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Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley fight does 1.4 million pay-per-view buys

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The promoter of the May 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley welterweight fight told The Times on Tuesday that the bout generated 1.4 million pay-per-view buys, making it the second-most lucrative non-heavyweight fight in history behind Mayweather’s 2007 victory over Oscar De La Hoya.

Mayweather improved to 41-0, surviving second-round trouble to win the last 10 rounds on the scorecards and claim an impressive unanimous decision.

(UPDATED 12:50 p.m.): De La Hoya’s 1999 bout against Felix Trinidad also generated 1.4 million PPV buys, but sold for less than Mayweather-Mosley, which generated nearly $80 million in PPV sales, promoter Richard Schaefer said. De La Hoya-Trinidad recorded $70.6 million in sales.

HBO released the official Mayweather-Mosley numbers Tuesday, announcing the bout generated $78.3 million in revenue.

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‘Now, Floyd holds the record as the No. 1 and No. 2,’ said Schaefer, who confided to being ‘pleased’ with the sales despite his promotional tour pronouncements that Mayweather-Mosley could generate 3 million or 4 million PPV buys. ‘If you set records, you have to be happy. With the way Floyd Mayweather is regularly producing these pay-per-view numbers, I’m thrilled.’

Mayweather received a major bump in popularity following the De La Hoya bout. His September 2009 victory over Juan Manuel Marquez generated 1.06 million in PPV buys, and his December 2007 victory over Ricky Hatton had 920,000 buys. Four of his bouts rank among the top-10 nonheavyweight PPV fights of all time.

Schaefer said that, contrary to information given by trainer Freddie Roach Monday, talks to stage the fight that will challenge Mayweather-De La Hoya’s 2.45 million buys, Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao, are not likely to begin this week.

‘Unless Freddie is talking to himself, Floyd is off taking a well-deserved rest,’ Schaefer said. ‘When the time comes, we will discuss what’s next for Floyd Mayweather, but nobody from our side is going to be talking publicly at all about dates, sites, anything to do with that fight. All this talking, talking, talking is how [negotiations] ended last time.’

Pacquiao won election to a congressional seat in the Philippines on Monday, and his immediate plans are likely staked to that responsibility. Roach and representatives of HBO have said a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is being penciled in for November.

--Lance Pugmire

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