It was not a surprise Sky Sports confirmed this week to Boxing News that the Aug. 26 boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor set the company's all-time pay-per-view record.
Sky reported the bout was purchased in more than 1 million homes, breaking the record set in April by the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladmir Klitschko heavyweight boxing championship match that was held at Wembley Stadium in London and was considered the biggest boxing event on U.K. shores in decades.
With Showtime in the U.S. claiming numbers in the mid-four million range, it now makes likely that Mayweather vs. McGregor on a worldwide basis will end up as the biggest pay-per-view event of all-time.
The 2015 Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, by far the biggest prior event of all-time, did 4.6 million buys in the U.S. and 700,000 buys in the U.K.
Aside from those two shows, no pay-per-view event had even done 2.5 million buys in the U.S.
The U.K. numbers don't drive as much revenue, since the pay-per-view was priced at about $26 U.S. within the U.K. and $32.60 in Ireland, while in North America, the price was $89.95 for standard definition and $99.95 for high definition.