Boxing Promoter’s Association President Joe DeGuardia Praises Pacquiao vs. Cotto

It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Boxing Promoter’s Association (BPA), to congratulate our sport in once again showing that Boxing is truly desired by fans.

The Top Rank-promoted fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto last week exceeded 1.25 million buys and generated over $70 million in domestic pay-per-view revenue.

According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Pacquiao-Cotto also generated a live gate of 15,930 fans from all over the world, making it the 14th highest grossing sporting event in the state’s history, all for which were BOXING events.

This was the second consecutive HBO/PPV telecast that generated over a million buys (Mayweather-Marquez which took place back in September produced over a million buys and generated over $52 million dollars).

It will mark the first time since 1999, when Felix Trinidad fought Oscar De La Hoya and Lennox Lewis took on Evander Holyfield, that two bouts in the same year will exceed 1 million pay-per-view buys.

In addition to Boxing’s recent success on HBO/PPV, the Vitali Klitschko vs. Chris Arreola telecast which took place one week after Mayweather vs. Marquez, was the highest rated fight of the year on HBO’s World Championship Boxing.

Furthermore, Showtime’s innovative Super Six tournament has really captured the public’s attention as witnessed by the recent success and fan turn out during Stage One of the tournament.

Taking a look at such recent events, it is evident that the appeal of Boxing continues to captivate fans and the sport is at one of the highest points it’s been in the last decade.

Promoter of the card, Bob Arum of Top Rank, said that the early PPV numbers on Pacquiao 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.”

I am proud on behalf of the BPA to congratulate everyone involved in the successful show, particularly our fellow promoter, Top Rank, as well as HBO/PPV and the boxers, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

Boxing’s success this past year makes all of us at the BPA very proud. We are excited to move our sport into the future and these recent shows provide yet additional examples of how various parts of the sport working together can create huge successes.

We look forward to future collaborations and successes for the great sport of Boxing.