Mayweather-Pacquiao sells 4.4 million PPVs, obliterating former record

The official number for the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view is out and, as expected, it was a grand slam.

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Floyd Mayweather certainly lived up to the 'Money' moniker. (Getty)

Officials announced the May 2 fight at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas sold 4.4 million pay-per-view units that generated more than $400 million in revenue, smashing previous records. The old mark for sales was 2.48 million, set May 5, 2007, when Mayweather defeated Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas. The former revenue record was $150 million, established by Mayweather in 2013 in a fight with Canelo Alvarez at the MGM Grand that sold 2.2 million pay-per-views. The live paid gate for Mayweather-Pacquiao was more than $71 million, besting the Mayweather-Alvarez record of $20 million by 350 percent.
It also sold more than 46,000 closed-circuit seats in Clark County, Nev., helping push total revenue to more than $500 million.
Yahoo Sports reported exclusively last week that pay-per-view sales from just satellite and telecom companies were 2.2 milllion.

Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, said the numbers show Mayweather's star power. He also credited both social media and mainstream media for its assistance. Facebook reported that on the night of the fight, 37 million unique users made 115 million posts about the fight, from the event's start until 30 minutes after completion.

"The world is different now thanks to social media and the way you can market these events," Ellerbe told Yahoo Sports. "Social media and the incredible amount of media coverage we had in the build-up to this fight played a huge role in all of this. My team always sets the bar high, and our goal was to break the previous record, and we just kept pushing the envelope.

"I can't thank Floyd enough for making this all happen and it goes back to when he approached Manny in Miami [at a Heat-Bucks game] that put the icing on the cake."