According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, Pacquiao vs Rios tanked in the pay-per-view arena.
After two straight losses, fight legend Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) dominated rising upstart Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KOs), winning an impressive, lopsided twelve round decision, culminating an historic fight card in Macau, China on November 23rd.
But Pacquiao vs Rios, now, may be remembered more for something else.
Mannix tweeted earlier today: “Bob Arum tells SI that Pacquiao-Rios pay per view numbers are somewhere between 500,000 and 550,000.”
This is bad news for Top Rank, Team Pacquiao and the sport in general.
There was no mention of the Pacquiao vs Rios PPV buyrate in China but nothing can salvage this.
Either the event was promoted poorly or Pacquiao, one of boxing’s two biggest stars, is losing his proverbial ‘juice’ … fast.
Something went terribly wrong.
And maybe, just maybe, the 2 Comments are valid as someone insists millions somehow watched the fight for free because it was in China.
PacMan, who dazzled inside the ring and gave what was arguably one of his top 10 performances, was guaranteed $18 million USD plus a portion of the PPV revenue.
It was believed the Filipino superstar could leave Macau having earned upwards of $30 million for his services but, rest-assured, he probably won’t receive a sum remotely close to that.
Moreover, this disappointing number (which should be viewed as tragedy for the sport itself) gives PacMan rival Floyd Mayweather even more leverage in Mayweather vs Pacquiao negotiations. The Mayweather vs Canelo bout in September eclipsed two million buys and set a new revenue record in the U.S. There were roughly four times as many purchases for that fight as there were for Pacquiao vs Rios and the former was the more expensive of the two.
Even Mayweather vs Guerrero in May, deemed a PPV failure, generated over 870,000 buys, still an estimated 40 percent more than Pacquiao vs Rios.
Don’t be surprised if Mayweather demands a 75-25 revenue split should negotiations get that far.
How does the estimated 500,000 to 555,000 buyrate compare with other recent PPV cards? *While the PPV events headlined by Marquez and Martinez generated lower numbers, those fighters are not nearly as mainstream as Manny Pacquiao nor are they paid as handsomely. In actuality, both endeavors were considered PPV successes.
Marquez vs Bradley – 375,000 October 2013
Mayweather vs Canelo – 2.2 million September 2013
Pacquiao vs Marquez 4 – 1.15 million December 2012
Martinez vs Chavez Jr – 475,000 September 2012
Pacquiao vs Bradley 900,000 June 2012
Mayweather vs Cotto – 1.5 million May 2012
Cotto vs Margarito 2 – 600,000 December 2011
Pacquiao vs Marquez 3 – 1.4 million November 2011
Mayweather vs Ortiz – 1.25 million September 2011
Pacquiao vs Margarito – 1.15 million November 2010
