Mayweather-Cotto draws 1.5 million PPV buys

Floyd “Money” Mayweather can be heard boasting about his ability to draw people to their television sets to watch him box. He proved once again that it’s not a lie as his bout with Miguel Cotto on May 5 drew 1.5 million PPV buys.

The 1.5-million buy total generated $94 million in pay-per-view revenue. The performance also ranks as the second highest grossing non-heavyweight PPV event in boxing history. The No.1 all-time event was Mayweather’s bout with Oscar de la Hoya ($137 million) in 2007.

So who’s the No. 1 PPV draw in boxing? It is without a doubt Mayweather. But will that help in his negotiations with Manny Pacquiao? If Pacquiao beats Tim Bradley on June 9 and doesn’t eclipse the Mayweather-Cotto number, logic dictates the “Money” man should be in the driver’s seat.

Not so fast. Top Rank boss Bob Arum likes to remind reporters that there are always tickets available for Mayweather fights. He also likes to remind reporters that Pacquiao has a bigger international following than Mayweather.

Arum is probably right on both accounts, but when it comes to PPV, where the real money is made, Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) is the king now. With that being the case, the pressure will be on Pacquiao to put on a show against Bradley.

Mayweather has said Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) won’t get a 50-50 split of the revenue if they fight, which has prompted the Filipino Congressman to state that the undefeated fighter doesn’t want the fight.

"When he offered me only $40 million, I knew he didn't want the fight," Pacquiao told the Los Angeles Times. "And when he says the fight will never happen now, that's because he doesn't want the fight.

All of this will be moot if Pacquiao can’t get past a hungry Bradley (28-0, 12 KOs), who believes his opponent has been off his game lately.

"In Pacquiao's last four fights, he's looked lackadaisical," Bradley told the Times. "He'll have to dig down deep to beat me. This is my only chance to be a superstar."

It also could be Pacquiao’s last chance to answer the Mayweather challenge.