The Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao mega fight generated an eye-watering US$400 million (NZ$507 million) in US revenues fuelled by more than 4.4 million pay-per-view buys, making it the highest-grossing fight in boxing history.
The welterweight world championship showdown, which Mayweather won by a unanimous decision, may have failed to live up to its hype in the ring, but it did meet the goal of becoming the richest fight in boxing history.
It nearly doubled the previous record of 2.48 million buys from a 2007 Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya fight and also crushed the record by more three times for a live boxing gate, American cable networks Home Box Office Inc. and Showtime Networks Inc. said in a joint news release.
It generated more than US$71 million from the sale of 16,219 tickets at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino for a fight between boxing's two biggest stars that was five years in the making.
The previous record for a live gate was US$20 million for Mayweather's 2013 fight at the MGM's Grand Garden Arena against Mexico's Canelo Alvarez. That fight also held the record for US pay-per-view revenue at US$150 million.
