Floyd Mayweather Jr’s world title victory over Miguel Cotto on May 5 was the second-highest-grossing pay-per-view boxing bout for a non-heavyweight encounter, according to US pay-television broadcaster HBO Sports.
The junior middleweight title fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas generated 1.5 million PPV buys for HBO, earning $94 million (€71.8 million) in revenue, according to preliminary figures. The highest-grossing non-heavyweight bout was Mayweather’s 2007 victory against Oscar De La Hoya, which generated 2.46 million buys and $137 million in revenue.
HBO said Mayweather fights have now accounted for 9.6 million buys and $543 million in television revenue in his nine PPV main events for the broadcaster.
The 1.5 million figure for PPV buys for Mayweather-Cotto is a preliminary figure, and the final number will be greater, according to Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer, who promoted the fight with Mayweather Promotions.