by Chinwe Okafor
But both fighters won at the bank.
The money for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight eclipses any other. Ticket revenue at the MGM Grand Garden Arena will yield $74 million in gate receipts, and the foreign rights to the fight sold for a record $35 million. The fight’s total gross is expected to be over $300 million and could hit $400 million depending on the pay-per-view numbers.
The thinking in the days before the fight was that a record 3 million PPV buys for between $90 and $100 a pop. While everyone was waiting for the fight to commence, announcer Jim Lampley said there was a delay because cable companies said so many people were buying the fight there was “an electric overload” that needed to be dealt with.
Mayweather, who negotiated a 60%-40% split in his favor, should make at least $180 million while Pacquiao earns $120 million. In addition, Mayweather also bet $750,000 of his own loot on himself.
In contrast, Ali and Frazier split $5 million in the original Fight of the Century in 1971, which would be $29 million adjusted for inflation. As an industry, boxing is not as popular relative to other sports as it was 40 years ago. But people will still pay up when in comes to superstars like Pacquiao and Mayweather.
And thanks to a modern trend started by former boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya to promote his own fights, boxers haul in a bigger percentage of the gross. Mayweather is the De La Hoya business model on steroids But make no mistake about it: this fight was an anomaly.
According to Forbes writer, “I would have loved to have seen this fight five or six years ago when both were near their prime. That fight might not have made as much money. But it could have been the real Fight of the Century.”
-Forbes
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