I don’t think Whyte has a fan base as such, not like Joshua or Fury. People wouldn’t travel ‘for’ Whyte in the US for example. Chisora vs Whyte sells because it’s a guaranteed good fight, not because people are die hard Chisora or Whyte fans. In fact you seem to be pretty much the only Whyte ‘fan’ on this board. Most people seem fairly indifferent.
I don't believe I am the only Whyte fan on this forum, however I did mention in my trail of posts that it is the majority of punters and not the purists that fill up arena seats for AJ and Whyte. And clearly any fight with Whyte in it 'sells' I mean the numbers speak for themselves. If you tally it up, Dillian has done more PPV sales than Fury. And it is what it is... we can only go by facts and figures. If Whyte had another big UK fight, not involving AJ or Fury, or Wilder, he would still draw big numbers and have it PPV. He has the punters on his side. Not the purists who want sweet science, the punters who want a KO, an exciting guts and glory fight - these are the majority.
I think so, I thought they got some excellent footage, some good interviews and they linked it all together well. I much preferred their build-up to the Showtime stuff, although that may be because it was pitched towards a UK audience so was a little less emotive as I saw it. They had a great interview with Wilder, one of the ones where he comes across as thoughtful and likeable rather than idiotic. There's one of them here: This content is protected
I don’t think it does particularly, depends who he’s fighting. Whyte doesn’t capture people’s imagination in the same way in my opinion. I’m not particularly interested in PPV numbers but it’s clear that Fury is a bigger draw than Whyte. Fury’s biggest fights have been out of the country but it’s obvious to me he’s far more high profile generally.
Reason I said 'no figures' in my last post was that I was giving my, entirely subjective, reading of the relative interest in each fight. I'm not basing this on how many people have already been drawn to each respective fighters events. As I said above, it's largely irrelevant because AJ alone can get most of the way to selling out Wembley against someone that few people have heard of, either of these guys will ensure a packed house and a scramble for tickets. Where the big difference will come however is in the PPV and this is what will turn a big domestic fight into the biggest ever. The build-up on social media in particular will be enormous because Fury is box office on the back or front page in a way Whyte will never be. Fury is a polarising figure, people love or loathe him, which is the best possible opponent for any boxer if you want to engage the casual market. Everyone will have an opinion about him, whether they follow boxing or not. People will pay to see him win and probably more will pay to see him get his block knocked off. If I were talking about Fury headlining his own event then the reservations about true size of his following would be more germane. We're not however, we're talking about multiple conflicting narratives that equal marketing gold: The former champ vs the young pretender Lineal vs actual North vs South Media darling vs Media bad boy Clean living corporate friendly media trained and leashed robot vs fat beer drinking 'keeping it real' cokehead who says what he likes Olympic Gold medalist vs misogynist outsider Comeback king vs Mr consistent And on and on and on. It's a marketers dream and by the end of the build-up the entire country will be engaged in a way which has never happened in our lifetimes.
You write a convincing story of how Fury the polarizing figure could captivate British hearts and set the stage for the UK's biggest fight ever. Funny how he failed to do that over in the US despite a jolly good tour, ending with poor turnout and poor PPV sales. In fact while Fury was out being polarizing, AJ said he would be fast asleep on fight night catching up with the results in the morning when he would awake from his slumber. Not entirely sure how polarizing you think Fury is, but the boxing sales don't agree with you, and hearts were not captivated. In fact, the best piece of marketing to come out of Fury's career was giving tickets away to Firemen for free. Great charity stunt, cough no ticket sales. It's always a slow day in the tabloids and on the news, they sensationalize any figure and any story. Just because Fury makes the papers, doesn't make him anymore of a PPV star than Dillian. Just means a few bored nannies and daily readers can procrastinate during the AM. I'll stick to PPV historic stats when it comes to who brings what to the negotiation table. Besides, there is ample history and beef between AJ and Dillian to cast a 6ft 9 shadow over any polarization Fury can muster. Incoming message from Fury: *Hi Guys, I am out here... you know... being polarising... please can you buy my tickets? Thanks.*
None of the points I made apply to Fury in the US. A place where he is not a headline grabbing figure and where there's little understanding of his back story. I'm not saying he's a marketers dream in the US and I'm not saying he's a marketers dream in the UK, particularly at 5am in the morning against a guy who hasn't really broken through in the UK. I'm saying that in the UK at prime time matched against the highly visible and established AJ he is marketing gold dust and a fight between the pair of them would be far bigger than AJ v Whyte 2. However, I don't have any way to prove this so probably best to move on
How many ppv’s did Whyte get for the Chisora fight? I know they shifted over 400,000 for the Parker fight. They are decent figures. At £20 though they did not generate the same revenue that Wilder v Fury did which did over 300,000 at £58 a pop.
But the Internet told me Hearn was lying......... None of these pretenders want to take the risk while getting handsomely paid. They have a shot of glory but don't want it.
If I was Wilder or Fury I would find the Joshua fight much more appealing than a rematch. 4 belts. Wembley infront of 100k. More money and legacy. The top fights everyone wants to see are Joshua v Wilder or Joshua v Fury. If you ask anyone they’re the two they want, not Fury v Wilder.
Maybe he should stop lowballing people. Yes he’s the A side, yes he should get the better deal, but that’s Wilder, Whyte and Fury all turning offers down. I believe all 3 see themselves as number 1 in the division and they have the opportunity to prove it...so why have all 3 said no, could it possibly be that the offer isn’t what they feel they are worth? Yes, AJ can turn around and say ‘your loss’ but the fans will start to turn on him if they think greed is stopping the big fights happening.
Dillian Whyte v Joseph Parker non-title fight 474,000 PPV sales and 20,000 in attendance. Sold out. Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury title fight 325,000 PPV and 17,600 in attendance. Not sold out. Although a lot in attendance did not even pay for their ticket! Speaks volumes to me, excuse the pun.