Mark Taffet never envisioned getting involved in boxing when he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania?s prestigious Wharton School of Business in 1981.
In hindsight, however, Taffet figures he developed the foundation for a career in which he has become the sport?s foremost expert in pay-per-view when he was 5 years old. Back then, an already ambitious Taffet would strap on an apron, hop up on a box, and hawk pay-per-scoop ice cream cones for 5 cents apiece at his grandparents? restaurant, Taffet?s Luncheonette, in the Ironbound section of Newark.
The HBO executive?s parents, Ellis and Marilyn, later ran that restaurant.
“My parents always have had a very strong work ethic and tremendous energy, and thank God, great health,” Taffet, 58, said. “They imparted all of that to me and my two brothers at a very young age, and it served us very well.”
Having his 82-year-old parents among the 30 family members, friends and co-workers at The Venetian in Garfield on Thursday night for his induction in the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame will make the night beyond special for Taffet, a Rutgers graduate and former Wayne resident.
“As a parent and a grandparent, I can appreciate what it?ll mean to them,” said Taffet, HBO?s senior vice president for sports operations and pay-per-view. “It?ll be a great night for them. I couldn?t be happier about that.”
Oscar De La Hoya, with whom Taffet has worked closely as a star fighter and promoter for 20-plus years, will introduce Montville?s Taffet as part of his induction. Before Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao smashed boxing?s pay-per-view records for buys and revenue on May 2, De La Hoya?s fight against Mayweather in May 2007 produced more buys (2.48 million) than any pay-per-view bout in boxing history.
Mayweather-Pacquiao drew an astounding 4.6 million buys and generated $437 million in pay-per-view revenue, which stunned even Taffet.
“If it exceeded the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight by one buy, everyone would have been thrilled and considered it a tremendous success,” Taffet said. “To have it generate over 4.6 million pay-per-view buys is beyond any thoughts or projections we ever had.”
The unprecedented success of Mayweather-Pacquiao pushed revenue during Taffet?s tenure as HBO?s pay-per-view guru to $3.6 billion since April 1991, when Evander Holyfield defeated George Foreman in Atlantic City.
“To be able to launch a business like HBO Pay-Per-View,” Taffet said, “which I?ve been working on for 25 years, it?s been a blessing I never even dreamed about.”
