Let’s start with a question: Where are all those folks who said a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao bout was needed to save boxing?

When we find them, we need an explanation on what has happened in the wake of that mega-fight.

Last week’s middleweight title bout in Las Vegas between Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan is the latest in a string of pay-per-view events to significantly underperform expectations since Mayweather and Pacquiao smashed all records and sold 4.6 million for their May 2, 2015, showdown.

Alvarez and Khan combined to sell about 460,000 on pay-per-view, including 145,000 on DirecTV, about 230,000 on cable and about 60,000 on Dish Network. The rest of the sales came via companies like Verizon Fios.

Since Mayweather-Pacquiao did 4.6 million for their bout that was six years in the making, the Mayweather-Andre Berto, Pacquiao-Tim Bradley and Alvarez-Khan all seriously underperformed expectations. Gennady Golovkin’s October 2015 pay-per-view bout for the WBA and IBF middleweight belts with David Lemieux in New York did just under 150,000, though expectations weren’t high for that one.

The only bout in that time frame that came close to matching expectations was the November fight in which Alvarez decisioned Miguel Cotto to win the WBC middleweight belt in Las Vegas. HBO Pay-Per-View reported that show did 900,000 buys. Several industry insiders have said that number is grossly exaggerated, but Yahoo Sports has no specifics to counter the HBO Sports number.

Mayweather-Berto and Pacquiao-Bradley III both came in around the 400,000 mark, low numbers for fighters of their stature.

Adding the sales of all of the pay-per-views since Mayweather-Pacquiao together and they come out to only a little more than the 2.2 million that Alvarez and Mayweather sold for their 2013 bout.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the reasons for the various bouts coming in lower than expected, though a reasonable guess would be the public’s extraordinary dissatisfaction with the way the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight went.

It was a money grab in which fans were even charged to go to the weigh-in. Now, all of the money from that went to charity and organizers said they did it as a form of crowd control, but it was the last straw on a show in which promoters did everything they could to extract every last cent out of their customers.

That might have been OK had the event lived up to the billing. The undercard was woefully lacking in stars and competitive fights, with both televised undercard bouts being one-sided blowouts in which the B-side never had a chance.

Canelo Alvarez looks on after knocking down Amir Khan during their WBC title fight. (AP) More

On top of that, Mayweather dominated the main event and was content to cruise to the easy victory instead of putting his foot on the accelerator, taking a little risk and going for a finish.

It was a brilliant display of boxing by Mayweather but it wasn’t entertaining for fans who had hoped to see the two best fighters of their era put on a dynamic match. It was a business deal between two veteran fighters who were each content to take their nine-figure paydays and laugh their way to the bank.

In that atmosphere, it was hard for anyone subsequently to sell. And Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who promoted Pacquiao-Bradley III last month, is going to feel the brunt of it in July when his pay-per-view bout between Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol is also a dud at the box office.

Story continues