Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez?s unanimous-decision victory over Miguel Cotto on Nov. 21 generated 900,000 pay-per-view buys valued at $58 million, HBO and Golden Boy Promotions announced Thursday.
The figure marked the first time since the 2002 Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis heavyweight bout that a fighter not named Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao reached 900,000 buys.
Mexico?s 25-year-old Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 knockouts) won the World Boxing Council middleweight title by scores of 118-110, 119-109 and 117-111.
His promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, was quick to provide his perspective on what the numbers revealed about Alvarez?s performance as the bout?s unofficial A-side fighter.
?Canelo is now officially the biggest star in all of boxing. Period,? De La Hoya said. ?And by committing to fight on Cinco de Mayo [May 5] and Mexican Independence Day [Sept. 16] — boxing?s two biggest annual dates — Canelo?s popularity will only continue to soar for years to come.?
Mark Taffet, the HBO executive responsible for pay-per-view broadcasts, said, ?Cotto-Canelo performed superbly. ? It puts an exclamation point on the biggest year in pay-per-view history. I couldn’t be more thrilled for boxing ? and the fans.?
The May 2 joint HBO-Showtime broadcast of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight generated a record-shattering 4.4 million buys, but Mayweather?s return bout in September on Showtime brought about 500,000 buys, and neither of his two fights before the Pacquiao showdown reached 900,000.
