Manny Pacquiao’s performance against Antonio Margarito has become his third Pay-Per-View fight in the last three years to exceed one million buys.
Pacquiao’s record is something that only the awesome puncher of the ’80s and 90s, Mike Tyson, can match.
Pacquiao, 31, totally out-classed the two-weight world champion, Margarito, in front of a capacity crowd of 41,000 at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas. He picked up his eighth world title in an eighth weight division to cement his place among the sport’s greats.
His 2008 retirement of Oscar De La Hoya generated 1.25 million buys through HBO PPV. Then, in 2009, a brutal beating of Miguel Cotto sold 1.2million. The Antonio Margarito mauling netted 1.15 million PPV buys.
This gave Pacquiao a share of the record with the now-retired Tyson.
According to the figures, Pacquiao’s total PPV buys are over five million in the last five years. Proving what a top-drawer attraction the Filipino warrior has become after his humble beginnings at the light-flyweight limit of 108lbs.
Also, after the news of the WBC Light-Middleweight champion confirming he will fight on for the next three years, it’s a distinct probability that the Floyd Mayweather fight will undoubtedly have taken place by then.
Pacquaio, who turns 32 next month, pulverized Margarito to claim the WBC 154lb title and has announced to numerous media sources in the last few hours that he will stay on in the fight game, but not after his 35th birthday in 2013.
This now means that the potentially highest-grossing fight of all time still has three years to be made. News that will delight the avid boxing fan and will have the media licking their lips in anticipation.
With all of Floyd Mayweather’s problems and the fact that Pacquiao intends to concentrate on his political career as a Filipino Congressman for the next six months, it may be late into 2011 before negotiations can even begin and both sides can put their cards on the table.
Mayweather, 33, hasn’t fought since out-pointing ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley in May and has been in the news over the last few months for all the wrong reasons. Mayweather could be ready to fight again by the summer of 2011.
His last opponent has been touted as a possible next match-up for Pacquiao, along with WBC Welterweight Champion Andre Berto and lightweight king Juan Manuel Marquez. Both of them are in action this weekend in defense of their titles.
If Pacquiao does return after six months out, it’s not thought that Mayweather would be his next opponent. At least now, there’s a larger window of opportunity for both camps to work together.
It surely would be a travesty if these two warriors didn’t meet in the ring at some point.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
