Dan Rafael: "Pac's 700K PPV buys = Floyd/Judah and Floyd/Baldomir COMBINED"

Pacquiao's star power can't be denied March, 25, 2010 Dan Rafael (ESPN) http://a.espncdn.com/i/columnists/rafael_dan_m.jpg The growth of Manny Pacquiao into a true mega star is nothing short of remarkable. For those of you who have said (and lots of you have) that the 700,000 pay-per-view buys and $35.3 million he generated for his March 13 fight against Joshua Clottey was a disappointment: You are insane. And make no mistake about it -- Pacquiao, admittedly with an assist from an exotic venue, the absolutely incredible Cowboys Stadium, which was hosting a fight for the first time, is the reason the fight sold so well. Clottey, who has zero fan base to speak of, had nothing to do with it. Sure, Clottey is known to those of us who follow boxing closely, but to get 700,000 buys -- not to mention a crowd of almost 51,000 (the third-largest for a fight in the United States in about a half-century) -- you need more than just Fight Freaks tuning in. You need casual fans. Don't forget these three facts either: 1. The fight achieved the numbers it did even though from announcement to fight night there were barely two months to promote the bout. Most HBO PPV fights are promoted using at least a three-month window. 2. There was no "24/7" series on HBO building up the fight for four weeks like there has been in recent years for bouts involving the sport's biggest stars. 3. Neither participant in the bout was American. And get this: according to HBO and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, the PPV total will rise, like most do, once all the buys are officially accounted for. This one could increase another 25,000 or more. You can look up and down the history of boxing pay-per-view and, other than some crazy seven-figure buy fights that Mike Tyson did against similarly unknown opponents such as Peter McNeeley and Bruce Seldon, you would be hard-pressed to find any boxer who has ever done so much business against such an unknown opponent, and that includes Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Evander Holyfield and other stars who have thrived on pay-per-view. Even the great Roy Jones never came close to 700,000 buys for one of his PPV fights, even when he fought significant fights against name opponents. Let's put what Pacquiao did into even greater perspective: He generated double the buys that Mayweather did for his fights with Zab Judah (375,000) and Carlos Baldomir (325,000) combined. http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/blog/_/name/rafael_dan/id/5027075/pacquiao-star-power-denied