by David P. Greisman

This past Saturday’s middleweight championship bout between Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. played out in front of a crowd of more than 17,000 people and brought in more than $3 million in ticket sales, according to figures provided by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

A total of 16,939 tickets were sold to the eight-fight card that took place at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas and aired, in part, on HBO Pay-Per-View. Another 751 tickets were given away for free. No tickets went unsold.

The card produced a total gate of $3,052,475.

Martinez topped Chavez by unanimous decision in the main event, though he had to survive a knockdown in the final round to get there. Martinez improved to 50-2-2 with 28 knockouts, while Chavez suffered his first loss and fell to 46-1-1 with 32 knockouts and 1 “no decision.”

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com