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Bob Arum, who is in the process of rehabilitation after undergoing a knee replacement surgery in Los Angeles, was quoted in the press recently as remarking that the Pay-Per-View numbers for Miguel Cotto vs. Sergio Martinez were below expectations.
Arum also mentioned that despite the low pay-per-view numbers for the Cotto vs. Martinez bout, what saved them was the $4.7 million in ticket sales.
Lou DiBella, who manages Martinez, was quoted as saying the pay-per-view numbers were affected by other sporting events happening that day, such as the Belmont Stakes and Stanley Cup competitions.
In the end, there were only 350.000 purchases for the HBO PPV event, which brings up the question: can Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez or Miguel “Junito” Cotto carry a pay-per-view event?
Fact of the matter is that Martinez had to fight in Argentina to generate some money and his last profitable pay-per-view event in America was mostly successful because of his Mexican American opponent: Caesar Chavez Jr.
As for Cotto, his biggest pay-per-view numbers came at the hand of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr; enough said.
The Cotto vs. Martinez fight was not what boxing fans expected from Martinez, which I believe made Cotto look even better than he actually is.
What’s next for Martinez? Maybe one last fight but most likely it will be retirement.
As for Cotto, certain names have been thrown out there, such as Timothy Bradley or Saul Alvarez. Whoever Cotto ends up fighting next, you can bet his pay-per-view numbers will be highly influenced by his opponent.
My vote for his next opponent goes to Saul Alvarez, but unfortunately in his latest interview, Arum seemed to be leaning towards Bradley.
If that’s the case, you can expect bad numbers once more.
