World Boxing News looked at the top ten United States Boxing Pay Per Views in history to discover no new entries in nine years.
Of the ten fights on the list, three came from the 1990s and two from the 2000s. The rest from the PPV heyday of the 2010s.
Eight of the ten are full professional contests, with the other two coming under the exhibition category.
Mayweather vs Pacquiao
The last new event to make it into the all-time list is the current number one – Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao.
‘MayPac’ made unbelievable cash at the box office and inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena. For a professional blockbuster, it dwarfs the next in line, which also featured Mayweather.
Floyd’s coming-of-age victory against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 still got outsold by the Pacquiao fight almost two to one.
But on the face of it, Mayweather’s success and retirement have left a gaping hole in the pay-per-view market. None of the current crop, including Canelo Alvarez, can get near the star power of Floyd and his predecessor Mike Tyson.
‘Iron Mike’ held the top five positions until Mayweather came along. However, ‘The Baddest Man’ still holds firm in the top ten with all those offerings due to the lack of threat during the 2020s.
Nobody has stepped up to take the PPV bull by the horns. It’s a worrying trend as corrupt streaming services and pirating of events hit the networks hard.
The top ten could have been the top twenty and more of the list below as the only fight of the 2020s to make the top 25 comes in at 23.
Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia sold 1.2 m in April last year. The ‘Dare to be Great’ affair is by far the most successful event of this decade.
Other than that, the Canelo vs. Golokvin I and II shows in Las Vegas were the only two to hit over a million buys since the Mayweather era.
Top 10 US Boxing Pay Per Views of all time [Jan 2024]
May 2, 2015 – Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao – HBO/Showtime [4.6m buys]
Aug 26, 2017 – Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor – Showtime [4.3m]
May 5, 2007 – Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather – HBO [2.4m]
Sep 14, 2013 – Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Álvarez – Showtime [2.2m]
Jun 28, 1997 – Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield II – Showtime [1.99m]
Jun 8, 2002 – Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson – HBO/Showtime [1.97m]
Aug 19, 1995 – Mike Tyson vs. Peter McNeeley – Showtime [1.6m]
Nov 9, 1996 – Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield – Showtime [1.6m]
Nov 28, 2020 – Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. – Triller [1.6m]
May 5, 2012 – Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto – HBO [1.5m]
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer and has been the Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
