Thousands of fans managed to capture the YouTube boxing fight on Saturday night, potentially costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to Sky Sports Box Office.
Viewers, many from the UK, watched the fight through man’s glasses as the reflection gave them an almost perfectly flipped view of the action.
DAZN, the US network provider, would also have been out of pocket. This is due to subscribers not signing up for access they gained from the live feed.
Two world champions featured on the undercard of what was a disappointing event in the end. Billy Joe Saunders and Devin Haney surprisingly appeared.
Both won in out-of-sorts performances. Then called out the top two pound for pound stars after having their hands raised.
Whether they can land those big fish, in Canelo and Vasyl Lomachenko respectively, is up for debate.
Despite Haney and Saunders not being at their best, fans in the arena – most of whom were teenagers, were only there for one thing.
YouTube Boxing
That was a six-round farce between two YouTubers who can’t box. The pair will now be out of pocket with what transpired online.
It’s rumored many others chose to live broadcast the fight to their friends, family and strangers too.
At the time a screenshot was taken of the event, the main event was in the ring. There were already 11,000 people watching the stream.
That number would almost certainly have risen as the bout continued.
BOXING PROBLEM
All in all, streaming illegally is a massive problem. Live feeds are now available at the fingertips of punters with smart phones.
Facebook live, YouTube and many more have the facilities for pirates to gather huge audiences to watch fights off mainstream channels.
Twitter regularly awash with those who’d rather rely on a dodgy stream than pay the fee on Pay-Per-View.
Prices of up to $99.95 in the United States and £24.95 in the United Kingdom are argued to be well worth what’s on offer.
The old chestnut of, ‘it’s only a round of drink’ is bandied around the UK market.
But with last weekend’s offering being only £9.95, it will be disappointing to learn some fans wouldn’t even pay that to watch the ‘fight’.
Was it worth it? You be the judge.
