Boxing beefing up on PPVs in 2014

Most MMA fans realize the strain that pay per views have on the wallet.  Boxing is starting to load up on them too as more of the bigger Golden Boy and Top Rank fights are heading to PPV instead of its respective premium networks.

Boxing PPVs are no longer limited to Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.  It was announced today that Canelo Alvarez will fight Erislandy Lara on July 12^th on Showtime PPV.  This will be the second PPV of the year for Alvarez as Golden Boy will hope to get at least 3 PPV fights from the Mexican star.

. @caneloOficial & @Laraboxing will meet July 12 in a showdown between 2 of the top jr. middleweights in the world! pic.twitter.com/6ZojtVgCgO

— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) April 14, 2014

In addition to Alvarez-Lara, the big event upcoming for Showtime/Golden Boy is May 3^rd’s fight between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana.

Last night, HBO/Top Rank featured its biggest fight in some time with Manny Pacquiao avenging his June 2012 loss to Timothy Bradley.  Its next big PPV fight will be Sergio Martinez taking on Miguel Cotto on June 7^th.  The broadcast also hinted that Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. will face Gennady Golovkin later this year in what should be a PPV affair.  Although not on PPV, Juan Manuel Marquez facing Mike Alvarado is PPV quality but will be on HBO (opposite the Bellator PPV) May 17^th.

Payout Perspective:

Are boxing fans willing to spend $70-$75 on these fights?  If you count Saturday’s PPV, and you spend money on all of the boxing PPVs currently announced by the big fight promotions, you would be out $285 (assuming Mayweather’s PPV is $75) and it will only be July.  Certainly there are intriguing matchups.  However, one of the criticisms that came up during the Pacquiao PPV was the lack of worthwhile undercard fights.  Last night we saw 4 undercard fights go the distance which pushed the main event start after midnight for those on the east coast.  Golden Boy has done a better job of putting on interesting undercard matchups.  The UFC does provide better undercard fights as compared to boxing PPVs.  But with the addition of more boxing PPVs, are fans of both MMA and boxing willing to spend the extra money on boxing PPVs.

We assume boxing fans out there have HBO or Showtime or both to take advantage of its fight content as well as its fights.  Certainly boxing fans still get their money’s worth when it comes to fights on the premium networks (e.g., Maidana-Broner on Showtime last December and JMM-Alvarado coming up on HBO).  There have not been any announcements for the second half of the year but we can expect at least 4 or 5 more PPVs announced (Mayweather in September, Pacquiao sometime late 2014, JCC-GGG, Canelo late 2014 and perhaps a Broner fight).  Can boxing fans keep spending their money on these PPVs?