Despite whatever Manny Pacquiao said after getting knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez, you couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the end of a very glorious chapter in his career, and in boxing. No fight with Floyd Mayweather on the horizon, and everything won’t be the same again from this moment on. At least his PPV numbers didn’t disappoint.

There were a lot of worries among the HBO executives and of course for the Top Rank guys, mainly Bob Arum, prior to the fight. A fourth fight that felt a bit of a stretch, despite the performances both boxers showcased in the previous three. The PPV numbers, projections and actual sales were sluggish and slow, up until the final day. Arum’s prize fighter didn’t win and probably won’t be worth the kind of money he could have been had he have won his last couple of fights and gone on to box with Floyd Mayweather in the ring, but there was no complaining about the money coming from this fight.

According to Top Rank, although the final numbers aren’t in yet, the fight generated just over $70 million in domestic revenue with about 1.15 million buys. This bests his previous fight with Timothy Bradley by more than 200,000 (Pacquiao vs Bradley was 910,000) thanks to a much more attractive opponent in Juan Manuel Marquez. It’s the sixth out of Pacquiao’s last nine fights that eclipses the million mark. His best numbers came when fighting Marquez for the third time and his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, both not too far from 1.3 million.

The fight was also a big success at the gates, generating the 13th highest box office in the history of boxing in Nevada with $10,888,890, selling 15,403 tickets.

We are happy. It’s a very big success. The number of buys on the last day was disproportionately large. We were tracking a lot less until the last day and then we did a land rush of business. It built and built.

Unless Pacquiao gets in the ring with Mayweather or somehow becomes the opponent of someone bursting onto the scene and becoming and overnight sensation, it might be safe to assume he’ll never get past the million PPV buys mark again.

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