It was announced today that Juan Manuel Marquez will face Mike Alvardo on HBO on Saturday, May 17th. This will be the same night as Bellator MMA’s inaugural PPV.
The fight between Marquez and Alvarado will take place at The Forum in Inglewood, California and it will be sure to draw a sell-out. The fight will be at the catchweight of 143 pounds. More intriguing was the announcement that the winner would face the winner of the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight on April 12th.
Payout Perspective:
This spring is a big one for Top Rank/HBO as it has Pacquiao-Bradley II, Marquez-Alvarado and Cotto-Martinez. The fan interest for Marquez-Alvarado will also be peaked by the knowledge that one will face the winner of Pacquiao-Bradley. Certainly, the name brand appeal would go for Pacquiao-Marquez V although the rematch of Marquez-Bradley would be entertaining as well.
But what does this mean for Bellator’s PPV? With the Marquez-Alvarado fight on HBO, subscribers may be compelled to tune into the boxing match and skip the MMA PPV. Of course, we’ll get the hardcore Bellator fans purchasing the PPV but if you are a combat sports fan you may be tempted to skip paying for Bellator and tune into HBO. We will see in the coming weeks how each markets its show on May 17th.
Can’t see belator doing more then 50000 even if all the stars in the universe aligned for them any way
I don’t think Top Rank is aware that Bellator exists. HBO probably thinks it’s on Showtime.
Funny. Bellator has always had a Hispanic angle to it as it tried to appeal to them more so than the UFC. Percentage of fan base wise boxing would probably hurt them more than it would the UFC on a typical event. I would guess anyway.
Your guess is useless baldy Dana.
There’s no crossover issue here. Most of the people buying the Bellator ppv are going to be hardcore mma fans. Also the Marquez-Alvarado fight will draw dismal ppv buys. Marquez can’t sell a ppv as an A fighter to save his life. That fight will probably do less than 200k buys. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bellator outdrew them.
There’s no crossover issue here. Most of the people buying the Bellator ppv are going to be hardcore mma fans. Also the Marquez-Alvarado fight will draw dismal ppv buys. Marquez can’t sell a ppv as an A fighter to save his life. That fight will probably do less than 200k buys. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bellator outdrew them.
The days of MMA supposedly stealing all the boxing fans and boxing going away are long over. Obviously someone was talking out their ass. Both events will draw all hardcore fans and the casual fan will sit this one out.
@D
you’re a f’n idiot. First and foremost the Marquez fight isn’t even on PPV it’s on regular HBO and second Marquez’s last fight on PPV did 375k buys so please continue to fill the world with your complete bs.
Marquez-Alvarado isnt a PPV.
Its on HBO Boxing.
the jmm and alvarado fight is on hbo, plus bradley jmm did alright and it wasnt for bradley