Despite the tidal wave of hype it generated, the August 26 boxing match between undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather Jr and UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor is not the highest-selling pay-per-view of all time. That record still belongs to Mayweather’s 2015 showdown with Manny Pacquiao.
While the official announcement of PPV sales for Mayweather vs. McGregor is still outstanding, BoxingScene.com has learned that the blockbuster fight card was purchased roughly 4.4 million times. While this figure is absolutely nothing to smirk at, it is just shy of the figure for Mayweather’s battle with Pacquiao, which did roughly 4.6 million PPV sales.
This news, of course, is a bit contradictory of early expectations for the so-called “money fight.” Mayweather vs. McGregor was widely expected to shatter all previous records.
Then again, expectations that Mayweather vs. McGregor would set a new PPV record were thanks in large part to comments from UFC President Dana White, who is perhaps the most grievous abuser of hyperbole of all time.
“This is the biggest fight ever,” White said during a pre-fight media conference call. “It’s tracking right now to be the largest commercial pay-per-view ever done – in the history of pay-per-view.”
“The [betting] line in Vegas – the over-under [for PPV sales] is 4.9 million,” he added. “Everything is tracking right now to say that we’re gonna kill this thing. So it’s looking really good.”
Needless to say, it appears White’s estimates were a little off.
Interestingly, Mayweather vs. McGregor also failed to set the record for live gate for Las Vegas. The headline-dominating boxing match generated an official live gate of $55,414,865.79 with 13,094 tickets sold. Mayweather’s 2015 contest with Pacquiao, meanwhile, did a live gate north of $70 million.
By all accounts, Mayweather vs. McGregor was one of the biggest and richest fights in combat sports history. Really, it was the second-biggest. The simple fact, however, is that it failed to conquer the key records set by Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
