Mayweather-Pacquiao Draws Record 4.4 Million Buys

It’s official: The May 2 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao "fight of the century" is the greatest performing pay-per-view event ever, generating a whopping 4.4 million buys, fight copromoters HBO and Showtime announced Tuesday.

The fight, which was projected to break all PPV records, also garnered $400 million in PPV revenue, according to HBO and Showtime. The numbers bested the 2.48 million PPV buys generated by the 2007 Floyd Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya bout, and the $150 million earned by the 2013 Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez fight.

Mayweather defeated Pacquiao in a 12-round unanimous decision which many observers felt fell short of the massive hype surrounding the event.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.