Pound-for-pound boxing champion Floyd Mayweather generated a flurry of pay-per-view buys for his Sept. 12 fight against Andre Berto but failed to deliver a knockout PPV performance.

The event, which Mayweather won in what he says is his last fight, averaged around 500,000 to 550,000 PPV buys, according to sources. That’s well short of the 1 million buys that Showtime executives said the fight had the potential to generate and far below the 4.4 million PPV buys Mayweather generated this past May in his fight against Manny Pacquiao.  

While Showtime executives would not confirm the PPV numbers, the company did say that it is satisfied with the fight’s PPV performance. The fight marked the last of a six-fight PPV agreement with Mayweather, a deal that featured the industry's two biggest PPV events -- the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout and the September 2013 Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez  fight.

“We are happy with the performance of the September 12 pay-per-view event … we witnessed four entertaining fights plus a historic moment as Floyd Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing,” said Steven Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports. “In all, we couldn’t be happier with our partnership with Floyd Mayweather.  In just two and a half years, across six PPV events, we generated more than 10 million domestic pay per view buys, totaling nearly $800 million in gross revenue.  We set all-time pay-per-view records on two separate occasions, the second of which is not likely to be exceeded in this generation, and we gave fans a wealth of entertaining and compelling shoulder programming.  In short, the Mayweather deal has far exceeded our expectations.”

In a first for a major pay-per-view boxing event, Showtime and CBS Media will stream Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather-Andre Berto pay-per-view boxing card, Showtime said Thursday.

CBS Interactive Advanced Media will stream the fight to computers and mobile devices via cbs.com/fight for $64.99. Boxing fans purchasing the fight online will also gain access to additional fight week events including Friday’s weigh-in and a countdown event for the four fight PPV telecast, said Showtime.

U.S.-based online buyers will also receive a three-month free trial of CBS All Access, the subscription video on demand and live streaming service for the CBS Television Network.

The fight, which the undefeated Mayweather said will be his last, is available on traditional PPV for a suggested retail price of $64.95. 

The Sept. 12 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Andre Berto fight could be bittersweet for pay-per-view distributors, as Mayweather, the category’s biggest draw, is expected to retire after the event.

While the bout for the WBC and WBA welterweight titles could draw as many as 1 million buys, according to fight distributor Showtime, the 38-yearold Mayweather last Wednesday (Sept. 2) reiterated to reporters his plans to retire after the fight during a conference call to promote the event. This week, promoters Showtime and CBS opened up a pay streaming option to add another option for potential buyers -- an unusual move for a big PPV fight.

If Mayweather does walk away from the ring after battling the 31-year-old Berto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, he would do so as the most lucrative draw in the history of the PPV category.

Mayweather led all athletes and entertainers in generating more than $870 million in PPV revenues, according to Forbes. That was before his record-setting May 2 fight against Manny Pacquiao, which generated more than $400 million in PPV revenue.

“While I will leave it up to others to debate Floyd’s position among the all-time greatest boxers, I can say he is undoubtedly the all-time PPV king,” Mark Boccardi, In Demand’s senior vice president of programming and business development, said.

PPV LEGACY ASSURED

Showtime Sports executive vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza has said that Saturday’s Mayweather-Berto event — which will retail for a suggested $64.95 — could draw in excess of 1 million buys, despite the relatively unknown status of former welterweight champion Berto. Espinoza said he doesn’t expect the fight to come anywhere close to the more than record 4.4 million buys generated by Mayweather-Pacquiao, though.

What Espinoza said he doesn’t have to predict is Mayweather’s legacy in the sport and the PPV category. “I don’t think that there is any question that Floyd Mayweather is the greatest PPV draw ever,” Espinoza said.

“He’s surpassed 2 million PPV buys three times,” the Showtime executive added, referring to Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez in 2013 and Mayweather-Pacquiao this year. “No other fighter has done it more than once,” Espinoza said. “He’s really separated himself from any other attraction.”

Mayweather’s appeal as a PPV draw extended beyond his in-ring exploits, Boccardi said. The fighter’s social-media appeal — Mayweather has millions of Twitter followers — as well as his appearances in entertainment-based vehicles from Dancing With the Stars to the WWE’s Wrestlemania have helped Mayweather create a brand that has transcended boxing.

“Not only is he incredibly gifted in the ring, but he’s also the sport of boxing’s first superstar in the Internet/reality-TV generation — he’s created another aura outside the ring because of the generation that we live in,” Boccardi said. “He’s a boxer that to some people is more famous for being a character on TV than a fighter, but he backs it up by being so talented in the ring.”

While Mayweather has set the template for being a successful PPV event draw, Boccardi said it won’t be easy for other up-and-coming fighters to replicate Mayweather’s success both in and out of the ring.

“The way he did it worked well with his personality, but it’s not going to work for everyone,” Boccardi said. “The old saying [that] you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole holds true here — you can’t take a guy that might be gifted in the ring but is shy and not confrontational and try to create another Mayweather.”

COULD HE ‘UNRETIRE?’

Of course, there is the potential that the industry will see Mayweather in the ring again after the Berto fight. Mayweather has retired and unretired in the past, and with a chance to build a 2016 mega PPV event around breaking legendary heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 mark in his next fight — assuming he gets by Berto — industry observers say it’s a good bet we’ll see Mayweather back in the ring.

Even Espinoza said Showtime would likely look to coax the undefeated champion back for one more go-round. Saturday’s Mayweather-Berto fight is the last bout in a six-fight PPV deal between Mayweather and Showtime.

“There’s a good amount of disbelief about Mayweather’s plans to retire, largely because he’s still operating at such a high level,” Espinoza said. “But he’s 19 years in, and that’s a long time to be a fighter, so I understand the disbelief, but I also hear in Floyd’s voice that he’s ready to call it a career.

“Having said all of that, we’re going to try, but for the time being he has said to us, don’t call me, I’ll call you for the foreseeable future.”

Showtime Sports will distribute the Sept. 12 Floyd Mayweather-Andre Berto fight on pay-per-view, in Showtime and “Money” Mayweather’s first PPV boxing event since the May 2 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, which generated a record-setting 4.4 million PPV buys.

The September bout is being billed as Mayweather’s last fight, and it is certainly the last fight in Showtime’s six-bout television agreement with the undefeated boxer.

Showtime Sports executive vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the upcoming fight — which will retail at a suggested PPV price of $64.95 — as well as managing the event’s performance expectations in the shadow of Mayweather-Pacquiao.

Espinoza also reflected on the success of the network’s multifight deal with Mayweather and looked ahead at the coming PPV opportunities.

MCN:There were initial reports that this fight would air on broadcast television via CBS. How did you ultimately come to the decision to distribute it on PPV?

Stephen Espinoza: [Broadcast television] would have been a really interesting and fun way to televise his last fight, but practically speaking, it didn’t work out from a timing perspective. Ad time and sponsor dollars are spent six to eight months in advance, so to try to sell ad time for an event of this magnitude eight to 10 weeks ahead of the event is something that is difficult, particularly when you’re talking late in the third quarter, when so much of the advertiser budget is committed.

MCN:Having said that, you don’t have the typical two to three months of lead time to promote a PPV boxing match and you’re dealing with a relatively unknown opponent in Andre Berto. Can you do an effective job 0f marketing the fight?

SE: We’ve known for a few weeks of the date and the opponent, so we’ve been making those preparations for quite some time. Behind the scenes, from a marketing and promotion perspective, the wheels began turning a long time ago. It’s inevitable that after a mega-fight like Mayweather-Pacquiao, whatever comes next will seem a bit anticlimactic. So we definitely have to work to fight that. In this case, Floyd said this will be his last fight, and he’s been consistently saying that, so the event takes on greater significance.

MCN:Do you have concerns that there may be some viewer fatigue stemming from Mayweather-Pacquiao?

SE: We’re not going to capture that magic on this event, but what we do have in this event is an even greater mainstream awareness of Floyd Mayweather than we did on the last fight.

The choice of Berto as an opponent in part is a response by Floyd to some of the feeling among some fans that there wasn’t enough action and aggressiveness from Pacquiao during the last fight. If there’s one thing that Andre Berto is known for, it’s being an aggressive fighter — his greatest strength is also his greatest weakness in that he has one speed, which is all-out attack. We’ve seen that have some success against Floyd.

MCN:Do you think the fight can reach 1 million buys?

SE: I believe so. We have an incredibly strong undercard, great mainstream awareness among boxing fans generally, and historically September is a very good time for Mayweather pay-per-views because there are other opportunities for cross-promotion through CBS NFL football or CBS college football — there’s a lot more discussion around sports in general than even in May. There’s not a ton of sports competition, but there’s enough that there’s excitement about sports events in general.

MCN:The fight marks the end of your six-fight deal with Mayweather. Is it a bittersweet ending for you?

SE: Yes. The first five fights have really flown by, and looking back we’re all extremely proud of what we’ve done. Floyd has done his part, taking on tough fights, including two guys most people thought he’d never fight [Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez]. To be sitting here now with nearly 10 million PPV buys through the first five fights with some great moments and telecasts to show for it, we couldn’t be happier with the collaboration.

MCN:What does the future of Showtime PPV boxing look like after Mayweather?

SE: It will be a while for the vacuum to be filled. There’s not an obvious successor to Mayweather’s position as pay-per-view king, but if we look at the history of the sport, the vacuum is always filled. It might be a guy like Dante Wilder, or Keith Thurman or Danny Garcia or somebody that we don’t even see coming. But I have no doubt the vacuum will be filled pretty quickly.

Pound-For-Pound Pay-per-view boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will step in the ring Sept. 12 in a Showtime PPV fight against former champion Andre Berto, Showtime said Tuesday.

The fight is the final bout for Mayweather as part of the undefeated boxer's six-fight, multi-million dollar PPV deal with Showtime. The Mayweather-Berto fight had been rumored to be moving to free Tv as part of CBS’ deal with Premier Boxing Champions. 

Instead the PPV industry hopes it will get one more mega PPV payday from Mayweather, coming off the record 4.4 million buys generated from the May 2 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight.

It’s unclear how much Mayweather-Berto will cost boxing fans to watch on PPV, but its unlikely to hit the record $89 suggested retail price for Mayweather-Pacquiao.