Early indications of the Pacquiao vs. Mosley pay per view numbers are that the fight sold at least 1.2 million buys, that is according to promoter Bob Arum, who was quoted in the New York Times yesterday.
The final figures are expected within the next week, and will almost certainly determine whether Pacquiao, and perhaps by extension certain other Top Rank fighters, will fight on Showtime rather than HBO in the future.
If the numbers are impressive, which could be argued as anything above what Pacquiao’s last fight on HBO achieved, (1.2 million buys against Antonio Margarito) then the former industry leader could find themselves without the services of the sports biggest star.
Technically that accolade might be given to Floyd Mayweather in terms of pay per view numbers, but given his inactivity and ever lengthening list of legal problems, (now including a lawsuit from a bouncer claiming a Mayweather flunky assaulted him), until he returns to the ring he essentially remains a non-entity.
Of course, fans of either fighter will be eager to see which of the two pound for pound greats managed to sell the most against Mosley, and how much if at all the opposing networks of HBO and Showtime made a difference.
Amir Khan and Alex Ariza make peace, ready to work together again
Aired on the same network, conventional thinking would be to assume that the first fighter to beat a given opponent would sell more than the latter, if only due to diminished drawing power of the losing party.
Mayweather-Mosley and Pacquiao-Mosley having been aired on different networks, Bob Arum and co will be hoping that new fans attracted by the much greater potential audience on their network will make up the difference.
And then there is what CBS will make of the numbers.
After it was announced that Pacquiao vs. Mosley would be aired on Showtime instead of industry standard HBO and that network giant CBS would aid in the pre-fight advertising, many within the sport were optimistic that the fight could potentially pave the way for boxing to return to network television.
As it turned out the fight itself was far from thrilling, with a reluctant Mosley retreating for the majority of the fight and Pacquiao trying his best to force him to exchange.
Photos: Manny Pacquiao dominates Shane Mosley in Las Vegas
Since then many have been quick to all but write off the chances of the sport returning to network television anytime soon, although that assessment might be a little hasty.
Firstly the heads of any networks considering airing boxing in the future will undoubtedly be far more interested in the hard numbers than with the quality of one single event, which to be fair with any sports broadcast is far from certain.
Certainly in this case the signs were there, Mosley’s performances in his last two fights, his advancing age and also the fact that he was a 8-1 underdog.
That an event could still sell this well with a massive disparity in the abilities of the two protagonists though will only serve to reinforce the idea that boxing has big potential.
Secondly, with the UFC expected to announce a network television deal in the next few years, and with Zuffa owned Strikeforce and tournament based MMA outfit Bellator already airing on Showtime/CBS and Fox respectively, other networks looking for a competitor to mixed martial arts will still likely eventually look to boxing.
Jeremy Goldwyn, Pitt: “If Pac sells more than Mayweather did, I bet Floyd will suddenly want the fight to happen again”
