slickrick00 wrote: Further establishing that he is one of the two PPV kingpins, I'm told that Manny Pacquiao's loss to Juan Manuel Marquez did an incredible 1,150,000 PPV buys!

HOUSTON -- The fourth fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao generated about 1.15 million buys on HBO PPV, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com on Saturday.

Throughout the promotion for the fight, which took place last Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, apparent fan fatigue resulting from their three previous bouts was evident, and after a bit of an admittedly slow promotion, Arum said that the pay-per-view projections were sluggish -- until the buys picked up significantly on the final day with a rush that he said helped push the fight into seven figures.

The final numbers were not in yet, but HBO did not dispute Arum's figure, which means the fight will generate in the neighborhood of $70 million in domestic television revenue.

"We are happy. It's a very big success," Arum said Saturday morning, hours before his Nonito Donaire-Jorge Arce junior featherweight title fight was to air on HBO (9:30 p.m. ET/PT), along with a replay of Marquez-Pacquiao IV. "The number of buys on the last day was disproportionately large. We were tracking a lot less until the last day and then we did a land rush of business. It built and built."

slickrick00 wrote: Former NC State wrestler and national champion Darrion Caldwell won his second pro MMA fight last night in Texas by TKO in the 1st. Darrion competes in the featherweight division and moves to 2-0.

tmacerus wrote:

slickrick00 wrote: Former NC State wrestler and national champion Darrion Caldwell won his second pro MMA fight last night in Texas by TKO in the 1st. Darrion competes in the featherweight division and moves to 2-0.

Nice!  Will be real interesting to see what he does moving forward.  Do you know what camp he trains with?

slickrick00 wrote: North Carolina native Derek Brunson (9-2) will be making his UFC debut on next weekend's undercard against veteran Chris Leben (22-8). Outstanding opportunity!

slickrick00 wrote: Now hearing that the CBS boxing telecase on Saturday did closer to 1.5 million viewers. Still, it was definitely a good showing.

HBO’s boxing broadcast beat Showtime’s telecast Saturday night by a significant margin.

According to ratings released this week by Nielsen Media Research, HBO’s audience more than doubled Showtime’s audience. The HBO “World Championship Boxing” broadcast highlighted by Nonito Donaire’s three-round demolition of Mexico’s Jorge Arce drew slightly more than 1.3 million viewers, while the “Showtime Championship Boxing” telecast that featured Amir Khan’s 10th-round stoppage of Carlos Molina drew roughly 616,000 viewers.

Showtime’s live broadcast began at 10:30 p.m. ET, an hour after HBO’s telecast started. The HBO broadcast also had a strong lead-in, because the network replayed Juan Manuel Marquez’s one-punch, sixth-round knockout of Manny Pacquiao.

The Showtime doubleheader began with hard-hitting heavyweight Deontay Wilder’s third-round knockout of previously undefeated Kelvin Price.

HBO’s subscriber base exceeds Showtime’s by approximately 8 million as well, which also accounts for some of HBO’s advantage in boxing viewership.

slickrick00 wrote: A little more local flavor is added to the UFC undercard on December 29th. Byron Bloodworth (6-2), raised in Huntersville, NC, faces Mexican figher Erik Perez in a Bantamweight matchup.

slickrick00 wrote: For those interested, Bellator will be hosting an event in Charlotte this February.

slickrick00 wrote: This weekend's UFC event live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on PPV (top ten world ranked fighters indicated in bold):

- 170 lbs.- Junior "Cigano" Dos Santos (Brazil; 15-1) vs. Cain Velasquez (California; 10-1) * World Heavyweight championship fight
- 185 lbs.- Costa Phillipou (Cyprus; 11-2) vs. Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch (Pennsylvania; 16-4)
- 155 lbs.- Jim Miller (New Jersey; 21-4) vs. Joe Lauzon (Massachusetts; 22-7)
- 185 lbs.- Yushin "Thunder" Okami (Japan; 28-7) vs. Alan Belcher (Arkansas; 17-5)
- 155 lbs.- Melvin "The Young Assassain" Guillard (Louisiana; 47-12-3) vs. Jaime Varner (Arizona; 20-7-1)

Prelims free on FX
- 185 lbs.- Chris Leben (Oregon; 22-8) vs. Derek Brunson (North Carolina; 9-2)
- 135 lbs.- Brad "One Punch" Pickett (U.K.; 23-6) vs. Eddie Wineland (Illinois; 19-8-1)
- 155 lbs.- Myles Jury (Michigan; 10-0) vs. Michael Johnson (Missouri; 13-6)
- 125 lbs.- John Moraga (Arizona; 11-1) vs. Chris "Kamikaze" Cariaso (California; 14-3)
- HWT - Phil DeFries (U.K.; 9-1) vs. Todd Duffee (Indiana; 7-2)
- 135 lbs.- Erik Perez (Mexico; 12-4) vs. Byron Bloodworth (North Carolina; 6-2)

slickrick00 wrote: I'm told that Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s (Michigan; 43-0) next opponent will be Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (California; 31-1-1). The bout will likely take place on April 5th in Las Vegas.

BlackRazor wrote:

slickrick00 wrote: I'm told that Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s (Michigan; 43-0) next opponent will be Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (California; 31-1-1). The bout will likely take place on April 5th in Las Vegas.

really? I heard it was Robert but in May & a PPV with Canelo.

slickrick00 wrote: I'm told that Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s (Michigan; 43-0) next opponent will be Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (California; 31-1-1). The bout will likely take place on April 5th in Las Vegas.

slickrick00 wrote: According to a TMZ video interview with promoter Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao is not retiring. Also, he says he believes that....(stop me if you've heard this one before).....Pacquiao will likely face Juan Manuel Marquez next. That would mark the 5th time that the two have faced each other. Wow.

slickrick00 wrote: According to a TMZ video interview with promoter Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao is not retiring. Also, he says he believes that....(stop me if you've heard this one before).....Pacquiao will likely face Juan Manuel Marquez next. That would mark the 5th time that the two have faced each other. Wow.

Zhuge1 wrote: Pretty slow boxing weekend, but there is one live card tonight on Telefutura at 11pm from Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The main event is Gamalier Rodriguez (19-2-3) versus Rafael Tirado (25-8-2) in a super featherweight fight.  Rodriguez is the favorite here as he's from Puerto Rico, but his record is heavily inflated as he's fought a series of fights in the Dominican Republic over the past couple of years against suspect "boxers."  For the most part, he's lost or drew when he's stepped in with a solid fighter.  Tirado isn't going to be a huge step up, but he's far better than guys Rodriguez has been fighting (who had records like 0-24, 2-23, 1-10, etc.).  Tirado has fought mostly in his native Ecuador and at age 39 might not have a lot left.  He's not beaten anyone of note, but has at least went 7 rounds with a former world champ (Simphiwe Nongqayi).

The co-feature is Isander Beauchamp (9-0-1) versus Omar Soto (15-8-1) at 112 pounds.  Beauchamp has not fought anyone of note (journeyman Ernie Marquez is the only guy on his record I've heard of, and that fight went to a draw).  Soto is a former contender at 105 pounds (straw weight) and has been in with some very good fighters at the lower weights.  He struggled as he stepped up to 108, and then fought for a world title at 112 pounds but fell short.  He is currently ranked at #15 by the WBC, #4 by the WBO, #3 by the WBA, and #13 by the IBF at 112.

slickrick00 wrote: This weekend's UFC event live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on PPV (top ten world ranked fighters indicated in bold):

- 170 lbs.- Junior "Cigano" Dos Santos (Brazil; 15-1) vs. Cain Velasquez (California; 10-1) * World Heavyweight championship fight
- 185 lbs.- Costa Phillipou (Cyprus; 11-2) vs. Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch (Pennsylvania; 16-4)
- 155 lbs.- Jim Miller (New Jersey; 21-4) vs. Joe Lauzon (Massachusetts; 22-7)
- 185 lbs.- Yushin "Thunder" Okami (Japan; 28-7) vs. Alan Belcher (Arkansas; 17-5)
- 155 lbs.- Melvin "The Young Assassain" Guillard (Louisiana; 47-12-3) vs. Jaime Varner (Arizona; 20-7-1)

Prelims free on FX
- 185 lbs.- Chris Leben (Oregon; 22-8) vs. Derek Brunson (North Carolina; 9-2)
- 135 lbs.- Brad "One Punch" Pickett (U.K.; 23-6) vs. Eddie Wineland (Illinois; 19-8-1)
- 155 lbs.- Myles Jury (Michigan; 10-0) vs. Michael Johnson (Missouri; 13-6)
- 125 lbs.- John Moraga (Arizona; 11-1) vs. Chris "Kamikaze" Cariaso (California; 14-3)
- HWT - Phil DeFries (U.K.; 9-1) vs. Todd Duffee (Indiana; 7-2)
- 135 lbs.- Erik Perez (Mexico; 12-4) vs. Byron Bloodworth (North Carolina; 6-2)

wolfpack87 wrote: I hate they moved the Brunson fight to the main card, I'll have to try to find a bootleg stream of it, that main card doesn't give me anything to pay for other than a title fight, and I don't think Velasquez has a chance in hell.