The junior middleweight unification bout between Floyd Mayweather Junior and Saul Alvarez on September 14 has broken the record for highest-grossing pay-per-view (PPV) fight of all time.
US PPV broadcaster Showtime, which televised Mayweather's dominant points victory, and event promoters Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions said that the fight generated $150m (€110.3m) in revenue from 2.2 million buys.
The figure broke the record set by Mayweather’s points victory against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. That fight generated $136m from an all-time record 2.48 million PPV buys.
Mayweather-De La Hoya was initially announced at 2.15 million buys and then altered a couple of months later when more numbers were tallied. This precedent means the Mayweather-Alvarez fight also has a chance of setting a new record in PPV buys.
In February Mayweather Promotions agreed a six-fight rights deal for its client with Showtime and the PPV broadcaster’s parent company, the CBS network. Under the deal, Mayweather switched from pay-television broadcaster HBO, which had shown his fights for more than 15 years.
“This is what we anticipated when we formed our partnership with CBS/Showtime – record-breaking results,” Mayweather Promotions chief executive Leonard Ellerbe told the ESPN.com website. “Everybody busted their behinds but Floyd has tremendous star power and the ability to attract new fans with the support of Showtime and CBS with their plethora of platforms that we were able to utilise.”