The return of Manny Pacquiao stateside has produced a Showtime PPV event drawing approximately 400,000 PPV buys according to multiple outlets.
Pacquiao was dominant in a unanimous decision victory over Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Although this buy rate was provided to ESPN and Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, it does not appear that Showtime will make a formal announcement. It previously stated that it would no longer make formal announcement of PPV buys unless they were to approach or break records.
For the return of Pacqiao to fight in the United States, it has to be considered a success. His last fight in the United States, a win over Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas sold near 300,000 PPV buys.
According to Nevada Athletic Commission records, Pacquiao earned $10 million for the fight. Broner made 2.5 million.
It is interesting to note that the NAC payment verification and breakdown sheet included $3 million to the IRS for Pacquiao and an advance of $1.75 million. Broner was advanced over $200,000 for the fight.
Payout Perspective:
What exactly brought back Pacquiao to boxing PPV success when his last fight was on the yet-to-be noticed at the time ESPN+? A part of it has to do with Broner. While its clear that he’s not the best fighter, Broner brings a notoriety about him that makes people want to watch. This was Broner’s first PPV but he has been a rating draw on Showtime. There’s also the factor of Pacquiao coming back to fight in the US. Why that matters when most fans are going to watch on television is beyond my analytical and/or logical thinking. Then, there’s the PBC element. Manny signing with PBC has seemed to helped find some direction to his career. There’s no doubt he’s fighting Mayweather next and he should be back to being a PPV star again.
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