The fight last Saturday between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas set a pay-per-view record as the highest-grossing fight in the history of boxing, making tons of money and generating plenty of steam on social media after the fight with the controversial decision.
According to ESPN.com, the Mayweather fight ended up making over $150 million and got over two million buys from fans through pay-per-view, which is the most for a boxing match all-time. The fight was put together by Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions and the card was anticipated as one of the biggest fights over the past few years.
The previous record was also held for a Mayweather fight, that one being against Oscar De La Hoya back in 2007 and that one made over $135 million from the pay-per-view buys, with over two million purchases as well. While inflation could push the old fight over the one last Saturday, based on the projections this fight did more without adjusting for inflation. According to ESPN.com, those two events are the only ones to generate that much on PPV.
Mayweather made plenty on the fight no matter the outcome, netting $40 million, while Alvarez made $12 million from the bout and after the numbers came out from the event, each is likely to get more from the profits. The MGM Grand Garden was totally sold out and the demand for tickets was very high and the other fight on the card was Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse.
Mayweather has consistently shown that he is one of the biggest draws in sports and it his next fight could net even more if he finds an opponent like Alvarez that has a major backing and fan base.
"This is what we anticipated when we formed our partnership with CBS/Showtime (in early 2013) -- record-breaking results," Mayweather Promotions chief executive Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com. "We're just ecstatic and we want to thank the fans for supporting this promotion. It was a lot of hard work."
