No more guessing, no more estimating, no more speculating, no more speculessating. The final numbers have been tallied and we now know exactly how much Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will earn off their record-smashing fight of the century.
If you've been following this story on Celebrity Net Worth recently, I have good and bad news. The bad news is Floyd and Manny won't earn quite as much as we predicted last week ($280 million and $190 million, respectively). The good news is they are still both going to take home a SHIT TON of money.
Last week, when we predicted that Floyd could earn as much as $280 million, we were basing that on the assumption that the final Pay-Per-View buy count would top 5.6 million. The actual final number? 4.4 million buys.
JOHN GURZINSKI/AFP/Getty Images
4.4 million is still an absolutely astounding number. It absolutely shatters the previous PPV record of 2.4 million, which Floyd set fighting Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. It also absolutely shatters early predictions that the fight would generate 3.5 million PPV buys.
4.4 million PPV buys at $100 a pop equals $440 million in revenue. Ticket sales should add another $72 million, international syndication brought in $35 million from 175 countries. An estimated 46,000 people at various MGM properties in the US paid $150 for a closed-circuit stream of the fight. Roughly 5,000 bars paid for the premium feed. Closed circuit streams brought in a combined $13 million. Sponsorships and merchandise brought in another $13 million.
Total it all up and you've got $573 million in gross revenue.
Take out 30-40% for costs and distribution fees and you're left with $344 – $400 million in profits, which will be split 60/40 by Floyd and Manny. That translates into the following payday ranges for both fighters:
Floyd: $206.3 million – $240 million
Manny: $137.6 million – $160 million
Now the big question is… Will there be a rematch? Assuming Manny is healthy enough for a rematch in the future, the numbers are just too insane to ignore. Even if they do HALF as much revenue with a rematch, you're talking about Floyd earning $120 million and Manny earning $80 million. And let's be honest, who wouldn't agree to dance around a ring for an hour without getting hit or breaking a sweat for that much money???
