Now that Manny Pacquiao has disposed of former welterweight champ Miquel Cotto, the drumbeat has already begun for a 2010 showdown between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
At the end of Pacquiao’s 12-round decisive TKO of Cotto last night, which gave Pacquiao an unprecedented seventh title in seven different weight classes, much of the sold out crowd at the MGM Grand Arena at Las Vegas began shouting “We Want Floyd” in anticipation of what many observers believe would be the most lucrative fight in boxing history.
Certainly cable operators are salivating at the possibility of pitting the two biggest pay-per-view draws in the game today against each other. Mayweather’s Sept. 19 win against an overmatched Juan Manuel Marquez drew a surprising 1 million buys, cementing Mayweather’s position as a sure-fire PPV attraction.
While PPV returns are not in yet on last night’s Pacquiao-Cotto fight, the event will most likely surpass the 1 million buy mark given the excitement and buzz going into the event, as well as Pacquiao’s PPV history in big PPV events. The Filipino fighter’s December 2008 fight against Oscar De La Hoya drew more than 1 million buys and his May 2 bout against Rickey Hatton drew nearly 900,000 buys.
With current World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley and World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto fighting each other in a Jan. 30 unification fight on HBO, there aren’t many other big money fights in the division to be made for either fighter.
Let’s hope both sides can reach a deal quickly to set up the first big fight of the next decade.
