Record Haul for Mayweather & Paquiao

The pay TV figures bear testament to the enormity of the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight in Las Vegas last May 2: a record 4.4 million buys that promises to give the two protagonists the biggest payday yet in professional sports.

The fight that Mayweather won on points has been shadowed by controversy – revelations that Pacquiao stepped atop the ring with an injured shoulder and that Mayweather was apparently aware of it.  But in the latest twist, columnist Jeff Powell wrote on Britain’s Daily Mail that a detailed analysis of the fight showed the results were not as one-sided as the judges score would suggest.

HBO and Showtime announced last May 12 the record $400 million haul from pay-per-view.  That easily shattered the previous record of 2.48 million PPV buys set by Mayweather and Oscar dela Joya in 2007 and exceeded initial estimates of between 3 to 4 million buys.  Ticket sales, sports bars broadcast rights, sponsorships, etc. added about another hundred million dollars to the coffers, according to HBO and Showtime.

Of that $500-plus million in revenue, more than $350 million will go to Mayweather and Pacquiao – about $210 million and $143 million, respectively.

“The more intently the tapes of the fight are scrutinized, the greater the head-scratching about the unanimous decision in favor of Mayweather,” he wrote on dailymail.co.uk.

He said leading commentators from the Boxing News 24 website re-visited video of the fight, at the actual speed, in slow motion, and finally looking at it frame-by-frame, and concluded the decision could have also gone Pacquiao’s way.

“I thought I won the fight.  He didn’t do anything.  He was moving around on the outside, so it’s not easy to throw a lot of punches.  I could handle his power.  I have fought bigger than him and not had a problem,” Pacquiao said after the fight.

Powell said the commentators concluded that many rounds were exceptionally difficult if not too close to call and Pacquiao’s claim that he had won the fight was reasonable, and not outrageous as a ringside, post-fight interviewer implied.

The group suggested the next time people watch a boxing match on TV, they should mute down the commentaries.

Some have raised a bizarre “conspiracy theory” that alleges Pacquiao actually deserved to win because of confusion over how the judges record their scores.  These rumors started to swirl after the scoreboards of judges Glenn Feldman, Burt Clements, and Dave Moretti were released online.

Each of the judges marked that the fighter in the red corner was the victor.  But in the MGM ring, Mayweather was actually in the blue corner, while Pacquiao was in the red.  However, they also clearly indicated at the bottom of the score cards that Mayweather got the most points.

Analysts say the unprecedented earnings and controversy surrounding the fight will heighten the pressure for a rematch even if the purse is just half of what the two fighters are getting today.

And the hype for a re-match may be starting already.  Mayweather’s politeness leading up the fight is slowly crumbling.  “I don’t even want to say anything bad about Manny,” Mayweather said in an interview with Showtime Sports.  “But he’s leaving me no choice.”

“He was fast.  His left hand was fast, his right was fast, and he was throwing them both – fast and strong,” Mayweather said when asked if he observed any problem with Pacquiao’s shoulder during the fight.

Mayweather said Pacquiao was only making excuses.  “There’s a difference between a great fighter, and TBE (The Best Ever), and I proved that I’m the best,” he declared.  Mayweather maintained his unbeaten streak to 48 wins.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao has other things to worry aside from Mayweather’s mouth.  He has been threatened with a class-action lawsuit for failing to disclose his injury before consumers purchased tickets and pay-per-view telecasts for this fight against Mayweather.

The first lawsuit was filed in Nevada on May 5 and two more were filed in California, and one each in Texas and Illinois.

One of the California lawsuits was filed on behalf of Paul Mahoney who paid $99.95 for the pay-per-view telecast.  It claims that Pacquiao’s failure to disclose his shoulder injury turned the Fight of the Century into the “Sleight Of The Century.”

The lawsuit filed in Illinois on behalf of four of the state’s residents not only names Pacquiao, his manager Michael Koncz, and his promotional company Top Rank, but also names Floyd Mayweather, Mayweather Productions, fight producers HBO and Showtime and pay-per-view producers, AT&T, Comcast, and DirecTV.

“Our state has a law that prohibits concealing or misrepresenting material information with consumers and within the context of boxing, Manny Pacquiao’s shoulder injury is a material fact,” said Bob Duncan, one of the lawyers for the Illinois plaintiffs.

In another twist to the “Fight of the Century” saga, Mayweather was sued by his former girlfriend for defamation.  A lawsuit was filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court the same day as the Pacquiao’s in Nevada.  Josie Harris said Mayweather defamed her by describing her unfairly as a drug abuser during an interview with Yahoo’s Katie Couric in April.

Harris claims she has suffered humiliation and emotional and physical distress as a result of Mayweather’s statements, and is seeking more than $20 million in damages.

(Courtesy of Manila Mail, May 16-31, 2015)