Mayweather PPV Does Over One Million Buys

The numbers are in, and Showtime is reporting that the Floyd Mayweather-Robert Guerrero fight did over one million buys.

Stephen Espinoza, head of boxing at Showtime, told TSS that he is quite pleased with the result, and that the buy rate shows that Floyd Mayweather is the top PPV draw in sports.

“Rumors of our financial demise were greatly exagerrated, if not fabricated,” said Espinoza, in reference to the Twittersphere speculation earlier in the week that the PPV was in the 800,000 neighborhood.

“We wanted to take our time, not speak without a sufficient basis. We're very comfortable saying the buys are going to be over a million. These numbers re-confirm that Floyd is without a doubt the top pay-per-view draw in the sport. This kind of number without the benefit of a well-known opponent establishes Floyd's drawing power.”

Espinoza admitted he would have liked a few more weeks to hype the promotion. “The promotion was a little shorter than usual, by a few weeks,” he said. “But I'm very happy how the promotion happened, the visibility in the general market. It was a big win. One big focus was on the non-boxing and casual fans, and we reached them, and in the process further elevated Showtime's brand.”

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Boxing doesn't have an offseason, so I was curious, have talks between Showtime, Team Mayweather, Golden Boy and Team Canelo started?

“I have spoken to reps for both fighters as well as Golden Boy, talks are ongoing, and it appears all sides want that fight as first choice,” Espinoza told me.

I heard a rumors that perhaps Canelo might be pricing himself out, wanting too much money. Has Espinoza heard that? “I've heard nothing along those lines,” he said. “Of course the deal with the fighters is with Golden Boy, not Showtime, but I am in the loop in those discussions and I haven't heard of any major problems in prelimary talks.”

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