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.