Neither Wilder nor Fury had ever appeared on pay-per-view prior to their Dec. 1 heavyweight boutGETTY IMAGES
The boxing match between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury on Dec. 1 "generated approximately 325,000 pay-per-view buys," according to sources cited by Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. The total is "considered a success given that neither fighter had ever appeared on pay-per-view previously and Fury was largely unknown to the American public because he had had very little television exposure." Based on 325,000 buys, the PPV grossed around $24M, though about "half that money goes to the cable and satellite providers." Meanwhile, Showtime's taped broadcast of the fight on Saturday night "drew fairly strong viewership for the week-old fight, averaging 488,000 viewers" (ESPN.com, 12/12).
A NEW ERA: Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, whose client Canelo Alvarez in October signed a five-year, 11-fight deal worth a minimum of $365M with OTT service DAZN, said, "Pay per view is dead and we’re going to bury it. I have mixed feelings saying that. My career was built on pay per view and I know to make this move is ballsy, but I believe in it. It’s now. It’s the future. I’m betting [Canelo's] future on it." In N.Y., Wallace Matthews notes with a promise of 70+ Golden Boy events a year, DAZN "believes it can generate enough monthly subscriptions to make its investment in Canelo a profitable one." De La Hoya: "We want to give fight fans some bang for their buck." He said of Alvarez' landmark deal with DAZN, "It was a really easy deal to make. We literally pulled it out of our ass" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/13).
