It may not impact the bottom line for those people who are taking their chances against the boxing odds next weekend, but it is fascinating to look at the money that is at stake when Floyd Mayweather and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez meet up in Las Vegas for the WBC light middleweight and WBA "super" world junior middleweight titles (154 pounds). The bout is slated for Saturday, September 14 at the MGM Grand Garden, the arena that stands on the property of the MGM Grand Resort & Casino.
These are the boxing odds that are posted on this fight as they currently appear at BetAnySports:
Floyd Mayweather -270
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez +230
Over 11.5 Rounds -320
Under 11.5 Rounds +260
According to reports, one of which appeared in the New York Daily News, Mayweather is going to receive $41.5 million for this fight, although if you know how one of these promotions work, with "back end" money considered, it is going to be difficult to put an exact figure on it until sometime after the fight's conclusion.
The author of the story, Mitch Abramson (a former CJ Award winner), acknowledges that figure for Mayweather (the -270 favorite in the boxing odds) could actually go higher, depending on what the final pay-per-view numbers are. Either way, however, his take is going to be bigger than the $32 million he made for fighting Robert Guerrero in May. This should easily make him the highest-paid athlete in the world for 2013, based on performance earnings, and certainly fulfills the promise of the massive Showtime deal he signed earlier in the year.
Some of the people who are involved with the promotion (including Floyd himself, whose Mayweather Promotions is the de facto promoter) were speculating as to what the PPV buy rate would be. It had been suggested by Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, which does the promotional work on a "for hire" basis, that there might actually be more buys for this fight than were generated by the bout between Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, although that kind of projection would appear to be wildly optimistic.
However, the pay-per-view "universe" is larger than it was then, so BetAnySports customers know that means a fight could sell at a lower percentage rate of the total homes and still surpass the 2.44 million subscribers that Mayweather-De La Hoya did. And with a price of up to $74.95 (for homes with HD) that is being charged by Showtime, the money could indeed approach or exceed the record of $130 million.
Exact figures on the Mayweather-Guerrero fight are not really known; Showtime claims it was in excess of a million "subs" while some industry insiders insist that it was much lower. Alvarez (whose guarantee is said to be $15.5 million) is an opponent who will almost certainly drive the number well past a million. But for this fight to get into a truly rarified atmosphere, Alvarez (+230 at BetAnySports), who has never headlined a pay-per-view event, would have to turn his popularity among Hispanic fans, particularly Mexican-Americans, into cash at the PPV box office.
They have already demonstrated that they will step up to the ticket window. The fight, which will be held at the MGM Grand Garden, sold all of its available tickets within a day. Reportedly the live gate is at $19.1 million, which would be a record for Las Vegas. So one can understand where they would be very encouraged.
And who knows - if the fight is interesting enough, they could do it all over again several months from now. For that to happen, Alvarez, who comes in with a record of 42-0-1, may not have to overcome the boxing odds, but he would have to be much more competitive than Guerrero, who hardly laid a glove on the guy who calls himself "Money" (with sufficient justification, we might add).
Get the best odds available for the Mayweather-Alvarez fight at BetAnySports!