Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that the early pay-per-view numbers released on Manny Pacquiao's victory over Miguel Cotto are "over a million and under 1.5 million buys -- and that's without all of the precincts being reported."
"They're not really accurate yet, but all that we can say with absolute certainty is that Pacquiao-Cotto was the biggest, revenue-producing event on pay-per-view for the entire year," said Arum. "And that surpasses all of the UFC. Everything. Any event. It's the biggest event of the year from the standpoint of revenue being generated."
Arum, who promotes Pacquiao (50-3-2, 37 knockouts), said that he met with officials at HBO on Thursday concerning the numbers.
Noted boxing historian Bert Sugar believes that a clash between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would rival Sugar Ray Leonard's comeback 14th-round knockout of Thomas Hearns in September 1981, when the victor trailed by four, three and two points, respectively, on the three judges' cards.
Calling it "today's Super Bowl of boxing," Sugar said the demand and scope of Mayweather-Pacquio "easily passes" Felix Trinidad's controversial September 1999, 12-round majority decision over Oscar De La Hoya, even as theirs was a clash of a Puerto Rican icon in Trinidad and a cross-over Mexican-American star in De La Hoya.
"[Mayweather-Pacquiao] has international appeal, particularly in Asia. And you've got HBO, which will be pumping it with their 24/7 series. It will be the fight of the century," said Sugar, who, as then-editor of Ring Magazine, named Leonard-Hearns "Fight Of The Year."
Specifically, tell the 44-year-old boxer that he's so far past his prime, that you believe he'll lose on Dec. 2 to unheralded 29-year-old Enrique Ornelas, the man he will meet in a non-title, 12-round light heavyweight (175 pounds) bout at Temple University's Liacouras Center in Hopkins' hometown of Philadelphia.
"People have written me off a lot of times in my life, and that's been my biggest motivation. I've always needed people to be rooting against me," said Hopkins, a former Philadelphia street criminal who survived three stabbings, was imprisoned at age 18 for five years, and released in 1988.
"I did not let the street life destroy me. I'm that throwback Philadephia fighter who just happened to take care of himself, and that's why I'm still here," said Hopkins, who is 49-5, with 32 knockouts.
Floyd Mayweather was nowhere to be seen in the MGM Grand Hotel during the lead-up to this past Saturday night's Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto welterweight megafight. Nor could the undefeated, five-time champion and Las Vegas resident be found when Pacquiao made history by lifting from Cotto the WBO's 147-pound title belt.
But in the days since Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, stood in the ring before a packed MGM Grand Garden Arena and called out his name as the man he wanted to be Pacquiao's next opponent, Mayweather has gotten the message loud and clear.
Mayweather's name was even chanted by the crowd of more than 16,200, but he says that he just hasn't heard it from Pacquiao's own mouth.
A scene involving former middleweight world champion, Jermain Taylor, represents one of the more compelling moments in FIGHT CAMP 360: Inside The Super Six World Boxing Classic.
Asked if he feels blessed to be in the tournament, pitting six of the world's premiere super middleweights (168 pounds) in a round-robin affair, Taylor responds to the affirmative.
"When I first heard about this tournament, I was on my boat. Then I get a call saying something about the Super Six [Tournament,]" said Taylor, a soft-spoken native of Little Rock, Ark., who speaks with a slight stutter.
"They said there are going to be six guys in the super middleweight division, and they're going to put us all in the ring, and 'May the best man win,' " said Taylor. "I was just like, 'This is a blessing.' After this tournament -- after I win it -- I'll be right back on top, no matter what happens."
By now, everyone knows what has happened, and it wasn't good for Taylor.
LAS VEGAS -- When former world champion Winky Wright enters the ring in San Juan's Coliseo de Puerto Rico on Dec. 11, it will be with the short-range goals of acheiving past glory.
Wright (51-5-1, 25 knockouts), a southpaw who turns 38 on Nov. 26, will end an eight-month layoff when he meets Brewer, who will turn 39 on Dec. 22. Brewer (26-11, 15 KOs) has won eight consecutive fights, inlcluding first- and, second-round knockouts of his past two opponents in May and August.
Wright twice defeated current world champion, Shane Mosley, as a junior middleweight (154 pounds) in 2004, and then followed that up with a rise to middleweight (160) for a one-sided, May, 2005, unanimous decision over former world champion and Puerto Rican great, Felix Trinidad.
LAS VEGAS -- The superlatives ran rampant during the aftermath of Manny Pacquiao's brilliantly violent beatdown of Miguel Cotto on Saturday night in an MGM Grand Garden Arena packed to its rafters with more than 16,200 fans.
Having witnessed the Filipino superstar's array of speed, athleticism and durability used to batter senseless the Puerto Rican warrior before their fight was stopped 55 seconds into the 12th round, promoter Bob Arum declared Pacquiao "the best fighter that I've ever seen -- and that includes Muhammad Ali, and Sugar Ray Leonard, and Marvin Hagler."
Ross Greenburg, head honcho of sports programming at HBO, told reporters it is time for Pacquiao to face his unbeaten, pound-for-pound rival, Floyd Mayweather, in a "Super Bowl" type of matchup whose modern-day significance would rival Ali-Joe Frazier.
LAS VEGAS -- When England's David Haye traveled to Nuremberg, Germany, for his Nov. 7 matchup with 7-foot, 316-pound, Nikolay Valuev, the 218-pounder did so with more support from his own countrymen than the man who is named "The Russian Giant" for his status as the largest champion in the history of boxing.
And when Haye broke his right hand in the second round of an eventual, 12-round majority decision, it was the deafening cheers of his fans that lifted him on the way to dethroning Valuev for the WBA championship.
Former IBF cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek, a winner of eight straight bouts -- six of them by knockout -- will continue his pursuit of heavyweight glory and recognition when he enters the ring on Feb. 6 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., his promoter, Kathy Duva, said on Friday.
Adamek (39-1, 27 knockouts) will go after his second straight heavyweight opponent at the Prudential Center, where the resident of nearby Jersey City routinely packs the stands with his local support.
"It's been a very long time since the boxing public has seen the kind of action in a heavyweight fight that they enjoyed before the super heavyweights who dominate the division these days. When a heavyweight title fight is exciting, it is always the smaller guy in the ring pressing the action," said Duva.
LAS VEGAS -- Shane Mosley will fight Andre Berto, the 26-year-old WBC welterweight champion, on Jan. 30 at The Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, a source familiar with the negotiations informed FanHouse on Thursday.
A deal for the matchup has been in the works for months, and it will be announced here on Saturday, the same day as WBO welterweight (147-pounds) champion, Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 knockouts) defends his crown against Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) at the MGM Grand Hotel.
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