Boxing is in great shape right now. The likes of Tyson Fury, Ryan Garcia and in his way Jake Paul, are putting plenty of eyeballs on the sport with their skill, charisma and social media savvy.
Despite boxing heading in the right direction in terms of audience and media interest, it still lacks a true crossover superstar to the same extent that it had previously.
In days gone by, some of the biggest boxers on the planet transformed themselves into true pop culture icons and in the process sold humungous numbers of pay-per-views as fans clamoured to watch their fights. Here are the five biggest-selling pay-per-view boxers of all time.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. (28m total)
Known today as the head of Mayweather Promotions, Floyd Mayweather is arguably the biggest superstar in the history of the squared circle. He has always been a businessman. Before putting on the suit and selling other people's fights, he sold the hell out of his own.
Across his unprecedented 50-0 undefeated professional career, Floyd sold more than 28m pay-per-views. Many of the biggest-selling boxing events of all time had his name on the marque. These include his clash with global sensation Conor McGregor, his final professional bout. His meetings with Manny Pacquiao and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez were also gigantic draws.
Manny Pacquiao (22m total)
Floyd's greatest foe Manny Pacquiao enjoyed a hugely successful pay-per-view career of his own. The fight between the two of them was stratospheric in terms of global interest in a boxing match.
Despite Manny's defeat to Floyd being undoubtedly the biggest PPV fight of his career, his wins over Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Oscar de la Hoya and Shane Mosley also helped make him the giant superstar he was then and remains today.
Manny now spends a lot of his time in Filipino politics, having spent six years serving as a senator for the Philippines, but across his illustrious boxing career, he contributed to the sale of more than 22m pay-per-views.
Mike Tyson (19m total)
Arguably the most popular boxer in the history of the sport, Mike Tyson sold his share of pay-per-views. From an early stage in his career, everything 'Iron Mike' did was box office, but his clashes with British superstars Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis were some of the biggest PPV draws of his era.
Certainly, his consecutive losses to Evander Holyfield, marred with controversy, were the biggest fights of Mike's storied career, across which he achieved a whopping 19m pay-per-view sales.
Oscar de la Hoya (14m total)
He may not have always come out on top in his fights, especially later in his career, but Oscar de la Hoya knew how to promote a boxing match.
While today he, like former foe Floyd Mayweather, is focused on promoting the fights of others through Golden Boy Promotions, across 45 professional fights, he managed to draw 14m PPV sales as an active boxer.
Some of his biggest drawing fights include losses to Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley.
Anthony (13m total)
The only active professional on this list, Anthony Joshua, still has time to continue to grow his pay-per-view legacy. At just 34 years of age, he has already sold more than 13 million pay-per-view buys.
His clashes with Wladimir Klitschko and Oleksandr Usyk in London drew huge numbers of buys, as to a lesser extent did his rematch with Andy Ruiz. Jr.
Joshua is demonstrably one of the biggest names in the sport today. The Brit will face Francis Ngannou in March, as he hopes to earn an undisputed heavyweight title shot against either Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk. That fight would surely cement Joshua's place as one of the biggest PPV draws in boxing history.
