Boxing News 2014: Boycott Call Didn’t Hurt Mayweather-Maidana Rematch As PPV Buys Reach 925,000, According To Unofficial Sources
A move to boycott the Sept 13 rematch of Floyd Mayweather Jr and Marcos Maidana was not so successful, if unofficial figures that said the pay-per-view buys for the bout was about 925,000.
A source of Yahoo Sports provided the figure, although it would remain speculative because Showtime no longer issues PPV data. Earlier, Top Rank Promotions chief Bob Arum also cited his own source who gave a lower estimate of 850,000 PPV buys.
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If the first figure is to be believed, it would be an improvement from the estimated 900,000 PPV buys during the first Mayweather-Maidana match in May 2014. But it could also be interpreted as a confirmation of the estimate because Showtime said it would only release PPV data if the buys broke records.
Two women in media, CNN's Rachel Nichols and ESPN's Sarah Shantel Jackson initiated the boycott over Mayweather's comment on footballer Ray Rice hitting his wife and Money May's own lawsuit filed by ex-fiance Shantel Jackson for domestic violence.
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Yahoo Sports' said it was a cable source who knows the industry who said PPV sales on DirecTV were 5 to 10 times higher compared to the duo's first fight in May, while its source from AT&T's uVerse placed the increase in buys to 20 per cent.
While there apparently was an improvement in the buys, the 925,000 being cited is not even half of the 2.2 buys million for the Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez bout in 2013.
However, Mayweather's camp could site that other fights too generated smaller PPV buys such as the Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez bout in June as well as the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley face-off in April that sold only 800,000 PPV buys.
But boxing observers said the general slowdown in ticket sales and PPV buys could be reversed if Mayweather and Pacquiao would finally meet on the ring and settle once and for all who is really the pound-for-pound king - the one with 5 or 8 titles?
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