Floyd Mayweather's return to boxing was a success inside the ring and at the box office, as his decisive win over Juan Manuel Marquez drew more than 1 million pay-per-view buys, HBO PPV said.
The Sept. 19 fight, in which Mayweather — who had retired from the sport in 2007 — used his speed and size advantage to pound out a unanimous decision over Marquez, is the first PPV boxing event to top the 1 million buy mark since the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight, which drew 1.25 million buys in December 2008.
Mayweather-Marquez is only the fifth non-heavyweight fight to top the 1 million mark — the gold (and green) standard of the PPV event industry.
Topping the list is the 2007 De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight, which garnered a PPV boxing record of 2.4 million buys, followed by the 1999 De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad and 2008 De La Hoya-Pacquiao bouts (1.25 million buys each) and the 2005 De La Hoya-Bernard Hopkins fight (1 million buys).
“Floyd Mayweather has clearly reinforced his standing as a top attraction and fans are excited about his return to the sport,” said Mark Taffet of HBO Pay-Per-View.
HBO PPV will look to top the Mayweather-Marquez performance on Nov. 9 when boxing pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao fights Miguel Cotto. If Pacquaio wins that match, it could set up a blockbuster Mayweather-Pacquaio PPV event sometime in 2010.
