Florida Sentinel Bulletin

Showtime Networks announced Thursday that Saturday’s fight between Floyd Mayweather and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, billed as “The One,” generated a record $150 million in pay-per-view revenue on 2.2 million buys. It breaks the record of $136 million for Mayweather’s 2007 fight against Oscar De La Hoya.  “It shows the health of boxing and that it can deliver at the highest level,” says Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy which promoted both Mayweather fights.

Showtime, which broadcast the fight on pay-per-view, announced Thursday, along with promoters Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions, that Mayweather’s dominant decision victory shattered the all-time record for highest-grossing pay-per-view fight of all time, generating $150 million in revenue from 2.2 million pay-per-view buys.

Mayweather received a record guaranteed purse of $41.5 million purse for the fight, and as co-promoter with Golden Boy, he will also reap the spoils of the PPV haul. Mayweather is set to earn more than $80 million from the fight based on the current PPV estimates, and his final take could approach $100 million if the ultimate PPV tally exceeds 2.5 million buys. The one night payday tops the previous record in boxing of $52 million that De La Hoya received for the 2007 Mayweather fight. The Canelo fight pushes Mayweather’s career earnings over the $350 million mark. And despite his free-spending ways , Mayweather showed that he has built up a sizable nest egg in a recent ESPN The Magazine story when he displayed his $123 million balance on a bank receipt.

LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez proved nothing more than easy money for Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Mayweather turned one of the richest fights ever into just another $41.5 million payday Saturday night, dominating Alvarez from the opening bell and winning a majority decision in a masterful performance that left no doubt who the best fighter of his era is.

Fighting off his shortest layoff in years, Mayweather was sharp, efficient and sometimes brutal in dismantling an unbeaten fighter who was bigger and was supposed to punch harder. He frustrated Alvarez early, pounded him with big right hands in the middle rounds, and made him look just like he said he would — like any other opponent.

Mayweather was favored 117-111 and 116-112 on two ringside scorecards while a third inexplicably had the fight 114-114.

“I just listened to my corner, listened to my dad,” Mayweather said. “My dad had a brilliant game plan, and I went out there and got the job done.”

The sellout crowd of 16,746 at the MGM Grand on Mexican Independence weekend tried its best to urge Alvarez (42-1-1) on, but the cheers of “Canelo! Canelo!” were faint and wistful by the late rounds. Mayweather was so much in charge that the only question was whether the ringside judges would allow him to pitch a shutout.

The fight was one of the richest ever — if not the richest ever — with a live gate of $20 million and at least another $100 million from pay-per-view. Tickets were so hot that celebrities were actually offering to buy them and some tickets were being offered online for as much as $29,000.

Mayweather was the big beneficiary of that, making a guaranteed $41.5 million to $5 million for Alvarez. Add in his purse from his win over Robert Guererro in May and Mayweather made $73 million in two fights — easily making him the highest-paid athlete in the country.