Pacquiao, Mayweather PPV Sales Down— Enough Fooling Around, Fans Want THE Fight

http://boxingbuzz.sportsblog.com/posts/348077/pacquiao_mayweather_ppv_sales_down.html By Dennis Cruz Rumors are circulating all over the internet that Floyd Mayweather's May 3 pay-per-view event against Marcos Maidana has delivered less-than-stellar results. Depending on which Tweet you read or Facebook post you see, the numbers range from 800,000 to 900,000, but always well below a million and, therefore, well below what's normally expected of a Mayweather show. Showtime's head of sports entertainment, Stephen Espinoza, went on record Sunday afternoon, saying that the rumors are not true and that, actually, no PPV numbers have come in just yet. But there's the old expression of where there's smoke, there's fire and very often these rumors do come from someone with actual access to the truth. It's not hard to imagine a Mayweather-Maidana card doing fewer buys than expected. Maidana is a non-Enlglish-speaking Argentine and the bout, itself, was thought to be a walk in the park mismatch for the five-division world champ. Going into the day of the fight, there was very little reason to be excited by this match-up or, frankly, by the entire card. Manny Pacquiao, as we all know, has gone through a similar buy rate recession for his last two events, drawing 450,000 buys for his contest with Brandon Rios and around 800,000 for his recent rematch against Timothy Bradley. Given that boxing's two cash cows are probably good for a solid base of 800,000 buys, just off their own name recognition, the fact that they haven't drawn over that amount so far this year means that fans are simply not all that inspired by both fighters' choice of opposition. With the welterweight talent pool shrinking by the moment and no other big ticket 147-pounders really capable of inspiring a buy rate befitting a big ticket showdown, more and more it's looking like both fighters need each other. Both sides of the Pacquiao-Mayweather debate will point the finger at the other, making accusations of ducking and dodging the challenge. But it's apparent that the fans are beginning to deliver a clear and direct message—Pacquiao vs. Mayweather is a must. As pay-offs and paydays diminish for both fighters, the solution to this is to bite the bullet, swallow some pride, and do what the fans want. For Mayweather, there is only Pacquiao; For Pacquiao, there is only Mayweather. Period.