Floyd Mayweather has more haters than actual fans, but that doesn’t make him any less interesting. Buoyed by facing Miguel Cotto, a highly followed fighter by his own rights, the Mayweather – Cotto fight brought in over 1.5 million viewers on PPV, generating over $94 million on the night.

This becomes the second most watched non-heavyweight fight of all time on PPV, while another Mayweather fight, his 2007 bout against Oscar De La Hoya, remains as the most watched PPV fight in any weight class with just under 2.5 million buys, generating $137 million.

Mayweather won the fight via unanimous decision, improving his record to 43-0 with 26 knockouts, claiming a Light Middleweight belt for the second time in his career, snatching away Miguel Cotto’s WBA Super title. Cotto, who has a huge following in New York and can bring more than 500,000 viewers on his own to PPV broadcasts helped Mayweather turn this into such a financial success.

The gates did very well – Selling over 14,000 tickets, the Nevada State Athletic Commission reported the gates generated over $12 million, the ninth-biggest gate in history. The fight was held at the MGM Grand, with the ability to seat over 16,000 fans.

After Manny Pacquiao fought Juan Manuel Marquez, the numbers showed that the fight was more successful than Mayweather – Ortiz. Although Top Rank never released official numbers, it brought in a rumored 1.3-1.5 million viewers, helped by Marquez strong following from viewers and the fans coming in to see the fight. It’ll be interesting to see how much views the Pacquiao – Bradley fight is able to pull, with Bradley a relative unknown to those outside the boxing circles, and not being considered an exciting fighter to watch.

But Mayweather isn’t an exciting fighter to watch either on most days. Miguel Cotto, who kept coming at ‘Money’ made the fight better than what it would be, with Floyd forced and pushed to make more of an offensive spectacle than he usually does. Mayweather’s mouth and persona, the one that he allows the media to see, which has a lot of trash talking, flamboyancy, gambling, and Manny Pacquiao dissing in it, helps him sell the fights. Wanting to see someone lose is a great incentive.

Mayweather, with a fight to prepare to or without, is always great news. He never stays quiets for too long, and when he’s back, he’s always coming up with something controversial to say. A promoter right through his bones, almost as much as he is a prize fighter. Unless he actually decides to retire after his 87-day jail sentence, don’t be surprised to see him beat his numbers once again. If he fights Pacquiao? That’ll will be the most watched PPV broadcast in boxing history, guaranteed.

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