The "Fight of the Century" between boxing greats Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao generated record pay-per-view revenue in the United States of $400m (£254.8m) from 4.4m buys, cable networks Showtime and HBO said on Tuesday (12 May).

The 2 May fight in Las Vegas that saw Mayweather beat Pacquiao in a unanimous decision cost $99 to view in high definition. With additional revenue from ticket sales, international TV distribution and other sources, worldwide receipts are expected to top $500m, the networks said.

Pay-per-view purchases nearly doubled the previous record of 2.48m of the Oscar De La Hoya v Mayweather fight in 2007, and nearly tripled the record $150m US pay-per-view revenue from Mayweather v Canelo Alvarez in 2013.

The majority of the revenue goes to the boxers, and Mayweather, the winner of the fight, stood to take the largest share.

The Mayweather v Pacquiao fight was co-produced and co-distributed by Showtime, a unit of CBS, and Time Warner's HBO. HBO and Showtime stand to make a small cut from pay-per-view, splitting just 7.5 percent of revenue.

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