Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez were seen through one million pay-per-view orders on Saturday, according to HBO. The number has stunned the boxing and sports worlds. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

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As promised, HBO released a statement this morning confirming that the Mayweather-Marquez pay-per-view on September 19 did an astounding one million buys. The release said 525,000 buys came from cable, and 475,000 from satellite. $52 million of pay-per-view revenue was generated by the fight.

Mayweather is a pay-per-view superstar, and there is no questioning that anymore. The disappointing live draw is so much less important than these numbers that it can't be overstated. The much better-hyped, frankly, May fight between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao did about 825-850,000 buys on pay-per-view in the States. It was a combination of Floyd's return and the always-loyal Mexican PPV audience, I'm guessing, that drove this fight's great success.

And we haven't even heard how the theater showings for Mayweather-Marquez went over from a business standpoint.

Bottom line: This fight was huge, way bigger than just about anybody expected. The fight had a late-week surge of interest that you could almost feel just from gauging online buzz. It exploded in those final days leading up to the event, but even with that, I expected nowhere near 1,000,000 buys. I figured 750K, maybe a bit more, at the very most. This is a stunning performance on pay-per-view. At the box office, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has backed up his mouth, and whether you love him or hate him, it looks like you paid to see him.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the promotion. What more can you say? They deserve great admiration for the business they drummed up with this bout. It's great news for boxing and yet another clear statement that this sport is nowhere near "dead."

Everyone is claiming success, and soon we'll know how successful. HBO will release official pay-per-view numbers tomorrow morning. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

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From Kevin Iole's Twitter: "HBO said it will release Mayweather PPV numbers in the morning."

So tomorrow, we should hear a solid number. It really sounds like it's going to be one million-plus, if not that big 1.6 million number that floated as a high-end.

Let's all reminisce about the three-day saga that has been this fight's reported success on pay-per-view:

• Rumor: Mayweather-Marquez does around 1 million buys (09/22)
• Mayweather-Marquez buys could reach 1.6 million (09/23)
• The Other Side of the Coin: Potential letdown for Mayweather-Marquez buys (09/23)
• Richard Schaefer says Mayweather-Marquez PPV buys are "through the roof" (09/24)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez seem to have made Richard Schaefer very happy. The Golden Boy Promotions CEO says the buys for their pay-per-view are "big, very big." (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

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There's still no official word from HBO, Golden Boy, or anyone else, but Richard Schaefer told The Ring's Michael Rosenthal that pay-per-view buys for last Saturday's Mayweather-Marquez fight are "through the roof."

"Through the roof," he said, referring to the numbers. "I’m hearing through the roof. I don’t want to announce anything. When I announce it, I want to be able to fully stand behind it. It’s big, very big. A lot of people didn’t believe us. Maybe I’ve gained a little credibility with my predictions.

"Most importantly, I hope the world realizes when we release these numbers that Floyd Mayweather, love him or hate him, is today, without any question, no ifs, ands or buts, the No. 1 pay-per-view star in the world. No question about it."

This comes right on the heels of the official gate numbers, which must have been less of a thrill for everyone involved.

Schaefer, Oscar de la Hoya and HBO (via their Twitter page, anyway) all predicted before the fight that the show would do one million buys, a number laughed at by many, even those planning to order.

We did a poll for fun before the fight, and of the 277 votes we tallied, 151 people (55%) said it would come in somewhere between 400,000 and 699,000 buys. Only 16 votes (6%) went to the "1,000,000 or more" option.

The success of this PPV -- and it's looking more and more likely now that it was, in fact, a huge PPV success -- really surprises just about everyone in or around boxing, from fans to media to I think, deep down, even a lot of the people involved with the promotion. I predicted 550K personally, and the highest I thought it could go with the late-week surge in interest that really stunned me, to be honest, was 750-800K. That there's even talk of a million buys is still shocking.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez may have done surprising pay-per-view numbers, but their live gate in Las Vegas was a disappointment. The fight didn't sell out and the total draw under $7 million. (AP Photo / Isaac Brekken)

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While pay-per-view talk has been very optimistic, Floyd Mayweather Jr. cannot claim to put butts in seats, because the live gate results from Las Vegas were not good.

J. Michael Falgoust of USA Today reports that the total gate for the event was $6.81 million, and ticket sales were a problem. The announced attendance was just 13,116. Of those, 12,009 tickets went for their original price, with 895 in attendance comped by the casino or promoters. 2,645 tickets in total went unsold.

Comparatively, the May bout between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao at the same venue sold 15,368 tickets and had a gate of $8,832,950.

Does this mean the PPV sales were bad? No, it doesn't. Richard Schaefer is quote in the article with the following line:

"This fight might put his average pay-per-view performance to over a million per fight. Who has done that? Nobody? When you are the pay-per-view king you can pick the dates."

I assume Richard is cherrypicking just this fight, Mayweather-Hatton and Floyd's fight with Oscar, because if you take into account prior pay-per-views like Baldomir-Mayweather and Mayweather-Judah, the average is nowhere near a million, even if this show topped out at the 1.6 million buys rumor.

There is no doubt this live gate is a disappointment for everyone involved, but it also isn't totally unexpected. When Mayweather pulled out of the first date in July with a rib injury, Shane Mosley said (let it slip?) that only around 3,000 tickets had been sold for the fight. Mayweather, while a star, is more a TV personality than he is a fighter people want to go see live, and I think we might be learning that for sure now. As well as he's done, he's still never been much of a live draw.

(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

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Since we've talked a lot about the potential mass success that's floating around as a projection for the pay-per-views sold this past Saturday, it really is only only fair that tonight we talk about the other possible outcome.

What if it's a more normal number, even if it's what would have been considered a success? Has the talk that has floated now ruined what would have been seen as a nice result for this fight?

Yahoo's Kevin Iole has been the source in the media for every rumor and report you've seen out there referencing the great success of the show, as projected by sources that are high up and would have an idea. The first report was just a blurb in Iole's MMA mailbag about the success of the head-to-head shows on Saturday, and this is what he had to say:

The UFC is a privately owned company and does not have to release its pay-per-view sales, which it chooses not to do. Occasionally, we’re able to find out what a particular fight sold, but it’s not often. From what I’m hearing, though, the Mayweather fight had a convincing victory. I’m hearing the Mayweather-Marquez pay-per-view is going to come in at or near 1 million sales. I don’t have a verifiable figure for the UFC, but I believe it will be far lower than 1 million. The boxing number should be released by Thursday at the latest and perhaps on Wednesday.

Later last night, I got in touch with Kevin and asked if he had any follow-up. He said then that he was hearing it could go as high as 1.6 million when all is said and done, and to expect an official announcement today or tomorrow. He also Tweeted about it. One million buys, he said, was "definite" according to his sources. Today's business hours have passed, and nothing has come from HBO, Golden Boy, "Mayweather Promotions" or anyone else.

Now, that in itself means nothing. There's still all of tomorrow while they get things together, and if I had to guess, they're going to throw in every buy they can count, from cable/dish orders and the 230-theater strong movie screen campaign. It'll all mash in, even though the theater customers didn't have to pay $50 and what have you.

As we talked about earlier, initial giddiness about PPV buys often tempers off into more realistic, more sensible territory. In May, Bob Arum was telling everyone who would listen that Hatton-Pacquiao did 1.6-2 million buys on pay-per-view, and it did, according to Dan Rafael, about 825-850,000 in the States. This was still an outstanding number.

We all find the projected numbers stunning, believe me, and I said earlier today that I remained skeptical. We talked about it because it's good discussion. Kevin Iole himself told me that the numbers he was hearing were, to him, "shocking."

I can say this: The numbers I've heard tonight are a far cry from that 1.6 million high-end estimate.

But again: None of this is official. It's speculation, it's people talking, and it's discussion fodder. If a number doesn't come out tomorrow, start getting really skeptical.

Reports are optimistic about the Mayweather-Marquez pay-per-view buys. Sources close to the numbers are saying it could reach as high as 1.6 million, with a million a "definite."

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As if Kevin Iole saying last night that one million buys was possible for Mayweather-Marquez didn't kick off enough of a strange, near-violent reaction, I did some asking around myself last night after being somewhat perplexed by the venom the very idea of this brought forth. In short, I went straight to the man who had the sources: Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.

The number could go as high as 1.6 million, as Kevin Iole told me last night over some back-and-forth messaging. Iole told me that a million is "definite," and says that HBO will release the numbers either today or on Thursday.

Some will be skeptical, and I am, too. But when I compare this to how the Hatton-Pacquiao numbers came out, it's a bit different. You'll recall, probably, that the first numbers we heard for that fight were supposedly between 1.6 and two million buys, that being the number that Bob Arum threw out there. Arum had previously stated during the press build-up that he felt the fight could break the all-time PPV record, which is 2.4 million, as set by Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007.

That came down to about 825-850,000 buys in America when Dan Rafael of ESPN did some digging in the following days, after Arum, perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed by his leap of faith coming down at about half of what he was saying, didn't want the numbers to be released, claiming it was nobody's business but that of the promoters and fighters. He did not address the fact that he was so giddy to proclaim massive numbers just days before, but that's another story for another time.

Golden Boy and HBO were not pleased with Arum's insistence that the fight's buys not be released to the public. They felt good about what everyone accomplished, but for Arum, it could have been seen many ways. Negotiating tactic with Mayweather and Pacquiao down the line, for one. That number didn't beat Mayweather's number with Hatton, and it sure doesn't look like it's going to beat this one.

This is, again, not official. But if this turns out as it looks right now, a lot of people may need to re-evaluate how they're looking at Mayweather as a draw. This fight may have seemed limp on paper to the diehards, but the casual audience didn't really know that.

This is not promoters throwing numbers around, like with Arum and the Hatton-Pacquiao fight. This seems like it's coming out much differently than that. We'll keep you posted on any developments, but for the time being, everything is looking very good for Mayweather-Marquez.

Early indicators say that around one million people saw Floyd Mayweather Jr. make Juan Manuel Marquez miss on pay-per-view. The number is a massive success for boxing. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports reports in his latest MMA mailbag that while we're likely to hear numbers by Thursday, he's hearing very, very good things about the success of Mayweather-Marquez on pay-per-view:

The UFC is a privately owned company and does not have to release its pay-per-view sales, which it chooses not to do. Occasionally, we’re able to find out what a particular fight sold, but it’s not often. From what I’m hearing, though, the Mayweather fight had a convincing victory. I’m hearing the Mayweather-Marquez pay-per-view is going to come in at or near 1 million sales. I don’t have a verifiable figure for the UFC, but I believe it will be far lower than 1 million. The boxing number should be released by Thursday at the latest and perhaps on Wednesday.

This would be a huge success for Mayweather, for HBO, for boxing in general, and for everyone involved in this fight on any level. I really never expected they could get near this number, and I recall correctly off the top of my head, this would be the first non-Oscar de la Hoya fight to get to 1,000,000 buys in boxing since Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson in 2002.

It's really amazing if the numbers are true. I expected this show and UFC 103 to split audiences a bit, and the UFC estimates I've heard are around 400,000 for their show, which is a great number considering there weren't any of the UFC's major stars on that card. It was just a good fight card.

I don't want to go into who "won," because if these numbers are accurate, the fact of the matter is everybody won. That's a WHOLE lot of people watching boxing and MMA on one night, especially considering how much they had to pay to do it.

This will also validate Floyd: If these numbers are true, you're damn right he's a superstar, and maybe we diehard fans blinded ourselves a bit by not being terribly excited about this matchup. The casual fan that digs Floyd probably didn't really even care who Juan Manuel Marquez was when this was signed, they were just happy that Floyd was back.

Editor's Note: Just so everyone understands, this is nothing more than a rumor and meant for discussion. It is posted only so that we can gauge what people think about this number. Thus far, many of you aren't buying it. That is understandable. Hatton-Pacquiao was reported much higher at first than it wound up being, too. The bit of "analysis" I give the numbers is just what the affect could be if this number comes back as solid from someone at HBO. It is not yet fact whatsoever. This should be clear.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. left boxing in 2008, having last fought in 2007. The questions are the same in 2009. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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To see the Mayweather post-fight press conference courtesy The RING, click here.

The man is not half as crafty addressing tough questions about taking tough opponents as he is inside the ring slipping punches.

The first reporter addresses something that bugged me the last time I saw Floyd comment on it. When he was recently asked (I believe in a FightHype interview) if he would fight Shane Mosley down the line, Floyd said something to the effect of, "Shane Mosley? Five losses Shane Mosley?"

It was a ridiculous statement. Yeah, Shane Mosley's lost five times. Let's look at Floyd's last few opponents, shall we?

So, in short, who does he want to fight? One guy on that list had a spotless record, and it was Hatton, who was coming up in weight. Marquez came up in weight by two divisions with four losses, and then Mayweather couldn't even be bothered to so much as make the catchweight they agreed upon.

He dodges the Shane Mosley question here, calling him a good fighter, but saying simply that Mosley has a fight coming up. That fight (Andre Berto on Jan. 30 is what I assume Floyd is referencing) isn't even finalized, and is four months away. Mayweather, if he wanted to, could interrupt that right now.

And I do understand he may want to wait to see the Cotto-Pacquiao winner, but what are the odds he fights that guy? Seriously. The money will be an issue, Bob Arum and Floyd don't have good feelings for one another, and if Cotto wins, what makes anyone think Mayweather suddenly wants to fight Miguel Cotto? He didn't want to fight him before. It might be worth a bit more money if Cotto beats Manny, but it was always a money fight. The offers Floyd got might have been a little lower than Top Rank could have really done, let's put it that way.

It may seem like I'm unnecessarily harping on Mayweather, but I'm really not. He's earned every question that anyone has about him, about his guts, his willingness to take stiff challenges. When's the last time Floyd took an opponent you thought might actually beat him? Castillo in 2002? Corrales in 2001? Between the Castillo rematch and the Oscar fight, he barely lost a round.

This also -- without question -- does speak to how good he is, and also why he takes some of the flak that he does. On the one hand, he's so talented and such an amazing boxer that of course you don't think he's going to lose his fights. On the other hand, since he's so good, it's hard to expect anyone to not expect just a bit more sometimes.

I find Mayweather fascinating and frustrating, and I also genuinely enjoy watching him fight a lot of the time. He does things you simply can't do without his natural talent, the boxing skill that was included in his DNA. He just has a habit of saying things that don't add up. He wants to be seen as the best, which is another way of saying he wants everyone to like him. But too often we find ourselves wanting more out of Mayweather, and it's not selfishness on the part of the fans any more than it is when we want to see the best opponents against Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez or anyone else at the top of the sport.

Welcome back to boxing, Floyd. Seriously. But the tough questions you were avoiding in 2007 are still there in 2009.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was spectacular in picking apart Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday night. But will he fight someone who promises a stiffer challenge, or will we always wonder what might have happened if he had? (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Editor's Note: The following article was not written by any of the staffers at Bad Left Hook, but rather by the editors at CompuBox.

* * * * * * * * * *

For decades scientists have attempted to achieve the dream of cold fusion, the hypothetical process of producing nuclear fusion in a test tube at room temperature. This concept would be the ultimate exponent of efficiency, for more energy would be produced than would be expended.

Throughout his unblemished 40-bout career, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been boxing's version of cold fusion - and he works rather nicely at room temperature, thank you. Few fighters not known for one-punch power have ever inflicted more damage with fewer punches on offense while also demonstrating the defensive wizardry to avoid the blows of even the most accomplished opponents.

Such was the case Saturday night in Las Vegas when the man called "Money" was just that - even after 21 months away from the sport. His foil on this night was consensus number two pound-for-pound entrant Juan Manuel Marquez, a battle-tested - and perhaps battle-worn - 36-year-old who lacked the size and skill to solve Mayweather's riddle.

The CompuBox numbers provided further illumination of Mayweather's astonishing dominance over an opponent of Marquez's standing. Consider:

* Despite throwing 41 punches per round - nearly 30 percent fewer than the welterweight average of 58.8 - and unleashing 90 fewer blows, Mayweather rolled up advantages of 290-69 in total connects, 185-21 in landed jabs and 105-48 in power connects.

* While Mayweather achieved statistical synchronicity by landing at a 59 percent rate in all categories, he yielded very little to Marquez. "Dinamita" failed to detonate as landed just 12 percent of his overall punches (69 of 583), seven percent of his jabs (21 of 288) and 16 percent of his power shots (48 of 295). Contrast that with the figures he put up against the counter-punching Joel Casamayor (31 percent overall and 42 percent in power punches) and one gets an idea of the magnitude of Mayweather's defensive prowess.

* Mayweather held Marquez to single-digit connects in every round (his peak being eight in rounds seven and eight) while landing more jabs than Marquez did overall punches in all 12 rounds. Mayweather hit double-digit connects in jabs in every round except the second, when he landed nine.

* The round-by-round percentage gaps border on the absurd given each man's pedigree. In overall punches the gulf exceeded 50 points in rounds one (58-8), two (69-12), four (68-16), nine (63-10), 10 (59-8), 11 (63-8) and 12 (64-12). That threshold was reached seven times in terms of jabs (including 59-0 and 58-0 shutouts in rounds five and 10) and four times in power punches (the biggest gap of which was 75-8 in round two).

* After building an unassailable lead on the scorecards Mayweather turned on the jets in the final four rounds as he out-landed Marquez 138-21 overall, 83-5 in jabs and 55-16 in power connects. In that stretch Mayweather upped his output to 55.5 punches per round as opposed to the 33.8 he threw over the first eight rounds. During that same stretch, Marquez showed extraordinary valor by actually increasing his volume in the face of the massive beating he was absorbing, for he threw 55 punches per round down the homestretch as opposed to the 45.4 punches he averaged over the first two-thirds of the fight.

Mayweather's critics will point out - quite correctly - that he defeated a blown-up 126 to 130-pounder who had just recently moved up to lightweight and who also has the temperament of a counter-puncher. In the end, Marquez had the deck stacked against him as he fought a younger, faster, stronger, fresher, harder-hitting opponent who defied the contracted catch-weight by scaling a more natural 146. The burning question now is how Mayweather will do against a similarly sized fighter with a predatory streak and an iron will to match.

Despite the predictability of the overall outcome, one couldn't have imagined that Mayweather would achieve this level of dominance following such a lengthy layoff and one of the byproducts of that mastery is that the level of expectations will soar exponentially. Fans and media will no longer tolerate skillful exhibitions against hand-picked opponents but rather showdowns with more challenging foes such as the winner of Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley among others.

True greatness can only be achieved through overcoming adversity and the time has finally come for Mayweather to show he can be just as commanding against the very best competition available. In other words, can boxing's version of cold fusion go truly nuclear against the hottest heat his sport can offer? If so, then historians can declare "better late than never" rather than "what could have been."

ESPN's Teddy Atlas says it's gotta be Manny Pacquiao next for Floyd:

But how about you? Here's what we know.

Manny Pacquiao: He has to get by a stiff challenge from Miguel Cotto on November 14, and THEN they'd have to agree on a revenue split (Mayweather taking 50-50 seems unlikely to many, including myself, and Manny taking anything less than that is probably just as unlikely). We also know this: If Pacquiao beats Cotto, particularly if it's a no-doubt sort of win, this is the fight in boxing. Period. There's also the ongoing bad feelings between Floyd and Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, but if the money could be sorted out, I don't think there's a real question that Floyd and Bob could do business again.

Shane Mosley: Mosley wants it. Bad. Thing is, Mayweather-Mosley almost happened a few years ago, and it was Shane that was blamed for it not going through. This fight has been a "dream match" sort of thing for a long, long time, and while now it might not be what it once might have been, I think it's still an outstanding fight. This is another fight with a potential split problem. Mosley is very proud and doesn't want to hear the numbers about him not being much of a draw, which I again say is a shame given how great a career he's had and how good of a fighter he still is. But would Shane take something like 65-35 Mayweather? Something close to that (60-40 at the very lowest) is what Floyd would want.

Miguel Cotto: If Cotto beats Pacquiao, then this might be the fight. An impressive Cotto win over Pacquiao almost surely trumps what Mayweather did against Marquez, even given how dominant Floyd was. Cotto's Puerto Rican fanbase also promises more overall money than Mosley does, probably, plus Miguel's profile would get a huge boost with a win over Manny.

And to be perfectly honest with no disrespect to anyone else, these are the only three acceptable opponents. If I were to make a guess, I think it'll be Shane, maybe in February or March, or later than that if Floyd waits to see how Cotto-Pacquiao plays out. If Shane can land a Floyd fight and payday, waiting around to fight might not bother him too much, the way it is now that his December 26 HBO card is not happening.

Given that a pick for Pacquiao or Cotto would depend on them winning in November, I assume, I'll just make the poll read "Cotto-Pacquiao Winner" instead of an option for one of the two of them.