The Floyd Mayweather–Manny Pacquiao fight generated more than $500m, making it the highest-grossing pay-per-view of all time.
Okay, the Mayweather-Pacquiao went down in the history as the Fight of the Century that never was. So let’s look at what have happened so far.
Mayweather retained his unbeaten record after a unanimous points victory over the Philippine congressman but it’s okay because some think that he’ll be a president anyway.
Pacquiao revealed that he had suffered a right shoulder injury, which caused his bettors and fans to cry foul, filing lawsuits left and right.
A rematch had been considered but Mayweather said nope, calling Pacquiao a sore loser and a coward.
Pacquiao has returned to his country as a national hero and was welcomed by the fans, supporters and politicians while riding a motorcade around the Philippine capital.
But here’s the most important update, maybe the main reason why this fight even happened.
The money!
HBO and Showtime announced that the fight generated a 4.4m PPV buys, producing more than $400m in TV revenue alone. The blockbuster event broke the previous record of 2.48m buys generated by Mayweather’s 2007 fight with Oscar De La Hoya.
Live gate receipts added $72m from the 16,000 fans who attended the fight at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas.
Mayweather–Pacquiao also set the record for closed circuit admissions and revenue both in Las Vegas and at establishments nationwide. The event sold nearly 46,000 closed circuit admissions at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas and was available at more than 5,000 bars, restaurants, and commercial establishments throughout the U.S.
The revenue for international distribution also set the record at $35m plus $12m from sponsorships and $1m from merchandise sales.
Depending on how many of the PPV were in SD or HD, total revenue for the fight will be between $550m–$595m.
Mayweather is expected to take home up to $210m while Pacquiao with up to $143m.
