The 1.25 million buys ranks among the top 10 pay-per-view fights of all time, and represents the highest performing boxing PPV event of 2009, generating $70 million in pay-per-view revenue.

According to Mark Taffet, HBO's Senior Vice president of Sports Operations & PPV, last Saturday's Pacquiao-Cotto fight, which Pacquiao won with a 12-round TKO, and the Sept. 19 Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, which generated 1,050,000 buys, mark the first time HBO Pay-Per-View has recorded back-to-back fights of more than 1 million buys.

It is also the first time since 1999 that there have been two fights of more than 1 million buys in same year. That year both the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad fight and Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis exceeded 1 million buys.

Last weekend's big payday sets up what could become the richest fight of all time, between Pacquiao and Mayweather. Bob Arum, chairman of Top Rank, which represents Pacquaio, and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who will represent Mayweather in negotiating the fight, are expected to begin talks soon.

When the buys are fully reported, according to Taffet, Pacquiao-Cotto and De La Hoya-Pacquiao from last December (1.25 million buys) are the highest grossing fights since the De La Hoya-Mayweather matchup in May 2007, which set the all-time record for any weight division with 2.4 million PPV buys.

The breakdown for Pacquiao-Cotto: 650,000 cable buys; and 600,000 satellite and telco buys. It includes a record 110,000 buys in Puerto Rico.

Pacquiao vs. Cotto will be replayed Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/ PT on HBO. The victory by Pacquiao at the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was his seventh world title in as many different weight classes.

Enlarge Mark Ralston, AFP/Getty Images Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao attracted $70 million in pay-per-view revenue for their welterweight title bout last Saturday.