Estimates of the success of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor pay-per-view sales are expected on Thursday and industry experts expect it will surpass the record 4.6 million buys of Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
"If I had to guess, I would say it's going to break the record," said an industry official who declined to be identified because non-cable buys were still being counted.
UFC President Dana White said in a Tuesday night video posted by FanSided's Mike Dyce that the Saturday fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas _ won by Mayweather with a 10th-round technical knockout _ had 6.5 million buys.
Another industry official said that although that lofty figure ultimately could be reached, it's premature to place the figure that high.
"Where we are right now, I think I can say with 52 percent authority that we'll break the record," the official said.
Saturday's competing HBO-televised boxing match, in which Miguel Cotto won the 154-pound belt at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., peaked with 805,000 viewers, so there was some good competition for Mayweather-McGregor.
But the mainstream appeal of the match between the now 50-0 boxing champion and the popular UFC lightweight champion nevertheless made it very attractive to consumers.
