Mike Coppinger of RingTV is reporting that the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight this past Saturday night drew over 320,000 PPV buys. The number is seen as good news for Showtime Boxing.
The heavyweight battle which resulted in a draw did not disappoint those that paid $74.99 for the event at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The PPV event was an indicator of the popularity and marketing behind this fight as both boxers had never headlined a pay-per-view event. The two fighters helped sell the fight with their animated exchanges at press conferences and during face-offs. The two pulled through with an exciting fight which saw Tyson Fury get up off the ground after it looked like Deontay Wilder had knocked him out.
Payout Perspective:
320,000 PPV buys is an unofficial buy rate since Showtime has not provided official word on the number of buys. It may never confirm or provide a buy rate. The break-even point according to several boxing writers was 250,000 for Showtime. Since it did better, it bodes well for the budget of other upcoming cards. If this is the number (or the rumor), they are in line to do big business with a rematch which almost certainly will exceed this rating. While it might be convenient to bring up the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward two act PPV with the second PPV doing less despite a narrow win for Ward, Fury-Wilder is guaranteed to do much better. This fight was exciting and Fury’s resurrection in round 12 and Wilder’s one punch power will be what’s needed to sell a second fight.
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