The Filipino superstar has crossed the line from main stage boxing star to mainstream pop culture icon and, along the way, has sold about 9 million pay-per-views while scaling eight weight classes. The Pacquiao Phenomenon has also brought in a wave of rabid Asian fight fans and a long line of merchandising efforts that include CDs, books, movies, commercials, and other assorted items. The battling congressman from General Santos City has become the biggest worldwide boxing crossover star since Muhammad Ali.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“Money” Mayweather has lived up to his nickname by running neck and neck with Manny Pacquiao in terms of pay-per-view sales and mainstream exposure. The defensive genius has molded his image in the form of a new jack hip-hop villain and has reaped the benefits of the attention generated by his bad boy image. Mayweather’s 2007 bout with Oscar de la Hoya is still the highest selling pay-per-view of all-time with 2.45 million buys.
Wladimir & Vitali Klitschko
While The Americas and Asia are obsessed with the Pacquiao-Mayweather, good guy vs. bad guy pathos, Eastern Europe is all-Klitschko territory. Routinely filling up soccer stadiums and earning double-digit TV ratings in just about every European country east of the Rhine River, the Klitschkos are genuine superstars in their part of the world and have the money and product endorsements to prove it.
