HBO reports (via ESPN) that the Canelo Alvarez-Miguel Cotto fight on November 21st in Vegas drew 900,000 PPV buys and about $58 million in domestic PPVs.
The 900,000 PPV buys is promising for HBO as no fight not featuring Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao or Oscar De La Hoya have scored 900,000 buys since 2002 when Lennox Lewis faced Mike Tyson.
The ethnic pride as well as the starworthy fighters were contributing factors for the overwhelming success of the event.
Canelo-Cotto caps off a successful year of boxing PPVs. Obviously, Mayweather-Pacquiao in May was the king of PPV this (and any other) year with 4.6 million PPV buys.
Payout Perspective:
The PPV ratings are a surprise in my opinion. While there are strong fan bases for both fighters, 900,000 PPV buys is a big domestic number. The buy rate also provides evidence that Canelo Alvarez is the future of boxing PPV. To a lesser extent Cotto is a big-time draw, but with the Mexican backing and only 25 years old, Alvarez looks to be the fighter to take up the torch for Mayweather and Pacquiao.
This is actually a very bad sign for boxing. It shows that two boxers with very big followings can’t even break 1m buys. Mayweather was doing well over 1m with guys like Victor Ortiz, and the other difference is Canelo isn’t anywhere near as good as Mayweather. He’s smart though for ducking GGG or else he would get derailed much sooner.
D- why are you hating? since when did 1 million buys become this easy thing to accomplish “cant even break”. if it was so easy how many did the ufc get this year? it will be two the whole year and 1 had a women in it. the other is being promoted like holy hell and will barely clear 1 million. jon jones cant even get 1 million. actually if i recall i think only 5 ufc events have it that number and two were stacked cards with brock.
900k is good and bad. its good because wow boxing is already flirting with 1 million ppv buys without mayweather and Pac. I did expect this to get 1.3 million. canelo is not the next ppv star. he’ll be fun fighter on the level of cotto. GGG is if matched right. mayweather didnt break 1 million ppv buys until he fought mega star osar delahoya. his first ppv fights did horribly and he was well known during these times. even after the delahoya fight he did 900k against hatton, guerrero and madaina. yes i wil honor by bet at the star of the year although you should thank god for your womens division. without it UFC’s ppv buys for the year dro by a staggering 2.5 million and get destroyed by Boxing. UFC’s men’s league will get about 4.5 million ppv buys boxings received over 6 million. which was pretty much my prediction (you wont clear 5 million ppv buys) rousey was a monster for your dying organization. i cant say that will stop however because even though she will be gone for a year and wont beat holmes womens fighting might still pull big numbers.
spare me with the whole “Boxing only did big because of mayweather vs Pac” argument yes that event was massive mr. “it wont do more than 3 million ppv buys” but mayweather vs pac could have still pulled similar numbers on there own if they fought twice
Mayweather vs GGG- 1.3 million buys
Mayweather vs Amir- 1 million buys
Pac vs Garcia- 700k
Pac vs Canelo (which they were discussing) 1 million. Thats 4 million ppv buys pretty darn close.
I’ll be honest and say that I did buy into the hype for this event that it would go as high as 1.5M. Realistically 900k is great considering the absence of names like Mayweather, ODLH, Pacquiao, Tyson or Lesnar. It really goes to show how few people can actually carry PPV’s that break the 1 Mill PPV mark.
oh yeah one more thing. mayweather ended with a soft touch against Berto which he deserved and Pac didnt fight a second time this year. had they both fought tough opponnets you could have tacked on another 1 million to boxings ppv total.
logical- i bought into the hype as well. it was a good fight.
GGG , canelo, Ward, verderjo, crawford are all fun fighters for the future
“d on December 3rd, 2015 9:13 PM
This is actually a very bad sign for boxing. It shows that two boxers with very big followings can’t even break 1m buys”
Canelo-Cotto doing 900k is a bad thing? Yet you called Rousey and Conor the biggest draws in combat sports and they did 900k and 825K.
Funny how that works.
UFC 193 hasn’t reported numbers yet, word is it did worse. You have to remember that Rousey getting KOd made a big splash on the internet but that’s after the ppv.
If I recall UFC 193 wasn’t getting any traction until after the fight, hence the numbers not being out yet.
But Rouseys star power is done. She wont be back and if she comes back and fights Holm again, then she’ll lose again.
So as of this moment boxing has the two biggest ppvs this year.
By the way “d”, HBO is a division of Time Warner. Time Warner is a publicly traded company. Misrepresenting their earnings can carry a sanction. Now of course some companies still do it but it’s an incredibly unnecessary risk for a massive company like Time Warner considering potential penalties.
You make a lot of money doing 900k PPVs. This is a success any way you look at it. Good for Canelo and frankly for Cotto, who probably needs to retire. He wasn’t competitive in this fight and is 3-3 in his last 6, with two of those wins coming against half-crippled has beens and one against a B-level fighter. Cotto got a big payday, now he should hang it up.
“why are you hating? since when did 1 million buys become this easy thing to accomplish “cant even break”. if it was so easy how many did the ufc get this year? it will be two the whole year and 1 had a women in it. the other is being promoted like holy hell and will barely clear 1 million. jon jones cant even get 1 million. actually if i recall i think only 5 ufc events have it that number and two were stacked cards with brock.”
Says the guy who only comes on here to hate.
Basically every stat you presented there was wrong or ridiculous. There have been more than 5 ufc’s that hit 1m. The Aldo-McGregor fight will go far higher than 1m buys. A woman being one of the 1m buy ppvs is irrelevant. Jon Jones is the 3rd biggest star in the UFC. How does the 3rd highest draw in boxing do in terms of ppv? 97k?
The point of me bringing all this up was to point out that although 900k is a very good showing, the issue is you had two ppv caliber fighters(one of which is supposed to replacement Mayweather as the next big ppv star) and they can’t come anywhere near his numbers. Not to mention Canelo isn’t that good and will eventually be exposed consistently in not too long of a time frame unlike Mayweather.
“900k is good and bad. its good because wow boxing is already flirting with 1 million ppv buys without mayweather and Pac.”
Yeah, only when they use two ppv fighters. What happened when Canelo was fighting fighters with no following like Lara? 300k buys. Mayweather was doing well over 1m buys with guys like Victor Ortiz. Goes to show you the difference and the major drop off in star power.
“I did expect this to get 1.3 million. canelo is not the next ppv star. he’ll be fun fighter on the level of cotto. GGG is if matched right. mayweather didnt break 1 million ppv buys until he fought mega star osar delahoya. ”
GGG (although a great boxer and entertainer) does not have the following that Canelo does. He’s also 33 years old and everyone is dodging him. It would be very difficult to see him develop into a long term ppv fighter. I think it is pretty clear Canelo is all boxing has on deck. He’s the only A fighter that can do a relatively big ppv.
“even after the delahoya fight he did 900k against hatton, guerrero and madaina. ”
The Hatton fight actually did a little more if you factor in the Sky TV buys that went through the roof. That would have made it clear 1m. Also, those other fights are against low drawing boxers. Cotto is 10x the draw those guys are. Mayweather-Cotto did 1.5m.
“yes i wil honor by bet at the star of the year although you should thank god for your womens division. without it UFC’s ppv buys for the year dro by a staggering 2.5 million and get destroyed by Boxing. ”
Yet you haven’t honored the bet and are making ridiculous excuses.
“UFC’s men’s league will get about 4.5 million ppv buys boxings received over 6 million.”
It will most likely do more than that and again, who cares? You are doing everything you can to start to make excuses. I could say if it weren’t for the biggest fight in boxing history, boxing would have done around 1m ppv buys. See how that works?
“rousey was a monster for your dying organization.”
Haha. A dying organization that made the most money they’ve ever made before in the history of the company this year, plus has multiple stars that can sell a ppv while boxing(after Pac’s last fight) will have 1.
“i cant say that will stop however because even though she will be gone for a year and wont beat holmes womens fighting might still pull big numbers.”
She will be back for UFC 200, so she won’t be out for a year.
Also, the UFC will hit 5m without her this year probably.
“spare me with the whole “Boxing only did big because of mayweather vs Pac” argument yes that event was massive mr. “it wont do more than 3 million ppv buys” but mayweather vs pac could have still pulled similar numbers on there own if they fought twice
Mayweather vs GGG- 1.3 million buys
Mayweather vs Amir- 1 million buys
Pac vs Garcia- 700k
Pac vs Canelo (which they were discussing) 1 million. Thats 4 million ppv buys pretty darn close.”
You are to such an insane level at this point, you are fabricating quotes of mine.
Hahahaha. Pac vs Garcia would have never done 700k. More like 400k. Go look at what his Rios numbers did. He isn’t the draw he once was.
Mayweather would never in a million years fight GGG and a fight against Khan wouldn’t hit anymore than 900k.
All hypothetical nonsense anyway. You exaggerate everything.
“GGG , canelo, Ward, verderjo, crawford are all fun fighters for the future”
But with the exception of Canelo and maybe with the right opponent GGG, none of these guys are a solid ppv draw.
The Weakest is continuing on with his insanity rants, nothing new.
This is the funniest quotes of all though:
“By the way “d”, HBO is a division of Time Warner. Time Warner is a publicly traded company. Misrepresenting their earnings can carry a sanction. Now of course some companies still do it but it’s an incredibly unnecessary risk for a massive company like Time Warner considering potential penalties.”
There are so many ways to get around that. The SEC isn’t going to bust someone for something so trivial. Why don’t you post the actual filings for the ppv that Time Warner reported in the quarterlies? Oh yeah, IT DOESN’T EXIST! They don’t disclose those figures.
What a quack.
d stands for denial.
You can clearly see this guy is caught up in the UFC’s hype.
The UFC’s main stars sell about 750k PPVs and he acts like the UFC is the new big thing.
Two boxing events sell 1 million PPVs and he acts like those numbers don’t mean anything.
I can’t wait for RIZIN to bury this hyped marketing machine called the UFC.
900k reported, uhm no one believed FM doing 1mln w/ Guerrero and Ortiz, and SHOW and HBO lie about PPV numbers all the time and yes they are both public company affiliates so that’s not the answer, the Auditors don’t give a $$ what they announce publicly, PPV is not material information. So let’s say it’s close to 900K, that is bad for boxing and PPV business as a whole. These two are suppose to have the largest fan bases in boxing and 900K reported???? PPV business is a dying animal and both MMA and Boxing better figure out a way to stay relevant because people aren’t paying $70 watch 1 fight when they are cutting cords to not pay the monthly cable bill. Dead medium pick your time period.
How bout work at home Dave Meltzer vs Publicly traded company Time warner? Hmmm so hard to pick who will give official ppv numbers..hahahaha
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/nyregion/time-warner-announces-a-move-from-columbus-circle-to-hudson-yards.html?referer=&_r=0. Info time warner offices
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/sports/wrestling-reporter-dave-meltzer-tries-to-keep-it-real.html?referer=. Meltzers office
Thats a very good number, didnt think it would get that high, didnt feel the buzz fight week, figured 700k maybe so this is a great number.
Worst part of this site is this endless bickering between boxing and mma and how each side refuses to give credit to the other.
Boxing does big then its the number isnt that good, UFC does good its oh its not really the real number, its fake and its a women doing it, lol, females suck, UFC is for chicks, those PPV buys dont count.
How about this is a good number, boxing had a great year with Floyd/manny, they are in a tough spot for big selling fights next year though unless Floyd/Manny rematch or Floyd/Canelo rematch happens.
UFC had a great year, Ronda is biggest name in combat sports, not even debatable anymore and they are primed to have another huge year in 2016.
“How bout work at home Dave Meltzer vs Publicly traded company Time warner? Hmmm so hard to pick who will give official ppv numbers..hahahaha”
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Only problem with your argument is Time Warner DOESN’T RELEASE THE NUMBERS!! Two bit, crooked boxing promoters do who have everything to gain by lying.
He equated Bob Arum/Floyd Mayweather to Time Warner! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Delusions!
that fight sucked , feel sorry for the suckers who bought it
that fight sucked , feel sorry for the suckers who bought it
The first line in the article says hbo via espn hahahahaha
Hahaha…chris the passive aggressive strikes again hahaha…biggest in combat sports no longer debatable hahahah its debatable…nice try..
“At 900,000 buys and $58 million in PPV revenue, Cotto-Canelo performed superbly,” said HBO senior vice president Mark Taffet, who oversees the network’s pay-per-view franchise.”
The individual responsible for the PPV division for HBO(Taffet), Steven Espinoza, Arum, Mayweather, Ellerbe, Richard Schaefer, are all NOTORIOUS for lying about ppv numbers. Go check out how frequently they call out each other on their lies about numbers. These hacks aren’t working directly for Time Warner or Viacom. They are very low turds on the total pole.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
From saying boxing promoters release ppv now he moves to taffet hbo and espinoza showtime and makes accusations…pathetic.. big companies releasing ppv vs work at home wrestling journo hahaha
http://m.nasdaq.com/article/hbo-and-warner-bros-will-drive-time-warners-future-growth-cm506779…..you think heads of time warner and hbo would allow mark taffet(hbo sports) to give bogus numbers which could affect the reputation of the whole company?
Would work at home dave meltzer allow dave meltzer to release bogus ppv numbers? And ruin the home business? It might lose the masks and papers…hahaha
“From saying boxing promoters release ppv now he moves to taffet hbo and espinoza showtime and makes accusations…pathetic.. big companies releasing ppv vs work at home wrestling journo hahaha”
They are a part of the promotion genius. It was clearly implied. Who do you think had that big argument with Rafael about the Mayweather-Guerrero numbers? Rafael was calling him a liar.
Major companies who have smaller companies under their umbrella, who’s Vice President of Sports or PPV propaganda, etc. that have everything to lose and are called out by people analyzing their sport for their lies vs. a guy who everyone in the media/sport/etc. accepts as legit, with WWE numbers in the past proven to be true when they went public. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
“you think heads of time warner and hbo would allow mark taffet(hbo sports) to give bogus numbers which could affect the reputation of the whole company?”
Richard Schaefer certainly thinks so- go check out how many times he called Arum/Taffet out on their lies.
Someone’s gotta be lying. Deductive reasoning is tops kryptonite. HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Tops thinks some trivial ppv numbers on HBO where their cut is literally something like 20m is going to ruin the reputation of a company worth 70 billion. He’s silly. HAHAHAHA!!!!
Ok tops the troll, you say she isnt, who is then?
See when you dont agree with someone and you say something is debatable you usually come back with an answer if you had one but you didnt.
That shows you have no real answer cause you and I and everyone else knows like it or not Ronda is the biggest thing in combat sports, no question.
Most searched athlete, back to back mill buy PPV, not only that but she did that from other countries.
Honest question, if canelo went to Australia and fought Jacobs does it do a million buys?
Jason, what are your thoughts on this? Who is the biggest fighter in combat sports right now?
i used to be a huge boxing fan i remember in the 80’s and 90’s boxing ppvs were
stacked with great fights between champions
boxing is a fucking joke now there ppvs suck.
@Chris: Ronda with the guy fighting Saturday night a close second
Hahaha D of course time warner will not allow hbo sports to lie about ppv figures..you said it yourself its a huge company why the hell would it allow a subsidiary to ruin the whole thing..these guys spend a lot of money on PR and branding to lift up its brand its absurd that it would allow to publicly declare false figures
Chris cries…hahaha…calls for somebody to back him up sniff sniff…internationally? hahaha manny pacquiao is way bigger than rousey globally….come on now the guy just got a massive ppv in the u.s…and has a distinct only fighter who is the.biggest asian market.
he fought how many times in china(how many population)? He is known worldwide…japan,thailand,indonesia,malaysia etc…east meets west…mexico,puertorico… you see chris in many countries boxing is shown on free tv..they buy rights in the u.s….ufc is not shown on free tv in other country specially 3rd world countries…you should travel more and get out of the dw bubble hahaha