As Canelo Alvarez takes on Amir Khan Saturday night on one of the busiest days in sports, we take a look at prior May boxing events and where this PPV can go.
Per Sports Business Journal Research, these are the top-grossing boxing PPVs:
Mayweather-Pacquiao – May 2015: 4.4M PPV buys
Oscar de la Hoya-Mayweather – May 2007: 2.7M PPV buys
Mayweather-Cotto – May 2012: 1.5M PPV buys
Mayweather-Mosley – May 2010: 1.4M PPV buys
Based on the above, the constant is Mayweather. Of course, you may chalk up the appeal of Mayweather to a variety of reasons. Either people are fans or they wanted to see him beat. De la Hoya and Pacquiao had their own fan bases which would have drawn PPV buys on their own.
Is Canelo Alvarez the heir apparent to Mayweather? You may recall last year he headlined a card in Houston for HBO Boxing with the Mayweather-Pacquiao replay was his “B” side. Alvarez’s KO of James Kirkland drew the best boxing rating on the network since 2006.
Payout Perspective:
Alvarez certainly has the cultural fan base and a popular boxing style to become a PPV star. His fight last June against Miguel Cotto drew 900,000 PPV buys and grossing $58 million in revenue. This was much better than GGG, the other popular choice to take over PPV. His main event PPV debut last year drew just 150,000 PPV buys. Of course, the opponent may have been a factor for both in determining buys. Still, Alvarez seems to be destined to be the next boxing star to be the May-September fighter.
Fight Fan says
Mayweather and Alvarez had a huge fight too, 2.2 million buys
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/9694996/floyd-mayweather-canelo-alvarez-top-grossing-ppv-fight
d says
As long as he avoids GGG. Haha.
tops E says
But i thought boxing is dead 2016? Hahahahahaha
French-Canadian Boxing Fan says
This card is amazing, Stevens, Lemieux, Tapia, Canelo, Khan… If it doesn’t sell well, I don’t know what to say.
I wish this card the best of luck but you never know. PBC has had some very entertaining fights in the last few weeks/months but the rating weren’t good. Maybe this was due to a lack of big names on those cards but they didn’t do well despite being good.
At least GGG drew decent ratings on HBO.
Boxing as a product is essentially as good as it was a few years ago but sadly, the ratings are not on par with what they were at the time.
Gil says
The buy rate should be well below the cotto fight. This doesn’t have the same level of hype nor is it viewed as being as competitive going in.
tops E says
Ggg vs canelo hype is increasing..people clamor for it
jf says
@ French-Canadian Boxing Fan
There are indeed a lot of excellent young boxers now active which bodes VERY well for the future of the sport. However the public’s interest is not there anymore. While boxing is still mega popular in Quebec and MMA went away with GSP (Je suis aussi Québécois 😉 ), the average north american boxing fan-based is over 50. In a decade or two, boxing will most likely be on the popularity level as kickboxing were as MMA will have taken its place and its all due to marketing and promotion. The UFC is doing EVERYTHING right, boxing is doing EVERYTHING wrong.
The Greatest says
Khan will get $13M from this fight
Dunlap says
Mayweather vs Canelo did 2.2 million. Tyson vs Lennox did 1.9 million. Holyfield vs Foreman did 1.4 million. Tyson vs Mcneeley did 1.55 million. Tyson vs Holyfield 1 did 1.59 million. Tyson vs Holyfield 2 did 2 million buys. Those are the ones you missed
Combo says
Boxing isn’t dead; just ain’t what it used to be.
tops E says
Hahaha….now adjusting statements of boxings end hahaha…dw panicking over a rumor of mayweather vs mcgregor in boxing hahaha
Wil says
damn good fight card, i enjoyed it. Enjoyed seeing GGG opponents Stevens and Lemieux score impressive knockouts
d says
“Khan will get $13M from this fight”
Na, that’s a fictitious number being floated around. The actual purse was only 2m. He’ll probably get a little bit more, but no where near 13m, that’s more boxing fiction.
The Greatest says
d is always a little skiddish after a great night of boxing
The Greatest says
“His fight last June against Miguel Cotto drew 900,000 PPV buys and grossed $58 million in revenue.”
d claimed $58M was a lie.
Remember that d?
d says
“d is always a little skiddish after a great night of boxing”
More like embarrassing. The top draw in boxing who is a mw, has to fight blown up jr. welterweights. Another black eye for boxing because the best fighter can’t get a fight against anyone with a name. Everyone is dodging him. Canelo wants nothing to do with Golovkin. That’s embarrassing.
d says
“d claimed $58M was a lie.
Remember that d?”
It didn’t gross 58m for the promotion, just for the event. It grossed half of that for the promotion. The cable providers get a 50% split. You are once again taking something out of context because you are delusional.
Fight Fan says
D where do you get your source on the cable getting 50%? Lol
d says
“D where do you get your source on the cable getting 50%? Lol”
The cable companies, the promoters, the fighters, the managers, the distributors, everyone who knows anything about the business.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
d says
I don’t get my info from my local BFF, that’s just the beginning of your issue.