Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has reiterated his assertion that Saturday’s unanimous decision by Floyd Mayweather Jr. over Canelo Alvarez on Showtime Pay Per View will surpass Mayweather’s 2007 victory over Oscar De La Hoya as “the highest-grossing boxing event of all time.”

Mayweather-Alvarez eclipsed the record gate with $20,003,150, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, surpassing the $18,419,200 garnered by Mayweather’s split-decision win over De La Hoya. Mayweather-De La Hoya grossed a record $136 million overall.

Although Schaefer believes that Mayweather-Alvarez will stand as the highest-grossing event even if pay-per-view buys do not eclipse the record mark of 2.5 million set by Mayweather-De La Hoya, the numbers for Saturday’s clash of unbeatens are tracking in such a way that the buys will surpass two million, “no question about it,” said Schaefer on Wednesday.

“It’s definitely the highest-grossing pay per view of all time,” said Schaefer. “There’s a possibility that it could be the highest numbers of buys as well, but we’re still collecting data. I don’t want to make the statement that it’s going to surpass the buys [2.5 million] as well, unless I’m absolutely sure.”

On May 9 of 2007, four days after Mayweather-De La Hoya, the amount of pay-per-view buys was reported at reported as just over 2.1 million, a number which later grew to 2.5 million, Schaefer recalled.

“The way this is looking, we are ahead of those reports. We’re just going to have to see where it’s going to end up,” said Schaefer. “It is looking very strong, but I hope that I’ll have more concrete information by the end of this week.”

The numbers from Mexico reflect the superstar status of Alvarez.

“In Mexico, eight out of every 10 households with a T.V. in Mexico were watching the fight,” said Schaefer. “They had 78.4 percent of all households in Mexico where the fight was being watched. It was the highest-rated boxing program on television in the history of Mexico.”

The last time a sporting event rated as high in Mexico on Televisa was in 1999 for a Copa Confederaciones soccer final between Mexico vs. Brazil, with the only other programs rating this high in Mexico being select, very popular telenovelas on Televisa’s Channel 2.

The previous viewership high for Alvarez, who has never garnered less than 7.5 million viewers for one of his eight appearances on Televisa, was his unanimous decision in April bout against Austin Trout, which pulled in a 28-point rating and over 15 million viewers.

In addition, the amount of closed-circuit tickets sold at $100.00 each totaled “well over 26,500 in Las Vegas alone,” according to Schaefer.

Keith Kizer, executive director for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, said that he “would not be surprised if they matched it,” referring to the closed-circuit numbers.

Although Mayweather pocketed a record $41.5 million guaranteed purse compared to Alvarez’s of $5 million, Schaefer estimated that Mayweather stands to pocket “$70 or $80 million” with the new grossing record, and Alvarez, “well over $10 million.”

Photo by Tom Hogan, Hogan Photos, Golden Boy Promotions

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]