Manny-Clottey showdown earns $35.3 million in PPV

MANILA, Philippines -  Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao’s bout with Ghana’s Joshua Clottey attracted a total of 700,000 pay-per-view buys translating to $35.3 million in domestic television revenue, a report said Wednesday.

According to espn.com, the figures were disclosed by Mark Taffet of HBO PPV, which aired the Pacquiao-Clottey “The Event” fight live from the famed Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, last March 14.

Taffet was very vocal about his satisfaction over the fight’s success, which he said sold better than expected.”We are extremely pleased with the pay-per-view performance of Pacquiao-Clottey. Fights like this traditionally do not exceed 400,000 buys,” Taffet said.

The HBO executive underscored Pacquiao’s soaring fame as the key factor in hauling in such massive PPV numbers.

“It is a testament to the popularity of Pacquiao and the vitality of the sport, and it gives us great encouragement as we look toward the May 1 (Floyd) Mayweather-(Shane) Mosley pay-per-view fight,” he added

The breakdown of sales for Pacquiao-Clottey tussle was 350,000 buys from cable homes, 310,000 from satellite homes and 40,000 from telco homes, espn.com added.

Pacquiao, widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the planet, cruised to a one-sided unanimous decision victory over a surprisingly passive Clottey.

The fight was for the Filipino’s WBO welterweight title.

In the same report, espn.com’s Dan Rafael noted how Pacquiao has become a major attraction in the US.

“In 12 pay-per-view fights, he (Pacquiao) has generated 6.25 million buys and $320 million in revenue. The bulk of the total has come from his last four fights: Clottey, Miguel Cotto (1.2 million buys), Ricky Hatton (800,000 buys) and Oscar De La Hoya (1.25 million buys),” Rafael wrote.        – Dino Maragay/contributor