The August bout between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor brought in a head-turning number of viewers.
On Thursday, Brian Campbell of CBS Sports reported Showtime Sports confirmed there were 4.3 million pay-per-view buys for the fight between one of the all-time great boxers in Mayweather and career MMA fighter McGregor.
According to Campbell, the total was the second-highest in history, falling short of only the 4.6 million pay-per-view buys for the 2015 fight between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
That Mayweather is involved in the two best-selling pay-per-view boxing matches is no surprise considering his role as the best fighter of a generation. He emerged from the fight against McGregor in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena with a 10th-round technical knockout, which pushed his sparkling record to 50-0 in his career.
McGregor hung tough in the early going of his first professional boxing match and even landed a notable uppercut on Mayweather. However, Money seized control by the middle rounds and unleashed an offensive barrage in the 10th round to win the fight.
While McGregor lost the fight and was overmatched, he also performed admirably against such a formidable foe, suggesting his foray into boxing will last more than one fight.
Pacquiao recently said he was open to negotiations with McGregor for an April fight, per the Agence France-Presse (via Yahoo).
It likely wouldn’t sell as many pay-per-views as their respective bouts with Mayweather considering the undefeated boxer wouldn’t be involved and the novelty of McGregor trying boxing would have worn off, but it would involve two of the biggest names in combat sports.
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