Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder PPV numbers look set to be less than half the number Top Rank promoter Bob Arum had predicted for the super-fight.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Fury’s win over Wilder is set to snag just 800,000 to 850,000 sales of the $69.99 to $79.99 broadcast.
Arum had stated his expectations for the clash to reach at least two million.
The MGM Grand bout in Las Vegas proved to be a one-sided affair. Fury blasted his way to a seventh-round victory.
On the upside, the FOX/ESPN double telecast did break the all-time gate record for a heavyweight encounter.
Fury vs Wilder PPV numbers
The low Pay-Per-View buys have been attributed to streaming pirates. Plenty took to social media and other outlets to watch the fight.
It’s reported that between ten and twenty million watched the transmission on Facebook or Twitter alone.
Not only is the theft of the PPV bad for the promoters and TV companies, but it’s also terrible for the boxers.
Fury and Wilder should be able to claim their place among the great PPV sellers of the past, mainly due to the massive and well-publicized build-up.
That won’t be the case now.
But the whole event was huge. Witnessing fight week in Las Vegas, anticipation was far more significant than anything taking place on the strip in the last three years.
That won’t be remembered, though. Pay-Per-View numbers are usually the only indication of the magnitude of a contest once significant time passes.
ONE MILLION
Fury vs Wilder was estimated to need at least 1.2 million to break even on the promotion. Even though the current figure is yet to be officially clarified, it looks as though the final totals will certainly read below one million.
That’s less than both Canelo vs Gennadiy Golovkin bouts in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Also, far less than Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson, whose gate record the bout smashed.
Inflation obviously played a part in the new MGM gate receipts benchmark. Arum and Al Haymon must now contemplate tackling the virus of PPV pirates.
Year after year, the problem seems to be getting worse as more and more video platforms are made available to viewers.
The worldwide total will be known once the PPV figures come from several other territories.
