Mayweather-Canelo Fight Sets Pay-Per-View Record

The wildly hyped boxing showdown between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez proved to be even bigger than expected, raking in a whopping $150 million from TV viewers. That stat makes it the highest grossing pay-per-view event in history.

News of the big take was announced Thursday by Showtime Networks, which aired the Las Vegas fight on Showtime PPV. Projections of the final number of buys currently sits at 2.2 million.

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Not only does the revenue mark a record for pay-per-view, it breaks the previous one considerably. Mayweather’s 2007 fight against Oscar De La Hoya took in $136 million. That less pricey fight did have more buys at 2.48 million, but with all reports not yet in from distributors, the total for last weekend’s tilt could grow.

The fight takes the No. 2 slot from the infamous 1997 World Heavyweight Championship bout between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson, when 1.95 million viewers paid to watch Tyson take a bite out of Holyfield’s ear.

Tickets for the actual event, held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions, sold out in less than 24 hours. The fight also set a boxing record for live gate revenue, raking in north of $20 million.

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