Mike Tyson was a bigger star than Floyd but Floyd ppv sold better how!?

We now live in a different world.

Social media is huge.

FB and Twitter etc.

If Mike was in his prime now, he'd be doing crazy numbers.

I'm from the U.K.

When Mike was in his prime I couldn't get access to his fights.

 

Tyson wasn`t in his prime when he fought Lewis, while he was unbeaten champ he was a global superstar, in the UK his fights in the 80`s weren`t on PPV because there was no PPV thee at the time, that meant fights were on free TV and ratings were through the roof, I just read in my newspaper in an article talking about how famous the first bout between Eubank and Benn, it was also mentioned that there rematch was watched by an estimated half a billion people worldwide! That is because that fight was on free TV just like all fights in the 80`s, Tyson was far more famous in the UK than Floyd was.

The Jamaican woman in this London barbershop explains to Floyd that she knows who Tyson is but has never haerd of Floyd:

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This is how famous Tyson was in London:

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Just out of interest, how old are you Mark?

Everyone from the U.K remembers watching the Eubank and Benn fights live on TV. But I don't think that you could watch Tyson vs Bruno back in 1989.

Maybe someone will correct me. But I don't think Sky Sports was available at that point. Everyone who I knew, had to listen to that fight on the radio back then.

 

Tyson`s title fights were shown on ITV the day after those fights happened, his fight with Frank Bruno was shown on sky TV before PPV started up in Britain, that fight is now considered iconic in the UK and everybody knows about how Bruno hurt the indestructable Tyson in the 1st round of their first bout, the fight was repeated on telestrial TV the day after it was shown live on Sky and Harry Carpenter who was commentating on that bout jumped out of his seat and shouted: ''come on Frank!'' When Bruno hurt Tyson which has also become an iconic moment, also the fight was mentioned on the news too. Bruno was a huge star in the UK at the time and his fight against Bugner attracted 12 million viewers in 1987.

 

The first Bruno v Tyson fight was on sky, most people that saw the fight seen it in pubs because sky wasn`t that popular in the UK at that point, I was 12 at the time and watched the fight on the BBC the day after it was shown on Sky and can remember Harry Carpenter jumping out of his seat shouting to Frank when Bruno hurt Tyson in the first round.

 

Thanks.

Yeah, I remember Sky not being popular until a few years later.

It really took off with the birth of the Premier League in 1992.

 

Floyd is incredibly insecure damn.

 

Mike Tyson is indeed much bigger star than Floyd ever was. I still have to meet person who doesn't know Mike Tyson.

Here in Ukraine everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE knows Mike and recognises him on photos. Even grannies, even alcoholics, even children aged 10-12 (Tyson retired 15 years ago) know who Mike Tyson is.

And nobody here besides boxing fans knows who Floyd Mayweather is.

Tyson is one of the greatest sports legends ever, that's a fact.

 

Closed circuit TV and PPV—-Use google or ask your grandparents about history

 

This.

 

As others have said , Tyson fought in a different age. An age where cell phone were used for making phone calls. Texting charge by the letter . There is no doubt Had the Tyson personal fought in the same era as Floyd he would have as big if not bigger PPV numbers.

 

Others have already covered most of the points, but in summary:

(a) Prime Tyson's fights were all in an era that pre-dated really mass market PPV.

(b) PPV had taken off quite a bit for post-jail Tyson, but still wasn't what it is now, and that fighter wasn't nearly the same animal as before in either a sporting or a commercial sense [though the two don't always go hand, as the numbers for Mayweather-McGregor will attest].

(c) From a commercial perspective I think prime Tyson probably fought too often to really allow maximum promotion and build-up for any individual fight [as opposed to his status generally]. Up and including his first title win Tyson fought 13[!] times in 1986 and even after that 4 times in 1987 and 3 times in 1988. This, compared to today at the top level, combined with the mixed quality of his opposition, tended to dilute the sense of any individual fight as a special occasion.

If Tyson had beaten Douglas and gone on to fight Holyfield, then his fight against Holyfield, undefeated undisputed champ vs undefeated #1 contender, both in their primes [admittedly only theoretically so in Mike's case] would if promoted properly IMO have been the biggest fight of all time. Match-ups really matter. Tyson was easily the biggest name in boxing in 1987, easily, but Hagler-Leonard was a much bigger fight than any of Tyson's in that year [or probably ever], because both fighters were really big names.

 

John Ruiz also sold more PPVs than Muhammad Ali, doesn't mean he's more popular.

Different times.

Tyson is a pop-culture reference, an almost mythical name that would probably be more on the level of names like Hercules. Floyd is a celeb in comparison.

 

Man, I legit can't put into words HOW much of an icon Tyson was/is. It is insane. Boxing has BEEN dead in Korea for a very long time, and EVERYONE knows Mike Tyson.

There was a clip of a man getting kicked by a horse and I heard a teenager say "that probably hurts like 3x more than Tyson". Absolutely boggles my mind.

These numbers are straight ass, no proof behind them, but from my experience in talking to people in Thailand, Korea, and Japan, 1 out of 10 people know Pacquiao, 1 out of 40 knows Mayweather, and 1 out of 1.1 knows Tyson.

Imagine if the youngest heavyweight champ in history knocking fools out in 30 seconds while giving up size advantage every time were to exist in today's time... dear lord. The hype... legit wouldn't be surprised at ALL if a Tyson fight breaks 3 mill + buys every single time.

Same goes for Jordan. Tyson and Jordan are the 2 athletes that really are mega stars. I'd say Tyson eclipses even Jordan's popularity though, a lot of kids these days think Jordan is just a streetwear shoe brand