HBO has released the numbers, and the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao fight last Saturday generated 1.25 million buys on pay-per-view, beating out Mayweather-Marquez as the biggest boxing event of 2009. The fight generated $70 million in pay-per-view revenue to go along with its $8.84 million live gate.

The 1.25 million number equals what Pacquiao did a year ago against Oscar de la Hoya, though it doesn't quite reach the larger numbers that were being bandied about this week. Bob Arum said he thought it was looking like about 1.3 million, and he turned out to be correct. Usually, Bob is one of those going high, but I think this number more than pleases everyone involved.

Hatton-Pacquiao in May was a big success. Mayweather-Marquez was a phenomenal success. And this fight -- bigger than both -- is just more proof that if you put together fights and build guys right, boxing is far, far from dead.

I would have said six months ago that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight approaching the all-time PPV record set by Oscar and Floyd back in 2007 would have been impossible, but now I think there's a real chance there. Breaking two million buys is damn hard. In fact, Oscar-Floyd is the only fight that has ever done it, with Lewis-Tyson being No. 2 all-time at 1.99 million.

But I think Mayweather-Pacquiao can do it. I don't know if they will, but HBO has already said they'll be putting unheard of backing behind this must-see event should the parties work out a deal, and it seems to just about all of us that a deal not getting worked out is almost unthinkable. Way too much money to be made.

Boxing is on a nice little roll this year, and really has been the last few years or so. Slowly but surely, the mainstream media is starting to get over their "boxing is dead" obsession, and I'm hoping that a Floyd-Manny fight will be the last time I ever have to read articles from basketball writers titled, "The fight to get boxing off the ropes," or what have you.

Congratulations to HBO, Top Rank and of course, the fighters.

USA Today's J. Michael Falgoust reports that the November 14 fight between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao was a big live success in Las Vegas, blowing out the Mayweather-Marquez fight from September in money drawn at the gate and tickets sold.

The gate from last weekend's showdown between Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto— which will air on HBO Saturday (10 p.m. ET/PT) — was $8.84 million with 15,470 tickets sold.

That's 3,500 more tickets sold and $2 million more than what Mayweather's comeback from a near two-year layoff drew when he fought Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez in September on Mexican independence weekend.

Most interesting to me was this comparison, which probably highlights the difference in demographics between the crowds. Cotto-Pacquiao had the MGM filled with people who wanted to see the fight. Mayweather-Marquez had the MGM almost filled with people who came to see the big boxing show in Las Vegas.

No tickets were sold beneath face value for Pacquiao-Cotto. For Mayweather's bout, 94 tickets were sold at 50% discount and 895 were comps, or giveaways while just 46 comps were doled out for Pacquiao-Cotto.

And then there's PPV, which will have figures released later today. The Mayweather camp is already excusing themselves from the comparison by saying that Pacquiao "had a dance partner," apparently operating now under the idea that Juan Manuel Marquez is a bum with no fans, while selling us beforehand on Marquez's ability to draw in the Mexican audience as one of the reasons they chose to fight him in the first place.

They'll go back to pointing at their better numbers with Oscar and Hatton, not acknowledging the fact that Oscar and Hatton were both better "dance partners" when Floyd fought them than when Pacquiao fought them, and that Pacquiao also fought both in a recession. And they'll say, "I did a million homes with Marquez! But guess what! Guess what! But guess what! Guess what! He only did 400,000," except they probably won't even say 400,000, they'll say something lower than that, which might mean that Pacquiao-Marquez at 130 pounds in 2008 is about equal to Floyd's riveting fight with Carlos Baldomir in 2006. But hey, who's counting?

Floyd and Manny have become big stars in pretty much the exact same way. They were both noted as great fighters, but as draws, they were what they were. Manny was pretty good for his size -- again, nobody has ever sold more PPVs at that weight or lower than Pacquiao-Marquez II sold -- and Floyd just never quite got rolling.

Oscar de la Hoya made them both PPV forces. They took that momentum and ran with it. Floyd did it with his personality first, and his great skill second. Manny did it with his ferocious performances first, and a personality second, a personality that is something that I think American fans are just in love with at this point. The casual boxing fans out there barely recognized in a pre-MP world that there are Filipino boxers, let alone this force of nature.

If you want to be black and white about it, and make it really, really simple, then let's say it this way:

• Floyd outdrew Manny with Oscar, Hatton and Marquez;
• Manny's numbers with all three of them were excellent;
• Manny looks to have just smoked Floyd with guys who were similar-level stars.

Floyd will want to talk about the past, Manny will want to talk about right now, and they'll continue to bicker for a little while.

Manny Pacquiao and Bob Arum will have plenty to celebrate with their latest PPV success. Early indicators have the fight between 1 and 1.5 million buys. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)

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Ronnie Nathanielsz reports that promoter Bob Arum is confident that the Saturday mega fight between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao may have done upwards of 1.5 million buys on pay-per-view, and that 1 million is almost a certainty.

Arum said 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. Arum said the Pacquiao-Cotto fight did a little bit more than 110,000.
 
Stating it was only a guess, Arum figured the fight would do around 1.3 million although he said there were no numbers from New York, Pennsylvania which are big points, adding that he didn’t even have any California numbers although he had the figures for San Diego and Hawaii "which were good numbers."

...

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

The astute Top Rank promoter said "we are happy because we did well over a million homes and I think it will be closer to 1.5 million."

It's early, but it looks like this will probably wind up equaling or topping the Mayweather-Marquez show from September 19. Right now, Michael Marley of the Examiner has it at 1.6 million and counting, but that's just speculation like anything else right now, but another indicator that this fight is tracking amazingly well.

The last three fights of Manny Pacquiao's career have transformed him and turned him into not just one of the best fighters in the sport, but one of the two biggest as well. For years, Pacquiao was one of "our" fighters, an exciting, dynamic, can't-miss-him-fight sort of guy that translated to the hardcore audience. His size seemed a deterrent for him ever being a major star, and the fact that he isn't American or Mexican also seemed it might be a hindrance in the States, too.

But his performances in major money fights against Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto have not just been shockingly dominant, but they've introduced him to the casual audience, and that audience can't get enough of him. CompuBox looks at the numbers for Manny's last three bouts:

If you have trouble reading the numbers, a larger resolution version of the same chart can be seen here.

(Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

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Just a friendly reminder for those that may have missed it or want to catch the replay or TiVo/DVR/whatever the fight. HBO will be re-airing the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao fight on Saturday, available in HD. It was a performance to remember from Pacquiao for certain.

Manny Pacquiao's conditioning coach Alex Ariza says Pacquiao took it easy on Miguel Cotto last night. (Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank)

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Ronnie Nathanielsz reports today that there may have been a bit of mercy shown last night by Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, believes that's exactly what happened.

"What you saw tonight was mercy. I thought Manny could have finished him so many times but he just didn’t want to hit him anymore."

Ariza also criticized Cotto’s corner saying "his father should have stopped that fight. Shame on him for letting his pride possibly injure his son."

However, Ariza said Cotto "deserves a lot of credit. He showed up, he was in shape. No more excuses. I don’t think anybody can ever say anything about Manny. He fought the best 147 pounder out there and destroyed him."

Point-by-point? Sure, why not?

First of all, I think he's probably right overall here. In the latter stages of the fight particularly, Manny seemed like he wanted to quit beating up a man he had to chase around the ring. By that point the fight was 100% in his favor and he was laying into Cotto, who wanted nothing to do with him. I thought Manny showed mercy against Oscar, too. There were times he blatantly let Oscar get off the ropes when he could have continued beating the crap out of him. And I thought he showed a ton of mercy for Marco Antonio Barrera in their 2007 rematch, too.

As great a finisher as Manny is, I don't know that I'd say he has a truly killer instinct. He has a lot of respect for his opponents.

Second, Ariza was probably unaware of this when he said it and might learn of it now -- after all, why would he know? -- but Miguel Cotto Sr. was trying to get the fight stopped. The fighter wanted it to go on and the rest of the corner talked Sr. down a little bit.

And on the final point, Miguel Cotto is not and was not the best 147-pounder in the world. That is Floyd Mayweather Jr., and that's not a stab at Cotto or a knock on him. Cotto was without question one of the three best in the world at 147, but not the best. That's just not a true statement, and it feels cheap to try to make an incredible win out to be even more than it is. There is no reason to exaggerate.

Manny Pacquiao was clearly the better man tonight, but that doesn't need to mean that it's the last we see of Miguel Cotto. via Associated Press

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We're less than a couple hours removed from Manny Pacquiao's demolition of Miguel Cotto, and there are already calls for his retirement.  While he certainly took a lot of damage in this fight, Cotto still has many good options out there.  Retirement isn't out of the question, but it may not be ideal either.  Conventional wisdom would put Cotto smack in the middle of his prime, and he's still a world-class fighter.  Here are a few of my recommendations.

Take a little time off.  Not only to heal your wounds and your psyche, but to enjoy life for a little while.  You have a lovely wife and three beautiful children, and it's obvious that you all love each other very much.  Taking a little time away from boxing and spending some time with the family may help you get grounded, and figure out whether your heart is still in the sport.  If it is, there are plenty of directions you could go.

If you still want to compete at the top, then by all means, go for it.  You'll need to build back up your reputation anyway, and that should give you some time to recover.  A year from now, a Mosley rematch is still probably a great fight.  A Berto match is probably a great fight.  And even if it's unlikely that you'd beat Mayweather, it's also unlikely that you'd take too much sustained damage in that fight.

If you don't, that's fine as well.  Welterweight isn't the deepest division in the world, but Bob Arum has made a great living selling mismatches as smaller pay per views.  You would still be a heavy favorite over Kermit Cintron, which would be a big fight in Puerto Rico.  Same for Luis Collazo.  And people have to be kidding themselves if they think the next tier of welterweights, the Selcuk Aydins and the Isaac Hlatswayos of the world, would even have a chance of beating you.  You can probably make a solid living facing these guys for the next few years, and build up enough of a bankroll to not only pay for your own retirement, but for your children's retirement.

However, whichever direction you decide to take, one thing is clear: Joe Santiago should not be your head trainer.  There were many reports that in camp, you were essentially training yourself, and it was clear that Joe just didn't know how to help you make adjustments during the big fight.  This doesn't mean you need to dump your loyal friend; rather, keep him as your second man, someone you trust, and find an established and knowledgeable trainer who's able to guide you and help you make adjustments.  Not only will it help you as a fighter, but it will help your career, preventing you from taking prolonged punishment like you did tonight.

Cotto's never been someone to back down from a challenge.  That tendency scares me a little bit, but he can still take on some challenges.  And even if he doesn't, it's not the end of the world.  Many great fighters have made a very good living taking the safe fights.  Considering Cotto's legacy up to this point, I don't think anyone can fault him if he decides to take that route from this point forward.

Miguel Cotto goes down against Manny Pacquiao in the fourth round. Pacquiao won by 12th round referee stoppage in a dominant performance. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Manny Pacquiao was sensational tonight in Las Vegas, knocking down Miguel Cotto twice, battering him throughout the majority of the fight, and forcing Kenny Bayless to stop the fight in the 12th round of a dominant performance, giving Pacquiao his 50th career win and arguably his most impressive.

Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KO) floored Cotto on timing shots in the third and fourth rounds, but after Cotto looked sharp, strong and fast early, he was dominated over the latter half of the fight. Pacquiao proved that there is no questioning his power at this weight, and no questioning his ability to take a good shot, either. He walked through some strong punches from Cotto (34-2, 27 KO) and seemed to barely feel them. Pacquiao, on the other hand, was able to hurt Cotto consistently.

He was faster, stronger, and better. Miguel Cotto isn't old, wasn't drained, isn't "overrated." Cotto did all he could tonight, but he was laid to waste by a superior fighter.

Pacquiao is now the WBO welterweight titleholder, the seventh weight class in which he's won a major title, the first man to ever do that.

Pacquiao's return has been rumored to be March 13, 2010, but that may move. Promoter Bob Arum had floated the idea of a Cotto-Pacquiao rematch if it was a great fight. It was an entertaining fight, and a masterful performance from Pacquiao, but it was not a great fight, and a rematch would be useless. There was no doubt. Cotto was pulled out of the fight by referee Kenny Bayless almost as soon as he was hit hard one time by Pacquiao in the 12th.

Bayless, unlike Cotto's corner, protected the fighter. Cotto was on his bike most of the latter rounds, straight-up running from Pacquiao. He was demoralized and in some ways embarrassed. His pride took a hit tonight. Cotto showed clear fear of Pacquiao in many rounds, and there's no disputing that.

Manny Pacquiao is a fighter unlike any other in the world.

There will be much more tomorrow, perhaps tonight, and in the coming week. But is there any other fight besides Pacquiao-Mayweather now? As Pacquiao avoided the question of having a preference for his next opponent, the public will respond: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

There is no other fight for either man.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. won an easy decision over club fighter Troy Rowland. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. kept his undefeated record in a sleep-inducing 10-round decision over Michigan club fighter Troy Rowland in the final fight on the Cotto-Pacquiao undercard, winning on scores of 99-91, 98-92, 97-93. Bad Left Hook scored it 97-93 for Chavez.

Chavez is now 41-0-1 (30), while Rowland falls to 25-3 (7).

There's not really much analysis here. This fight had no business on PPV, especially one this big, and was met with boos by the crowd at the MGM Grand, which it rightly earned. In all fairness to Rowland, he came to win and did his very best. Chavez, who was there to be showcased, was terribly unimpressive yet again. At 23, I know some people like to point out that he's young, but he really just does not improve, ever. If there's really an "it," he does not have it.

The main event is just about to start, so join us in our live thread linked above!

Yuri Foreman routed Daniel Santos to win the WBA junior middleweight title in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Yuri Foreman outquicked, outboxed, and outfoxed a sluggish, out-of-shape Daniel Santos to win the WBA junior middleweight title tonight, winning a 12-round decision on scores of 116-110, 117-109 and 117-109. Bad Left Hook scored the fight 118-108 for Foreman, who took the role of aggressor, a rarity for the cautious Jewish star.

Foreman (28-0, 7 KO) scored two knockdowns of Santos (32-4-1, 23 KO), who came in at an exceptionally heavy 173 pounds for the fight, 19 pounds over his weigh-in of 154 yesterday. The 34-year-old Santos looked old, slow and unbalanced all night long, laying back and trying to load up single shots. It was clear he wasn't physically prepared following his long layoff. Santos last fought in July 2008.

For Foreman, it's his first major title, and will guarantee him some more big fights in the near future. He's beatable, but also bankable to some degree. Santos might have to move up to 160 if this fight was any indication, or he might just need to get more active again. He really is a fantastic fighter, but you would have never known it tonight.