If you search the Internet for the phrase ?boxing is dead,? it will turn up tens of millions of responses. Mixed martial arts fans mockingly say it. Boxing promoters often moan about it. And the media eats it all up.
But how dead is a sport which, in less than a two-month span, will have two $100 million nights? On Saturday, Floyd ?Money? Mayweather will get a lot richer, win or lose, after he fights Victor Ortiz for the World Boxing Council welterweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in a bout distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View.
In his last four fights, Mayweather has sold 1.4 million pay-per-views against Shane Mosley, 1.1 against Juan Manuel Marquez, 920,000 against Ricky Hatton and 2.45 million against Oscar De La Hoya.
Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, said he expects Saturday?s bout to sell between 1.5 million and two million. Promoters like Don King and Bob Arum frequently inflate their estimates, but Schaefer has never been that way.
So, when he says he thinks two million is possible, believe it: two million is possible.
?I?m not going to go out and say we?re going to break the record [of 2.45 million set by Mayweather-De La Hoya], but if all goes well, I really think we could break two million,? Schaefer said.
At 1.5 million sales, the bout would generate around $90 million in revenue. That?s not counting the live gate, which will top $10 million, as well as income from foreign rights, closed circuit sales and merchandising.
On Nov. 12, Manny Pacquiao will fight Marquez in the same arena. The two recently completed a 25,000-mile press tour in which they drew a reported 70,000 fans in Manila and 30,000 more in Mexico City. That bout will unquestionably exceed one million pay-per-view sales and could reach 1.5 million.
