Manny Pacquiao scored big at box office last Saturday too

Manny Pacquiao was not only brilliant in the ring last Saturday night in Las Vegas against Keith Thurman during his 12-round split decision win, he was great for the cash register, too.

Pacquiao, who was guaranteed $10 million to fight the previously unbeaten WBA Welterweight Champion Thurman, once again brought in huge audience and revenue for one of his Vegas title fights.

Mike Coppinger of the Athletic reported on Friday that the pay-per-view buys for Pacquiao-Thurman (priced by most outlets at $70 or more) totaled nearly 500,000 purchases:

Sources tell the @TheAthleticBOX the Manny Pacquiao-Keith Thurman FOX PPV generated in the neighborhood of 500,000 buys, a success given pre-fight projections #PacquiaoThurman

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) July 26, 2019

The quick math demonstrates that that’s a $35 million windfall for the WBA, organizers, promoter Premier Boxing Champions and the fighters.

It had been reported on Thursday through official documentation by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that there were just over 11,000 tickets sold for the event and the actual live gate revenue was $6.2 million at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Those numbers are not insignificant and they’re inside the top 10 of Pacquiao’s all-time Vegas fights

However, the obviously the “off-the-charts standard” was Pacquiao’s May of 2015 mega battle with unbeaten Floyd “Money” Mayweather also held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather decisioned Pacquiao over 12 largely lackluster rounds, after the public had waited over five years for the fight to happen.

Pacquiao-Mayweather generated an insane $72 million in live gate revenue in the same arena with over 14,000 tickets sold. But, even more amazing was the pay-per-view purchasing at a massive total of 4.4 million in buys for over an astounding $400 million through HBO and Showtime’s combined pay per view.

It’s very realistic the Pacquiao (now 62-7-2) will end up making more than $20 million for his 12 rounds of work in winning, yet another title fight last weekend. It will end up being the biggest payday of Thurman’s career, as he was guaranteed $2 million, plus a percentage of the live gate and pay-per-view take.

And, there’s a very real possibility that he will end up in another mega fight PPV, potentially with unbeaten IBF champ Errol Spence, early in 2020.