Floyd Mayweather was once the biggest name in the sport on the back of a record-breaking Pay Per View in Las Vegas against Manny Pacquiao.
The pair met in 2015, around five years after they should have but still in mass demand by the boxing public.
And so it proved as Mayweather vs Pacquiao blitzed the previous benchmark set by the former’s clash with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.
Selling almost double that of Mayweather vs De La Hoya, the Pacquiao fight went down in history despite not being a fabulous spectacle in the ring.
Mayweather vs Pacquiao sold an eye-gauging 4.7m worldwide Pay Per Views, smashing the De La Hoya event’s 2.4m.
Floyd Mayweather – The record breaker
Mayweather almost did it two years later when facing UFC star Conor McGregor. He came up short by a million and more.
However, nobody suspected that a cross-code battle could get anywhere near the Pacquiao record. It proved how big a seller Floyd Mayweather was in his day.
At the time, Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza was being cagey about how well ‘MayMac’ did in the PPV sales market against ‘MayPac.’
“It was a massive event we had to put together very, very quickly,” Espinoza told AP. “Working with all the partners on the event, we pulled off a nearly flawless event. The fight itself turned out to be very entertaining.
“So all in all, from a financial standpoint and an entertainment standpoint, it was a success.”
Espinoza added on reports of streaming problems: “The reports that came out earlier this week on issues on the Showtime digital stream were definitely exaggerated.
“We did receive a limited number of complaints, but nothing commensurate with the level of press coverage that it generated. Our app worked and worked well in the face of unprecedented demand.”
He concluded whether they would beat the Mayweather v Pacquiao record: “It’s a little soon to predict a record, but it is definitely within reach.
“I’d absolutely call this a complete success. This fight had massive expectations in the fight itself and the business results.
“It lived up to those expectations in every respect.”
Fading star
Sadly for Floyd, those days are well and truly gone. In six years, Mayweather has taken any multi-million dollar check of significance he could.
It worked for a while. However, now the novelty is wearing off. Last weekend it was the straw that could break the money-making cow’s back.
Facing a reality TV personality from the UK, Mayweather failed by far to sell out the O2 Arena. A capacity of 20,000 wouldn’t even purchase enough tickets to see Floyd in the flesh.
That’s despite several UK tours and appearances in the country over the years. Mayweather went from 4.7m worldwide sales in houses to being unable to sell out an arena. Many far lesser-known fighters have done so at the London venue in the past, including YouTubers.
A lot had to do with the undercard and the opponent, but Floyd Mayweather is undoubtedly a significant enough name to do so. But maybe not anymore.
At 46, the time seems to have come to pack up the circus.
