Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: PPV Buys Reportedly Could Hit 5 Million

Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s unanimous-decision win over Manny Pacquiao in a boxing superfight this past Saturday could reportedly set an unprecedented mark for pay-per-view orders with as many as five million.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports reported Thursday that PPV sales for the bout have reached 2.25 million—and that's without taking into account cable system sales, which typically account for 55 to 65 percent of all sales.   

Isaac Brekken/Associated Press

Even a conservative estimate of cable orders suggests the quantity of Mayweather-Pacquiao PPV sales will double. If 60 percent of the total ends up coming from cable, sales would grow to 5.625 million.

The reported figure of 2.25 million thus far already matches Mayweather's 2013 triumph over Canelo Alvarez for the second-most boxing PPV orders of all time. The top bout? Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 (2.48 million), per Iole.

Outrageous amounts of money surrounded Mayweather's latest victory, which moved him to 48-0 for his legendary career. Mayweather had spoken of a possible rematch but changed his tune Thursday, per SportsCenter:

Pacquiao will undergo surgery on a torn right rotator cuff and will be out for nine to 12 months while he recovers, according to ESPN's Dan Rafael. That puts a wrench in a possible second showdown with Mayweather, who plans to retire after his next fight, likely in September.

But because of how lucrative the bout is proving to be, the possibility ought to remain on the table. The Mayweather and Pacquiao camps took years to agree for the fighters to meet just once. As the saying goes, though, money talks.

Mayweather's nickname is Money, for whatever that's worth. The opportunity for him to rake in another huge payday is still on the horizon, but no prospective opponent aside from Pacquiao could be a bigger boon for bottom-line business.