Floyd Mayweather Jr. Calls himself the A-side anytime he fights an opponent due to him being the most popular figure on the sport of boxing today.
Now that the fight the world has been waiting to see for the better part of the last six years with Manny Pacquiao is set for May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, this might be the one time some question who the A-side is in a Mayweather fight.
Pacquiao, despite losing two fights over the past few years, compared to zero by Money May, could be all the information some need to clear up who’s the more marketable boxer.
Then you will have those who say Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) is the more likeable figure and has fought fighters that are better and the similar opponents closer to their prime than Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs).
You can’t fool numbers, as those will stand the test of time. So to get a better insight, all one has to do is examine the recent results of both fighters PPV numbers.
Here are Mayweather’s last 10 PPV outputs:
Since Mayweather’s career defining win over the “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya, his career as taken off, netting him hundreds of million dollars in the process.
Mayweather’s total haul in his last 10 bouts is a whopping 13.38 million PPV buys, which is why Mayweather has been a top the highest paid athletes list for the past couple of years.
Mayweather’s PPV numbers peaked at 2.4 million when he faced Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 and bottomed out at around 850,000 buys for his first bout with Marcos Maidana in May 2014. During the stretch Mayweather went over a million buys in six of his 10 bouts.
Pacquiao hasn’t done bad himself over his last 10 bouts, as he has fought some of the same boxers Mayweather has himself. Despite that, Pacquiao’s sales come in under Mayweather, proving he is deserving of being the higher paid fighter.
Pacquiao’s last 10 PPV outputs:
Pac-man has managed to draw around 9.27 million PPV buys over the course of his last 10 bouts, showing that Mayweather has been the bigger draw over the last several years.
Pacquiao’s PPV numbers topped out with his bout versus Shane Mosley 2011 that drew 1.3 million buys and his PPV numbers were at their lowest point in November when his fight with the little known Chris Algieri only brought in 350,000 PPV purchases. During his last 10 fights Pacquiao’s PPV buys eclipsed the million buy mark five times.
Pacquiao has fought a bit more frequently during the course of each other s last 10 fights, but the sample is enough to show that Mayweather deserves the A-Side treatment. So all the stipulations that were added into the contract benefiting Mayweather are rightfully deserved going off numbers alone.
The last number, the one that is as important as any and is the lowest of them all, 0. Mayweather’s undefeated record also gives him the nod, as he has mentioned more times than anyone could count over the years.
