Manny Pacquiao has officially beaten pay-per-view (PPV) king Floyd Mayweather Jr. at his own game.
A little more than a week ago Opposing Views reported on the rumblings that Pacquiao’s November bout versus Juan Manuel Marquez may have done better than Mayweather’s September battle against Victor Ortiz. At the time, the speculation was that Pacquiao vs. Marquez III did somewhere in the 1.3-1.4 million range. As it turns out, the speculation was right.
This week, Top Rank boss and professional flip-flopper Bob Arum came out and made it official: Pacquiao’s controversial November 12 victory over Marquez generated a grand total of somewhere around 1.4 million PPV buys – the Filipino champion’s hottest seller to this point.
Prior to this match, of course, Pacquiao’s best showing came versus “Sugar” Shane Mosley last May when the pair earned 1.3 million buys.
The good folks from Manila Bulletin were the first to report the official numbers and Arum’s statement.
“They’re still computing but it’s going be about 1.4 million,” Arum told the Bulletin.
Regardless of whether or not the final tally official breaks the 1.4 million plateau or even perhaps creeps into 1.5ish territory, it will clearly be higher than the 1.25 million buys Mayweather garnered for the Ortiz fight.
Pacquiao and Mayweather are currently working on a potential dream match for May 2012. When and if that happens, we can stop using these ridiculous out-of-ring metrics to compare the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world and get around to judging them on what matters most – who can pound who into the mat.
Until that happens, though, PPV data will have to suffice.
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