According to numerous sources, including Sports Illustrated, May 3rd’s Floyd Mayweather vs Marcos Maidana superfight generated less than one million pay-per-views buys, falling well short of the hopes and expectations of Showtime and Golden Boy Promotions. (Image courtesy of Showtime)
Off the heels of September’s record-setting buyrate of 2.2 million for Mayweather vs Canelo Alvarez, it’s believed last month’s super showdown featuring the world’s top fighter produced only 900,000 purchases.
If the projection is accurate, Mayweather vs Maidana was comparable to Mayweather vs Robert Guerrero a year prior. But unlike Robert Guerrero in May 2013, Marcos Maidana was red hot after his impressive upset of Adrien Broner in December. Given Maidana’s popularity, why did May’s superfight fail to eclipse one million buys?
It certainly wasn’t due to lack of interest. After all, “Mayweather vs Maidana”was the hottest spiking term in Google the day before the fight while the queries “Adrien Broner” and “Amir Khan,” names of two fighters on the undercard, ranked Nos. 6 and 8 respectively in Google Trends for Saturday, May 3, 2014. The event garnered high interest but fewer people would pay for it this time around.
Incidentally, Maidana arguably gave Floyd his toughest test to date, forcing a majority decision in a bout that could have conceivably been a draw according to some.
Here are 5 reasons why Mayweather vs Maidana seemingly flopped at the box office:
1. Odds – Floyd Mayweather was anywhere from an 11 to 16-1 favorite. Although Maidana is an elite fighter with a fan-friendly style, he simply couldn’t overcome the odds in the minds of casual fight fans whose interest in the bout seemed to wane after oddsmakers started to chime in. Yes, he looked great against Broner and Mayweather vs Maidana had a good storyline due to Floyd’s relationship with young Adrien, but with “16 to 1” being bantered in the media, casual fans probably assumed the bout would be another one-sided Mayweather romp and, accordingly, decided to pass on this one.
2. Less time to market (Took too long deciding between Maidana and Amir Khan) – Floyd officially announced Maidana as his May 3rd opponent very late (February 24). And last year, Mayweather announced his May 4th opponent, Robert Guerrero, quite late as well (February 19) and PPV sales (900,000) for that bout, as previously mentioned, were far below expectations.
There were only 68 days (less than ten weeks) between the date of the official fight announcement and the Mayweather vs Maidana event, five days fewer than was the case last year.
However, the promotional entities for Floyd Mayweather vs Miguel Cotto (May 5, 2012) had 93 days to publicize that event and the fight card was a smashing success. In terms of marketing ‘wiggle room,’ promotional entities had nearly a month’s less time (25 days) to bolster Mayweather vs Maidana in comparison to Mayweather vs Cotto two years earlier.
3. The Floydcott… err.. Boycott – Perhaps the ‘Boycott Mayweather Fights’ movement is finally catching steam after all? In 2011, many fans, via Internet chat rooms and comment boards, insisted they were boycotting all of Floyd’s bouts until he faced Manny Pacquiao and suggested others follow suit. And since then, the number of agitated fans promising to not fund Mayweather’s coffers until he acquiesces to public demand has seemingly grown.
Of course, those who discount relevance of the aforementioned movement will cite the success of Mayweather vs Canelo… which brings us to No. 4.
4. Maidana is not Mexican or Puerto Rican – It’s no secret Hispanics, specifically those of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, drive boxing in the U.S. Without their strong support, the sport would fizzle in America.
People of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent support their fighters in droves… Canelo Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, and, yes, Victor Ortiz to name a few. Don’t forget Mayweather vs Ortiz in 2011 was a smashing success despite the fact Victor was relatively unknown to the masses and had already been KO’d by, yes, Marcos Maidana.
It’s no coincidence Mayweather always fights on the Saturday closest to Cinco de Mayo; He wants to garner as much interest as possible among Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. But this time, the big show featured Mayweather versus an Argentine and Maidana’s Hispanic ethnic origin failed to transcend the Mexican and Puerto Rican masses.
5. Showtime still isn’t HBO – According to ratings from Nielsen Media Research in late 2012, HBO was in 29 million homes while Showtime was in only 21 million. HBO, at least back then, had 28% more subscribers than its rival. While its believed Showtime is narrowing the gap, there’s little to suggest they are close.
So what difference does it make that HBO has an estimated 6 to 8 million more subscribers? Answer: That means there were millions of homes essentially out of promoters’ reach. Yes, they could still market the bout to those folks but not as easily, efficiently or cost-effectively as they could to Showtime subscribers.
HBO is still boxing’s biggest stage.
Nowadays, marketing is critical to the success of PPVs. If you’re a fighter or promoter, having HBO’s influence and marketing power behind you can give you a supreme advantage over fighters and promoters dealing with another network.
HBO has the biggest boxing budget in the world. And while Showtime is also a quality network that appears to be catching up, its fighters get far less exposure.
Mayweather is scheduled to return to the ring in September and his opponent has yet to be named.
