FanNation - The Republic of Sport

I typically don't care too much about the details of a fight. Just give me the show. But in analyzing the numbers from Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comeback win over Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19, it's hard not to be interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff.

By now, we all know the basics: One million Pay-Per-View buys (the fifth non-heavyweight fight to break a million and the first not involving Oscar De La Hoya), $52 million in domestic revenue and millions more in overseas revenue and money brought in from the 220 movie theaters across the country that showed the fight live.

The numbers are simply staggering, and they could paint a bright future for a sport that has struggled to regain its luster. I spoke to representatives from HBO, Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions on Monday night, and all agreed that this was the probably the most elaborate marketing campaign for a fight, perhaps rivaled only by the Mayweather-De La Hoya matchup in 2007. 

Some of the highlights:

1. Movie theaters, which have never been used to promote a fight before, were expertly used to advertise the fight. Tens of thousands of eyeballs were exposed to Mayweather-Marquez graphic, effectively creating a whole new avenue of promotion. Not to mention that, according to Golden Boy, more than 25,000 fans saw the fight live at $15 a pop."

"We are ecstatic at how the movie theaters worked out," said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer. "I talked to a number of people from theaters that didn't show the fight and they said they were kicking themselves in the butt for not doing it."

Schaefer says he hopes to expand the number of theaters for the next big fight and has been brainstorming other ideas to create more impressions. Some examples: Commemorative cups and popcorn boxes. 

2. All promoters try to target ethnic demographics, but the Mayweather-Marquez team did an effective job of infiltrating as many African-American and Mexican areas as possible. Taffet singled out the promoting done on urban websites like allhiphop.com, xxl.com and bet.com as well as Latino web pages.

"In today's market you can effectively target consumers," said Taffet. "You can reach exactly who you want to reach with your message."

And they did reach them. Besides the specifically targeted consumers, this promotion reached thousands of mainstream consumers with various efforts including t-shirts that were sold at 22,000 retail stores, programs that were sold on newstands and exposure in 1,500 Home Depot's. 

3. Give Mayweather himself a lot of credit. In the 21 months between his fights, Mayweather injected himself deeper into the mainstream. He wrangled his way onto Dancing With The Stars, negotiated an AT&T commercial and made multiple appearances on WWE shows. It was brilliant. For all the criticism Mayweather has received about how it was De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton who carried his last two Pay Per Views, 'Money' May proved he was a legitimate singular attraction. 

"I was telling everyone this for months!" said Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe. "Floyd is a global star. He's the face of boxing. All the stuff he did just broadened his fan base. It was careful and well thought out plan that took quite some time. And it worked."

4. The old adage is that you have to spend money to make money and Golden Boy, Mayweather Promotions and HBO certainly did that. Not just with the marketing and promoting but also with the undercard, which was one of the best I had seen in years. You had Michael Katsidis slugging it out with Vincente Escobedo for a title. You had Chris John proving again that he is the dominant featherweight of this era. You even got a taste of the future in Erislandy Lara, a former Cuban champion with tremendous power who picked up a KO on the untelevised portion of the show. These guys don't come cheap and all the parties involved agreed to pony up the cash to make it a superior show. 

The funny thing is that this may only be the tip of the iceberg. Taffet told me that in the next couple of weeks he will sit down and map out a marketing strategy for November's fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. One of his thoughts is that because the matchup is so popular HBO should spend more money on advertising the fight in mainstream digital media websites like SI.com, ESPN.com and Yahoo. 

"This is a supreme matchup," said Taffet. "We believe it will appeal to all sports fans."

So do I.