I wondered why it was taking so long to get an official buyrate number from the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view on May 2nd. Dan Rafael from ESPN.com has now cleared it up for me. Bob Arum, promoter for Top Rank and Manny Pacquiao, is refusing to release that information. Lucky for us, Dan Rafael has contacts and learned of that number yesterday.
According to Rafael’s sources, the pay-per-view did about 825,000 domestic pay-per-view buys but when the final tally comes in, it should be closer to 850,000. Mayweather Jr and Ricky Hatton amassed 915,000 buys in 2007 making it the most viewed non-heavyweight, non-Oscar De La Hoya PPV in boxing history. Pacquiao-Hatton came in right behind that.
Dan Rafael makes a good point in wondering why Arum would be so tight-lipped about the business numbers. The bottom line is that the fight did well and he should be proud of that. It’s a good time for boxing right now. Should Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather Jr, it will likely break the 1 million mark. Arum has even put a gag order on Golden Boy, who co-promoted the fight, as well as HBO, who televised the fight, in sharing the buyrate information.
By all accounts, the fight did extremely well and the future looks even brighter. Floyd Mayweather Jr fights Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18th, with Manny Pacquiao having a keen eye on the winner. There are a lot of potential superfights that can be made in the next year when you add Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto into the mix. It’s a good time to be a boxing fan.
