beat Pacquiao.
Thurman doesn’t say who those fighters are, but my guess is he’s counting himself, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and Kell Brook as the fighters that he feels could beat Pacquiao.
That’s actually four fighters, but I think that might be the case.
By Chris Williams: Showtime commentator Paulie Malignaggi is one of the many people who believe that Manny Pacquiao faked his shoulder injury in his “Fight of the Century” against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2nd in order to get the heat off of him from his 12 round decision loss to the American star.
Malignaggi thinks that Pacquiao initially came up with the “I thought I won the fight” line, but once he saw that it wasn’t going over too well with people, Pacquiao changed his tactics to him saying that he had a shoulder injury.
By Chris Williams: Trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. doubts that there will be much interest from boxing fans in a second fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao due to how one-sided their May 2nd fight was and how “terrible” Pacquiao looked.
Floyd Sr. doesn’t see a rematch between the two fighters as being necessary because the outcome would be even more one-sided than the first fight. Mayweather has already said that the Filipino star won’t be getting a rematch due to the excuses he made for his loss.
By Chris Williams: Robert Garcia, the trainer or Marcos Maidana, says he was disappointed in the performance from former WBO 147lb belt holder Manny Pacquiao and his team in his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their fight of the century on May 2nd.
Garcia didn’t see any real game plan from Pacquiao’s team in that fight, and he felt that he didn’t do a great job in giving Mayweather a competitive fight.