MANILA, Philippines? Manny Pacquiao?s back-to-back box-office hits against Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez last year have cemented the Filipino ring icon?s reputation as pay-per-view (PPV) king of his generation.
In besting Marquez by majority decision in their third duel last November, the eight-division world champion chalked up his best PPV buys ever of 1,410,000, according to a report by Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports.
It surpassed the 1.3 million PPV buys (1.1 million, according to Yahoo) Pacquiao posted when he dominated Shane Mosley last May and was far better than the 1.25 million PPV hits Floyd Mayweather Jr. registered when he stopped Victor Ortiz in controversial fashion last Sept 19.
The 33-year-old Pacquiao thus joined Mike Tyson as the only boxers to have at least two certified hits in a year. At the apex of his popularity in 1996, Tyson breached the PPV million mark thrice against Evander Holyfield, Bruce Seldon and Frank Bruno, respectively.
With five fights generating at least a million PPV buys in the last four years, Pacquiao is in prime position to shatter Tyson?s record of six fights with over a million buys in his career.
Pacquiao wants to return to the ring either in May or June, and if Mayweather?who will start serving his three-month prison term on Friday (Saturday in Manila)?agrees to a megabuck bout in November, Tyson?s mark will be shattered.
