Pacquiao-Cotto pay-per-view buys to reach 2 million? - Yahoo! Philippines News

Pacquiao-Cotto pay-per-view buys to reach 2 million?

Slideshow: Manny Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines - The recent welterweight megafight between Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Puerto Rican WBO champion Miguel Cotto is expected to generate close to 2 million pay-per-view buys.

“They’re very good,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum in an interview with Boxingtalk.com., referring to the PPV figures. “Yeah, it’s well over one million but I really don’t know. It will be somewhere north of one million.”

Rey Colón of the “El Vocero” of Puerto Rico reported that the fight, which Pacquiao won via a convincing 12th round TKO, made approximately two million pay-per-view buys generating at least $120 million in revenues.

No word on what Pacquiao´s cut will be but Cotto was mentioned to be making at least $10 million. (Related story on Page 21)

Pacquiao had a guaranteed purse of $13 million in the Cotto fight.

Arum has earlier indicated that he had “pretty much the final numbers” for Puerto Rico alone which he said “set a record” by surpassing the previous record of 80,000 for the Felix “Tito” Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya fight.

He also guessed that the Pacquiao-Cotto duel, billed as Firepower and which drew 16,200 fans at the MGM Grand Arena, did a little bit more than 110,000, adding that the fight would do around 1.3 million although he said there were no numbers from New York, Pennsylvania and California, which are big points.

In an interview with Boxingscene.com, Arum, however, said that he had the figures for San Diego and Hawaii “which were good numbers.”

Arum recalled that the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight last year did 1.25 million buys and in the East “so far we are doing 40 percent better and in the West we are doing about 10 percent less.”

Arum also said that “we are happy because we did well over a million homes and I think it will be closer to 1.5 million.”

There were keen interests on the number of PPV buys for the Pacquiao-Cotto fight since this will weigh heavily on the negotiations for the potential blockbuster fight between Pacquiao against the unbeaten Mayweather.

For one, Arum said he would wait for the final result of the PPV before making a move to negotiate with the Golden Boy Promotions, which handles Mayweather.

Even Mayweather Jr., who the world wants to be Pacquiao’s next opponent, has admitted that the Pacquiao-Cotto fight should do more buys than his bout with Juan Manuel Marquez which posted 1.1 million.

“I’ve done over a million homes by myself. Now we got Pacquiao and Cotto, two guys who have a pretty cool fan base, so if they do more homes than Mayweather, more power to them, but they supposed to. I don’t have no dance partner,” said Mayweather Jr. in an interview with Sky Sports. – Dante Navarro - (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

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Mayweather throws down gauntlet to Manny Pacquiao

LOS ANGELES -- Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather would begin negotiations on a mega blockbuster fight within the next 24 hours, USA Today newspaper reported on Monday.

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MANNY PACQUIAO celebrates after beating Miguel Cotto Reuters

Mayweather told the paper that he wants to fight Pacquiao and it disturbs him that the Filipino won’t admit he wants the fight as well.

"Manny Pacquiao is the fighter and every time someone asks him if he wants to fight me, he says it is up to his promoter, he’s going to take a vacation, whatever the answer is," USA Today quoted Mayweather saying on Monday.

"I have yet to hear him actually say, ‘yes I want to fight Mayweather.’ We are the fighters and if one fighter is talking about fighting another fighter, then they should just come out and say it.

"Manny Pacquiao doesn’t say anything directly about fighting me because he might just know it’s not a fight he can win."

Mayweather’s challenge comes just days after Pacquiao’s stunning systematic demolition of Puerto Rican champ Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.

After a close first couple of rounds Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) switched to his uptempo style and pummeled Cotto for several rounds before the referee stepped in and stopped the one-sided slaughter.

The victory validated newly crowned World Boxing Organization welterweight champ Pacquiao as the greatest Asian fighter in history. It also helped raise his status, along with Mayweather, as two of the best current pound-for-pound fighters in boxing.

It was also the seventh world title in as many weight classes for Pacquiao, something even the American Mayweather cannot claim.

"Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer (Freddie Roach), talk for him," said Mayweather. "I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself."

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said he wants to make a deal but hopes egos don’t get in the way.

"All you have to know is that my fighter and his trainer Freddie Roach have gone on record saying they’re happy to fight Mayweather," said Arum who used to promote Mayweather.

"Hopefully we’ll be able to put this together. From our side, we’re willing."

In his last fight Mayweather decisioned Juan Manuel Marquez in September. Before that, he took a two-year hiatus from boxing. He has a reputation of being someone that is difficult to deal with.

"Maybe I prefer not to deal with him. But if your fighter wants a fight, you deal. Mayweather is not one of my favorite people and I’m sure I’m not one of his. What difference does that make?" Arum said.

Pacquiao said he is comfortable fighting at the welterweight (147-pound) division and would like to do it again. -- AFP

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