HBO Sports' May 1 Floyd Mayweather-Sugar Shane Mosley fight was a knockout for the cable industry, drawing 1.4 million pay-per-view buys, said network officials.
The fight, in which Mayweather dominated Mosely in winning a unanimous decision, generated $78.3 million in PPV revenue The pay-per-view buy total includes 740,000 from cable homes and 660,000 from satellite and telco homes.
The event is the second-highest-grossing, non-heavyweight PPV event in boxing history, surpassing the 1999 Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad bout, which generated $70.6 million buys. The fight is also the top-performing PPV event in 2010, topping the March 13 Manny Pacaquiao-Joshua Clottey fight, which connected on 800,000 buys.
The performance marks the second-consecutive 1-million buy PPV event involving Mayweather: his triumph over Juan Manuel Marquez last Sept. 19 also reached that PPV plateau.
The Mayweather-De La Hoya on Cinco de Mayo 2007ranks as the highest-grossing fight of all time, generating 2.45 million buys and $137 million in PPV revenue..
A potential Mayweather-Pacquiao bout could surpass that figure if the two fighters can come to an agreement. A potential March 13 fight between the two champions fell apart after Pacquiao refused to submit random drug testing prior to the fight as requested by the Mayweather camp.
Pacquiao's camp said negotiations for the mega fight could begin sometime this week.
