Leonard Ellerbe of Team Mayweather told FanHouse's Lem Satterfield yesterday that the May 1 PPV bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley came in at 1.4 million buys, with Mayweather pocketing $40 million.

For those who (as always) assume the numbers a lie or whatever, it doesn't seem at all like that would be the case here. 1.4 million still pales in comparison to the ridiculous claims by Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer that they were targeting four million homes, and is well short of the highest upside most people figured it could pull, which was about two million. I was guessing 1.5 million personally, and this is right on target there.

Ellberbe also expresses serious joy that Mayweather now was part of the two highest-grossing fights in boxing history that were not heavyweight bouts.

Oddly, Schaefer offers this quote:

"Love him or hate him, the guy is a superstar," said Richard Schaefer, CEO of De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, which also co-promotes Mayweather. "He did double the pay-per-view numbers that De La Hoya did [in his loss] to Pacquiao. That's a fact."

Because 1.4 million is not two times more than the reported 1.25 million sold for Oscar-Manny.

I said at 1.1-1.2 million, the early rumored number, that it was a success when you strip away the bloated and downright crazy "expectations" that Golden Boy had floated. 1.4 is a success, a huge pay-per-view, and the highest number since Floyd's fight with Oscar de la Hoya in 2007. "Money" cashed in with the highest total revenue of his career with this fight, and Mosley made his most money ever, too. It was a tremendously big fight, and the numbers bear that out.

Last night I was a guest on MMA Nation with Luke Thomas on 106.7 The Fan in Washington DC. I've been on several times now with Luke after and before big fights, and it's always a pleasure.

This time around, we discussed the Mayweather-Mosley fallout, the possibility of Mayweather-Pacquiao, Shane Mosley's future in boxing (if any), Floyd's standing as an all-time great, and Saul Alvarez. I did radio in Colorado Springs this evening too on 1300 AM The Sports Animal with Len Williams, and both Luke and Len brought up Alvarez as one of the things that really turned their head during the show. I'm telling you: Alvarez is going to make some damn good money in his career. As I said this evening on The Sports Animal, Alvarez will lose some fights along the way, but people are going to LOVE watching him fight.

Anyway, the audio from MMA Nation last night is below for those that missed it. The full show can be listened to over at BloodyElbow.com.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo! said on his Twitter that he's heard from "good sources" that Saturday night's fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley did around 1.1-1.2 million buys on pay-per-view, a figure that while impressive and realistically should be celebrated, would have to be seen all-around as a disappointment.

For one thing, it surely doesn't meet the four million homes that Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions was insanely talking about last week, but then anyone with a brain knew that was pure crazy talk.

But honestly, this would be an under-performance by what I personally expected, too. I figured around 1.5 million, maybe a bit more. This is lower than I thought it would be, but I'm not shocked. A bit surprised, yes, but not terribly so.

I think there are a few factors here, so let's run them down list-style. The number might be a bit higher than this at the end, or a bit lower, but it's going to be somewhere in this neighborhood.

1. Shane (clap) Mosley (clap) is not (clap) a pay-(clap)per-view (clap) attraction (clap!). Look, Floyd wasn't wrong when he said that. It was strange reasoning at the time, but he was right. Mosley has never been an A-side in his biggest fights, and he wasn't one here. But...
2. He is a bigger star than Joshua Clottey, and that's not even a close debate. Clottey, for as good as he is, is nobody. Mosley is at least a B-side. So if the idea is why this still greatly outperformed Pacquiao-Clottey from March (700K), that's a big reason. This was, simply put, a better fight, and much easier to sell.
3. There are perhaps still a lot of people who just didn't see the value in this show OR Pacquiao-Clottey. Not after Mayweather-Pacquiao was dangled in front of them and then yanked back for two lesser fights against what you could pessimistically call a who's that? and an old man. That's not how *I* viewed either fight, but I ordered Jones-Hopkins II along with about 100,000 other suckers, so I'm not considering myself the gauge of how the public sees fights.

This sort of reminds me already of the 2009 fight between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao. The way Bob Arum talked up that fight's potential business, he was planning to buy Sealand and turn it into a casino that featured rhinoceros fights. When it came back at a very good 800K or so in the States, Arum tried to hide the number as if it were something he should feel shame over.

Like that fight, this one was talked up too much by the promoters. "Oh, we've got this tracking." I have no tracking, but I can tell you that this fight never took off in the anticipation department the way other recent super fights have. That's not a knock on this fight, it's just something I noticed. Frankly, this paled in comparison to the late-week surge of interest we saw last year for Mayweather-Marquez, and wasn't close to Pacquiao-Cotto or even Pacquiao-Hatton. It still beat (if these numbers are correct) all of those fights except Pacquiao-Cotto in buy numbers, which is a testament to (1) Mayweather's popularity and/or appeal, (2) the fight being a very good matchup on paper, and (3) a resurgence of interest in boxing, in general, especially Mayweather and Pacquiao fights.

Honestly, it's a number that everyone should be quite happy with, but that won't be the case. If you stick your neck out and talk about four million buys (ridiculously), then when it comes in at a reasonable number that came from the planet Earth, people are going to ridicule it, the number's going to seem vastly disproportionately disappointing, and you don't even get to celebrate making a ton of money, at least not properly.

Since we didn't get into the undercard from last night too much, let's do that now. It was, frankly, a very entertaining undercard. These were not fights that are going to get the attention of the casual fan, but honestly knowing what we know about how boxing PPVs are put together, all I really ask for is some fun action for a couple hours, and we got that.

Saul Alvarez TKO-9 Jose Miguel Cotto

I actually just talked about this fight tonight on the radio with Luke Thomas of BloodyElbow.com and MMA Nation, who was highly impressed with the 19-year-old Alvarez, and I've seen a lot of people around the web who didn't know much of Alvarez (or even who he was) come away really liking this young man. And they should, because I think Saul has the goods.

Alvarez (32-0-1, 24 KO) is not a blue chipper in a traditional sense, perhaps. This is not a Floyd Mayweather or a Sugar Ray Leonard. But he has a lot going for him. He's really young, for one thing, which will give him time to overcome the deficiencies he has. He's not a perfect-looking young fighter by any means. But he's a fighter. He was rocked bad by Jose Miguel Cotto (31-2-1, 23 KO) last night in the first round, but came back with a lot of fury and showed he can mix it up. Cotto may be small for a welterweight, but his hands have some sock in them.

After it settled down following the first two rounds, Alvarez mostly took the fight over, and eventually stopped him (arguably a bit early) with a big barrage in the ninth round. There's a ferocity to the way he fights, a real hunger evident in him. He wants to be one of the best. This isn't Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., this is a kid born to fight. I think Alvarez would fight anyone they told him to next, but of course Golden Boy will be smart and bring him along. But if they told him to fight Pacquiao, I think he would. He wouldn't do well, but he's got some sand.

Team Cotto sent out a press release announcing that Jose Miguel Cotto has signed a deal with Golden Boy Promotions after last night's fight and that Golden Boy has plans for him at 140 pounds. They may well just see him as a guy that Amir Khan, Nate Campbell or Victor Ortiz could fight, but that's hardly a bad position for JMC. Cotto can fight. He's been really inactive the last few years and was out of his weight class last night, but he showed some good stuff. He was happy with his performance, he said, and feels the weight was the biggest issue. At 32, it's time to get a move on. But the former Olympian has skills and might be a sleeper at 140.

Daniel Ponce de Leon UD-10 Cornelius Lock

BLH's Matt Miller remarked in one of last night's threads (they all blur together a bit for me right now) that Ponce de Leon looked good, but showed his ceiling. I couldn't have said it better. Ponce de Leon was impressive in that he boxed better than normal. But he was throwing with less intent than he used to, as well. His lefts seemed more like arm punches than they did in the past. To get better at something he stunk at (boxing), he may have sacrificed some of what made him a viable contender in the first place (raw power).

The win doesn't really elevate Ponce in my view. He's still a back-end top 10 guy at featherweight, which is one of the best divisions in the sport. He was already trounced by Juan Manuel Lopez at 122, and I can't see it changing at 126. He's also already lost to Caballero, and that wouldn't change either. Chris John may be a bit vulnerable (Rocky Juarez hurt him in both fights), but I think he'd cruise over Ponce. And then there's Yuriorkis Gamboa, who I believe would flatten Daniel in short order.

Ponce de Leon against Cristobal Cruz could be a lot of fun, though. And for Lock, this is just what it is. He's 34 years old and a gatekeeper. I think until he's a shot fighter, there's a chance that on any night he can do some damage. For that reason, it might be hard for him to get proper gatekeeper fights against rising young fighters.

Said Ouali TKO-1 Hector David Saldivia

Ouali went down, but wasn't hurt too bad. Then Saldivia really did hurt him. Then Ouali put Saldivia on his ass. Then Ouali finished him off. Two minutes of mayhem. I'll never argue with this as a PPV opener. Ouali is a welterweight fringe contender, but he gave Selcuk Aydin a decent run for his money and really knocked the crap out of Saldivia last night. The Argentinean fighters are experiencing a good run overall right now, but I wondered before the fight if Saldivia was Marcos Maidana or Walter Matthysse. We got our answer. Ouali probably guaranteed himself another Mayweather PPV slot, and the way he fights, I don't mind at all. Alvarez-Ouali might make sense by the end of the year, even.

As we continue our post-fight coverage here at Bad Left Hook, Ted Sares checks back in to look at his prediction from last Monday, and how it compares to the fight's result.

* * * * * * * *

The Prediction

I see Mayweather avoiding getting into wild and dangerous exchanges with Mosley. Instead, I expect Mayweather to fight tactically and strategically in a somewhat boring bout that will keep Mosley off stride and somewhat frustrated. Mosley will try to lure Mayweather into a brawl, but no one has ever really been able to do that, and I don't think Mosley will be the first.

Sugar Shane has suffered mental lapses from time time, loses focus, and can be lured into doing the wrong things in the ring. To be more precise, he does not, in my opinion, possess the highest ring IQ. Mayweather (40-0), on the other hand, can adapt to and neutralize Mosley's strengths while at the same time exploiting his weaknesses. Floyd's ring IQ is among the highest in boxing. This, in my view, is the major difference and should offset whatever advantage and/or positive adjustments Nazeem Richardson can provide. Mayweather to win by dominant UD, as speed and defense win out.

The Outcome

Mayweather won a dominant UD (119-109,119-109, and 118-110-I had it 119-109), but it was not as much defense and speed as it was offense and speed, as he moved into cruise control around the 5th round and then accelerated the action. Using his patented hard lead rights and superb counter punching, Floyd totally controlled the overly tight (and perhaps over trained Mosley). While he did not potshot as much as I though he would, his lead rights and one-two combinations were enough to neutralize his opponent.

After a great second round in which Sugar Shane landed some punishing rights on Mayweather, Shane seemed to have shot his wad. As Mayweather picked up the pace and began controlling matters, Mosley, discarding body work until it was too late to be effective and using a strange herky jerky motion while setting himself, seemed confused, tired, and at times even ripe for a stoppage.

Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. did nothing in this fight to dispel the notion that he has the highest ring IQ in boxing -- and you can take that to the bank. He also has the best skill-set in boxing and proved it once again in this fight.

"I just got finished cussing out Shane, because he was making excuses -- 'My trainer told me what to do, and I didn't do it' -- and I told him, 'Nobody trashes my fighter, including the fighter.' There's only one person wants to hear excuses -- your mom. She's always going to ask, 'What happened baby?' Shane's an important dude to me."

--Naazim Richardson (ESPN Los Angeles)

Shane Mosley has been here before. Kind of.

Looked at by many then as one of the very few best in the sport pound-for-pound, Mosley got his ass kicked (to put it both bluntly and realistically) by Vernon Forrest on January 26, 2002. It was the first loss of his career, a semi-manhandling against the also-unbeaten "Viper," who proved his own worth as among the sport's elite at that time.

But Mosley came back and fought Forrest again. Six months later, they hooked up for a rematch at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Forrest again won. Though Mosley put in a better performance in the rematch than in the original fight, he clearly lost.

Mosley was at something of a crossroads. In 1999, Mosley jumped two divisions, leaving behind a stunningly dominant and destructive run at lightweight to move to welterweight and chase down a mega-fight with Oscar de la Hoya. After a couple of tune-up wins at the new weight (including a tough test from Wilfredo Rivera in his 147-pound debut), Mosley and Oscar got it on, with Mosley coming out the winner in a highly-competitive fight.

Now, he was looking at another jump in weight. Though a huge lightweight and a big, strong welterweight, the junior middleweight division presented a whole new challenge. Oscar de la Hoya had moved there, and Mosley (after a no-contest against tough Raul Marquez) signed on for a rematch with Oscar. He won, very narrowly (many felt he lost), and had some of his mojo back. Years later, we'd learn that Mosley was affiliated with BALCO at this time, and would admit using their supplements for the Oscar rematch.

But at the time, it was a pure bounce-back. Mosley was back in action, back in the upper echelons of the sport (truthfully, he never left), and searching for a challenge.

Winky Wright was at 154, and nobody wanted a damn thing to do with Winky Wright. So Mosley fought him. And he lost badly. Like the Forrest situation, Mosley simply went right back at Wright, fighting better in their rematch eight months later, but still coming up short.

After bouncing back with five straight wins, including the fight that functionally retired Fernando Vargas, Mosley was lined up to face unbeaten Miguel Cotto at 147. Cotto won a hotly-contested, underrated and exciting fight in November 2007. So Mosley, once again, came back, knocking out Ricardo Mayorga in a very erratic performance, and then thrashing Antonio Margarito.

Shane Mosley is 38 years old. His career has been fantastic, a shoo-in Hall of Fame resume in my mind. He will go down as a fighter who fought great competition, who wasn't afraid of a challenge, and when he did lose, wasn't afraid to try and get the win back. It never came up, but I'd be willing to bet Shane would have fought Cotto again if that fight had been available to him. But Cotto, unlike the other losses, was the A-side in fight number one. With Cotto, for the first time, Mosley hadn't entered the fight in the driver's seat.

He didn't this time, either. After a January bout with Andre Berto was canceled, Mosley and Mayweather signed to get it on. It was a long-overdue battle. I don't have the patience or the desire to go into who ducked who, but I'll say again that I truly feel neither of them ever really wanted the fight as badly as they might let on. In 2010, it made sense for them both. Mayweather needed a credible opponent. Mosley was the most credible man out there. Mosley just needed, and wanted, a big fight. Fights get no bigger than Mayweather's anymore.

He's lost before. He's lost badly before. Shane Mosley, for all the praise he's earned, has never been a great pure boxer. I've always likened him more to the Mexican stars of the era -- Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez. Those guys can/could box. Mosley can box. But Mosley never did become the boxer that perhaps he had the ability to be. He never was a great counter-puncher, always had so-so defense, and with his resume, you'd really expect a better jab than he ever developed.

Shane Mosley never had "mental issues" in a fight -- what I mean is, he never seemed like he was truly collapsing or folding his tent. He was badly frustrated and discouraged by Wright especially, and by Forrest, but he tried his best. Still, Shane Mosley has never been a thinking man's fighter. Like Morales, Barrera, Marquez, and many others, when Shane Mosley is at his best, it's because he's ferociously attacking. When he gets hit, he blanks on the boxing knowledge he does have, and he goes for the other man's chin. He wings wild shots. He makes reckless charges frequently. He's always done this. It was no surprise that he fought the way he did against Mayweather.

Those hoping for a great jab to dictate the pace were doing the equivalent of asking Shaquille O'Neal to hit 75% of his free throws this year. He's never done it before, why would he now? Mosley has always been reactionary in the ring. He loves to be aggressive.

And as I said before the fight, Mosley's a great aggressive fighter. And nobody makes guys pay for aggression like Floyd Mayweather Jr. does. Floyd did it again last night. Good boxers, and guys who move well, and guys who have great defense, have given Mosley problems in the past. Mayweather is an all-time elite pure boxer, he moves exceptionally well, and his defense continues to amaze.

Mosley's only true chance in this fight was pure power. He showed some in the second round. He hurt Mayweather worse than Floyd's ever been hurt, and won a dominant round. But Floyd didn't get rattled. Floyd didn't cower as many skeptics might have expected. He used his brain, got his hands up high (very unusual for Floyd), clinched when he could until he got his legs back, and from there on out it was a clinic.

Actually, Shane Mosley's never been here before. Shane Mosley's never been 38 years old, with rumblings that his long-term health might be a concern, coming off of a tremendously one-sided loss to arguably the best boxer in the world.

He's never had to think, "Am I done?" And he's never had to say after a fight, "Well, I'll go on vacation, relax, and see how I feel," at least not in the manner with which he had to say that last night.

I said in the immediate post-fight that I don't think Shane should retire unless it's what he wants. But he does need to consider everything, of course. And a retirement now would come with absolutely no shame. It would mean that Shane Mosley went out of a brilliant career losing to the best fighter he could face. That once again, he went after the brass ring, tried to stake his claim as the No. 1 fighter in the world, showing a substantial amount of drive and desire.

In fact, maybe there's no better retirement to sum up Shane Mosley's career. But that's for another day.

As an unabashed Shane Mosley fan, I will say that it did pain me from about round eight on to watch him against Mayweather. I was in greater awe of Mayweather than I ever have been before. Those desiring Mosley to "shut Mayweather's mouth" instead watched as Mayweather, frankly, threw a handful of corks at his so-called "haters." He was aggressive and he picked Shane Mosley apart.

But it wasn't that Mosley was losing, and badly, that really bugged me. It was looking at Shane in the corner. The photo used for this article caught my eye because it took me right back to those just hours-old moments. Mosley, with a somewhat blank stare, going through the motions in the corner. Naazim Richardson half-pleading with Mosley to do this or that, giving consistently strong advice. At the end, all Richardson had was a rah-rah-esque, "You can do this! I know you can do this!" moment for Mosley in the corner before round 12. Richardson had threatened to pull the plug on the fight. Mosley seemed in another world at times. The man who never was much of a thinking man's fighter in the ring was either thinking too much, or not thinking at all. That is a credit to Mayweather and his team's gameplan as much of anything. Floyd took Shane out of the fight, and hammered home his point repeatedly with right crosses and left hooks.

As the fight hasn't left my mind and it's closing in on 5am here (CDT), those are the moments that are most sticking out. There is a lot of how great Mayweather did in the ring, but Mosley, long one of my favorite fighters, looking like a lost cause, a beaten man who didn't know what to do with a superior physical specimen, is sort of haunting my thoughts on the fight right now. I see and even hear those corner moments with Naazim and Shane, and they fade out and give way to Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb." That's as much to do with Richardson's growing frustration over the fight as anything. I've seen trainers frustrated with fighters, begging fighters to do something, but Naazim and Shane are both such passionate and genuine people that this somehow felt different to me. When I think purely of Mosley and Richardson, and their admirable and double-hard work that led ultimately to pretty spectacular failure, that's the song that I keep thinking of.

There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
But I have become comfortably numb.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was able to overcome an early charge by "Sugar" Shane Mosley and dominate the vast majority of the fight tonight on HBO pay-per-view, staying undefeated and winning a wide unanimous decision on scores of 119-109 (twice) and 118-110. Bad Left Hook scored it 119-109 for Mayweather.

Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO) was shaken up hard in the second round by Mosley (46-6, 39 KO). I felt Mosley's second round was the best round anyone has ever had against Mayweather, but starting in round three, Mayweather adjusted beautifully and progressively beat Mosley up badly over the next 10 rounds. Mayweather fought in a more offensively aggressive style than usual, and picked Mosley apart with left hooks and right crosses. It was a master performance by Mayweather.

I do not blame age. I do not blame anything. As I expected, Mayweather was simply too good for Mosley. When people said he was as fast as Mayweather, I thought that was crazy. Shane was nowhere near fast enough for Floyd. It wasn't even close.

I expect a lot of knee-jerk reactions saying Mosley should retire. Maybe he should. If he's comfortable and wants to, he should. If he wants to fight on, a bad loss to arguably the best fighter in the world today is not enough for me to say he should hang it up. Mayweather would have done the exact same thing to, say, Andre Berto. It wouldn't make me believe Berto should quit. Mosley is much older than Andre, of course, but if Mosley still feels he can fight, there are good fights out there. Maybe revisit the Berto bout, in fact.

We'll have much more tomorrow on this fight, but for now all I can say is congratulations to Floyd Mayweather Jr. for one of his best performances ever -- maybe the best of his career. He overcame early adversity and took it to Shane Mosley.

Undercard Results: Said Ouali stopped Hector David Saldivia in a one-round shootout ... Daniel Ponce de Leon decisioned Cornelius Lock over 10. Scores were 96-94, 96-94 and 97-93. We scored it 97-93 for Ponce de Leon ... Saul Alvarez was hurt in the first round by Jose Miguel Cotto, but knocked Cotto down in the second and dominated until a ninth round stoppage.

Starting at 9pm EDT tonight, we'll have full coverage of the Mayweather-Mosley PPV card. If you're new here, our live coverage is more of a conversation than it is the more familiar update of how the fight's going. We do it live in the comments of the thread, which will update live (no refreshing on your part) if you have an SB Nation account, which is free and easy.

The post directly below this one will have updates on the televised undercard. Once those three fights are done, we'll move to this post for the Mayweather-Mosley main event. Join us!

FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR.		SHANE MOSLEY
	Main Event

This thread will be for live coverage of the Mayweather-Mosley undercard, featuring three fights. If you're new here, our live coverage is more of a conversation than it is the more familiar update of how the fight's going. We do it live in the comments of the thread, which will update live (no refreshing on your part) if you have an SB Nation account, which is free and easy.

After these three fights are completed, we will move to the Mayweather-Mosley main event thread in the post directly above this one.

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

Saul Alvarez (30-0-1, 23 KO) v. Jose Miguel Cotto (31-1-1, 23 KO)
Welterweights, 10 Rounds

Daniel Ponce de Leon (38-2, 32 KO) v. Cornelius Lock (19-4-1, 12 KO)
Featherweights, 10 Rounds

Hector David Saldivia (33-1, 26 KO) v. Said Ouali (26-3, 18 KO)
Welterweights, 10 Rounds (WBA Eliminator)

The Gorilla Productions Trailer, the best trailer video out there for this fight. If this one can't get you hyped, nothing can.

HBO's Greatest Hits: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

HBO's Greatest Hits: Shane Mosley

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