Mayweather-Ortiz: Payout Perspective

Welcome to a special edition of Payout Perspective as we take a look back at Saturday’s fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas featuring Floyd Mayweather taking on Victor Ortiz.

Mayweather wins via controversial TKO

“Protect yourself at all times.” Oftentimes glossed over in instructions for MMA and boxing, Mayweather used this rule as support for his one-two combination to end the fight with Victor Ortiz. After a couple days, the consensus is that Ortiz was culpable for the outcome as much (if not more) than Mayweather and referee Joe Cortes.

All parties are at fault to a certain extent. Cortes is at fault for losing his ring. Dana White succinctly explained the issue in a couple tweets stating it was the ref’s fault. Ortiz forgot the “protect yourself at all times” rule in his daze to apologize. Mayweather took advantage of the rule. But still, he feigned a hug and then punched Ortiz. Of the three, Mayweather is the least culpable for the ending. Certainly Mayweather could have foreshadowed his attack by perhaps pushing Ortiz back and then attacking. But the two punch combo looked WWE-like if you couple Cortes head looking the other way.

Merchant vs. Mayweather

After the fight, Larry Merchant and Floyd Mayweather had another run-in which ended in Merchant putting himself over by stating that if he was 50 years younger he would fight him.  This was preceded by Mayweather telling Merchant what some people have had on their minds for years: that Merchant should be fired. Honestly, it was entertaining but not professional. The interview itself was not coherent and Merchant asked leading questions when it was not necessary. It was merely to evoke a response from Mayweather.  For Mayweather, he seemed to have a shorter fuse with Merchant (as the two have a history of not getting along)  than usual.

“Star Power”/HBO’s 24-7 Promotion

The fight theme, “Star Power” really  made no sense as Mayweather was the only star on the card. You could argue that Erik Morales and Canelo Alvarez are stars but that would be stretch. Morales is past his prime and Alvarez is a boxer that one day may be a star. Both had good wins but Mayweather was the star of the night.

This was the first time that Time Warner utilized its media muscle by including HBO’s 24/7 on CNN as well as having Victor Ortiz and Oscar de la Hoya on “Piers Morgan Tonight.” The fight was promoted throughout the Time Warner networks and online. In addition, Floyd Mayweather made a guest appearance on TBS’ Conan.

The HBO 24/7 series was made for Floyd Mayweather. Nothing against Manny Pacquiao, but Mayweather understands the drama as exemplified by the first episode confrontation with his father. The Victor Ortiz story helped keep interest in the series and its a shame that Ortiz’ antics erased the good PR he had from the show.

One of the things that is used time and again to promote these big fights is the face off between the two. This time it was HBO airing Mayweather and Ortiz talking with Max Kellerman as the moderator. Its hard to watch and I’d be interested to hear what others think of this format.  Does it sell a fight?

Sponsors

-DeWalt Tools, AT&T and Tecate were on the ring mat in Las Vegas.

-Notably, Erik Morales was sponsored by Under Armour.

-Tecate jumped on board in promoting the fight including a focus in the Southern California region. The promotion included a heavy investment of $800,000 in marketing and promotion of the event which included the event at the Staples Center. This was a calculated promotion that

Payouts, PPV and Tickets

-The NY Times had a report on the payout structure Floyd Mayweather had in place for the fight  which estimates that he would receive close to $40 million. In comparison, Mayweather Productions would pay Victor Ortiz $2.5 million. The Mayweather deal is interesting when looking at the risk-reward. While Mayweather used his own money for marketing the event, he’s receiving a healthy portion of the profits.

-Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports tweeted that initial reports of the PPV buys was 1.3-1.4 million which is below the initial hope of breaking the boxing PPV record of 2.4 million set by Mayweather-De La Hoya.

-While there was a push for the PPV, the MGM Grand was giving away tickets during fight week as the actual attendance was nowhere near a sellout. In comparison, Pacquiao-Marquez is a virtual sellout according to a tweet from ESPN’s Dan Rafael who spoke with Top Rank’s Todd DuBoef.

Odds and ends

-The price for the PPV rose $5 to $69.99. Its likely to be the same price point for Pacquiao-Marquez III. How much higher will it go for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight?

-Mario Solis did an admirable job of interviewing and translating at the same time when he interviewed Gomez and Alvarez post-fight.

-Best quote of the HBO 24/7 occurred in the first 10 minutes of the first episode. Regarding Mayweather going into his training camp, “…any impact the hiatus (15 months) will have on his skills will soon be determined, the swagger meanwhile remains untouched.”

-50 Cent, Ray J and Mr. Chop (from the reality series “King of Cars”) made cameos in the 24/7 series as friends of Mayweather.