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It has been said that "absence makes the heart grow fonder."
Well according to Mayweather, absence must make the wallet grow fatter, as well.
His last truly active year was 2005. He fought three times, winning all by knockout including a victory against the late great Arturo Gatti, yet Mayweather was no closer to becoming a Pay-Per-View attraction.
He fought twice in 2006. Zab Judah and Carlos Baldomir didn't exactly explode Mayweather's popularity, but they both did solid Pay-Per-View numbers of around 300,000 each.
His fight against De La Hoya earned him the biggest Pay-Per-View numbers of all time, over 2.4 million. Then his fight with Hatton did over 900,000. The Hatton numbers were okay, but nothing compared to the De La Hoya numbers.
In 2008 he retired, only to return for a fight in the fall of 2009 against Juan Manuel Marquez. The return fight sold over a million Pay-Per-Views.
He then fought Shane Mosley in 2010. That fight sold over 1.4 million.
Now he faces Victor Ortiz in the fall of 2011. Ortiz is being hyped as a young man coming off a great win. This fight will likely top his two previous Pay-Per-Views.
By year's end, if Mayweather doesn't fight again after facing Ortiz, 2011 will by Mayweather's third year in a row fighting only one time.
*Do you think Mayweather fights annually to make more money?
Could this be part of the formula to how Mayweather makes money?
He's gaining bigger sales by packaging himself as a must-see annual event, rather than a fighter who you can miss one of his fights and see another in a couple months.
If he fights more than once a year, that feeling of missing out on something may diminish. Is he a special kind of fighter? Yes.
Does that mean people should want to see him more often than not? Not necessarily.
People want events, they want special circumstances and fights. A fighter or a fight is not*extraordinarily special on its own without the time spent pondering and hoping.
Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather have been pegged as two perfect combatants for each other for years. The numbers for their fight would be nice if they fought right after Mayweather returned to boxing.
Now that there's been numerous fights in between, and more hype and drama to help build their respective fanbases and clamoring*for the showdown, the money is bigger than ever.
If both defeat their 2011 opposition, the fight is still on the table in 2012 and all this absence will pay off in unimaginable dividends to all the promoters, Pacquiao, and of course Mayweather's pockets.
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Well according to Mayweather, absence must make the wallet grow fatter, as well.
His last truly active year was 2005. He fought three times, winning all by knockout including a victory against the late great Arturo Gatti, yet Mayweather was no closer to becoming a Pay-Per-View attraction.
He fought twice in 2006. Zab Judah and Carlos Baldomir didn't exactly explode Mayweather's popularity, but they both did solid Pay-Per-View numbers of around 300,000 each.
His fight against De La Hoya earned him the biggest Pay-Per-View numbers of all time, over 2.4 million. Then his fight with Hatton did over 900,000. The Hatton numbers were okay, but nothing compared to the De La Hoya numbers.
In 2008 he retired, only to return for a fight in the fall of 2009 against Juan Manuel Marquez. The return fight sold over a million Pay-Per-Views.
He then fought Shane Mosley in 2010. That fight sold over 1.4 million.
Now he faces Victor Ortiz in the fall of 2011. Ortiz is being hyped as a young man coming off a great win. This fight will likely top his two previous Pay-Per-Views.
By year's end, if Mayweather doesn't fight again after facing Ortiz, 2011 will by Mayweather's third year in a row fighting only one time.
*Do you think Mayweather fights annually to make more money?
Could this be part of the formula to how Mayweather makes money?
He's gaining bigger sales by packaging himself as a must-see annual event, rather than a fighter who you can miss one of his fights and see another in a couple months.
If he fights more than once a year, that feeling of missing out on something may diminish. Is he a special kind of fighter? Yes.
Does that mean people should want to see him more often than not? Not necessarily.
People want events, they want special circumstances and fights. A fighter or a fight is not*extraordinarily special on its own without the time spent pondering and hoping.
Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather have been pegged as two perfect combatants for each other for years. The numbers for their fight would be nice if they fought right after Mayweather returned to boxing.
Now that there's been numerous fights in between, and more hype and drama to help build their respective fanbases and clamoring*for the showdown, the money is bigger than ever.
If both defeat their 2011 opposition, the fight is still on the table in 2012 and all this absence will pay off in unimaginable dividends to all the promoters, Pacquiao, and of course Mayweather's pockets.
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