Cotto-Canelo does big business on pay-per-view

The November 21 fight between Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez was the second-biggest of 2015 going in, and comes out having done terrific business for the two fighters, and gives an encouraging sign as to how big a star Canelo Alvarez, the winner, may become.

HBO reports that the fight did 900,000 buys and $58 million in pay-per-view revenue, making it the first boxing bout since the Lewis-Tyson event in 2002 to do 900,000 buys without featuring pay-per-view kings Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, or Manny Pacquiao.

Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KO) won a competitive decision over Cotto (40-5, 33 KO) over 12 rounds. It wasn't a Fight of the Year contender or anything, but it was also not a fight that left fans feeling ripped off or lied to, as they have for many pay-per-view bouts of recent years, most notably and recently the record-breaking but overwhelmingly panned Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in May.

There's probably enough business generated here to warrant a rematch, and there's at least a little discussion that Canelo may have gotten some favorable scoring from the judges, with many having the bout closer than the official scores, and some fighters coming out and saying they had the fight a draw, including Mikey Garcia and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Cotto-Canelo also dwarfs the numbers put forth in September for Floyd Mayweather's advertised retirement fight with Andre Berto, which barely eclipsed 400,000 buys.