The pay-per-view phenomenon in boxing
Official poster for Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
Major sports usually have a fascination with three-letter combos like NBA, NFL, WBC, UFC, EPL.
Boxing, meanwhile, has been involved in the phenomenon that is PPV since time immemorial.
PPV stands for pay-per-view, which is that extra fee that cable companies ask for so fans can watch shows, like sporting events or glamorous awards shows, live and in private.
PPV will also allows boxing fans experience the mega fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in the comfort of your own home, with commentaries and no commercial breaks.
And why are the PPV numbers sought after in the boxing world?
Well, the bigger the PPV buys, the bigger the boxers paycheck becomes. Whatever fans shell out to afford a PPV event, part of that goes to the boxers on top of the millions they’re going to earn after squaring off each other.
Large PPV buys also bring in an added dose of pride for boxers.
On record, Mayweather owns the record for the most lucrative match in terms of PPV buys.
His September 2013 fight against Canelo Alvarez pulled in a staggering 2.2 million buys to the tune of $150 million, according to ESPN.
The second most lucrative one? Mayweather’s fight against Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007.
Hey, when you put one guy whose nickname is Money against the Golden Boy you can rake in major dollars, like $137 million in 2.46 million PPV buys.
Pacquiao, on the other corner, is at ninth all-time.
His fight against “Sugar” Shane Mosley generated 1.3 million PPV buys and a revenue of $75 million where Pacman was seen to gobble some sugar cubes in a fairly interesting fight.
The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is not only historic because of the two boxers, it is also just the second time in history where HBO and Showtime will work together to bring a fight.
READ: The Fight: Richest, biggest
They worked in unison for the first time in June 2002 when Mike Tyson fought Lennox Lewis in a fight that generated 1.95 million PPV buys and $112 million, according to ESPN.
It was one of the fights that really showed how dominant Lewis was as he defended his WBC, IBF, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles and rightfully defeated Tyson in the eighth round by way of technical knockout.
Unlike the civil, but nonetheless epic, stare-down and press-conference in for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, it could not be said for Lewis and Tyson as a brawl ensued with WBC President Jose Sulaiman getting knocked out with a table and Tyson biting Lewis’ leg.
In a report on boxingnews24.com, the PPV phenomenon was first introduced by Don King in 1975 for the mega fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier dubbed “Thrilla in Manila.” From there, a slew of PPV boxing stars were born followed by today’s PPV kings. CC
For more updates on Pacquiao-Mayweather “Fight of the Century,” visit The Pacquiao Files.
