Promoters and PPV

It’s a combination of broadcasters and promoters chasing the content and fights that bring in the most money.

all the while their is competition across both of those factors PPV view will continue which is not great for the fans. Fans would benefit from a UFC style one or maybe two promoters running the sport as they would see all/most the fights and less would be on PPV as that promoter would have enough of a stable to sell rights fees across the world not just a couple of countries.

For instance PBC possibly have almost zero presence in the UK which is the second largest market for boxing. Yet they are one of the largest in the US and hence in order to fund the fights they want they have to put them on PPV. If they promoted globally they could make up a PPV shortfall by having fees in 20/30 territories.


However for the boxers competition is good as they can go for bigger purses from broadcaster to broadcaster. Dillian Whyte for instance was offered good money by PBC a few years ago that was impossible to match for SkY and Matchroom unless it was PPV. Matchroom then have a choice loose Whyte to the PBC and potentially give them a foot in the UK market or put Whyte fights on PPV unless Sky were willing to put up £1/3m in rights fees to put it on normal Sky which they arent.

for me the best solution is something like DAZN driving out all competition and having a relationship with 2/3 promoters then all the rest going out of business. That way fights still have options but for us fans we only pay to watch boxing with one broadcaster and get all the fights.


I don’t mind if DAZN has decent quality fights weekly and 3 PPVs a year for the top fights like AJ vs Fury etc or Spence vs Crawford

 

We've been over this over and over, and Hearn is not right. It's laughable. People are either thick or in a state of cognitive dissonance.

If everyone stopped buying ridiculous PPV's like Chisora, or Joshua vs Molina, then the boxers would simply have to settle for much lower commissions.

The truly big fights would therefore be reserved for PPV, with 95% of crap contests still occuring (after a period of transition) for much lower fees, and the other 5% being lost - and does the world really need another Chisora vs X on PPV?

 

I don't think zero competition is good at all as we have seen with Matchroom on Sky with the solo deal - they have served up turd after turd with even plenty of turd ending up on PPV.

The standard of cards and fights fell through the floor.

 

If Pudding Whyte or Chisora etc won't fight for £200k purses or below, they should be told to fook off as UK boxing would easily survive without them.

 

But the glossy stadiums, fireworks, sound systems, ring announcers like Diamente, relentless marketing and an all-star cast of former boxers and pretty women have hit an all-time high and these expenses don't pay for themselves.

People are so gullible. The think that their heroes like Chisora would sit on the couch if PPV for no-hopers ceased to exist? No, he'd be fighting in the York Hall for £50k and you'd be able to watch him at least 3 or 4 times per year!

 

In early 2018 Chisora fought on the undercard of Whyte v Browne in an 8 rounder against an unknown Frenchman after losing to Kabayel on the undercard of a show in Monaco. How he’s gone on to headline 4 shows including 3 PPV’s (and lost them all may I add) just highlights the problem. Fighters have one decent performance and you get Hearn throwing accolades at them and declaring them this and that, thus over-inflating the fighters own opinion of themselves and demanding higher purses.

When Kelly v Benn was discussed it was ‘that’s a PPV fight next year’ ... it’s like it’s almost some kind of achievement. Why not just say they’ll be fighting next year.

Don’t give in to average fighters and don’t buy crap PPV’s. Simple.

 

The funny thing is all of these bouts would be happening regardless of PPV eligibility.

The money men will, of course, take what they can get. They're not going to turn around and say "you know what, have this as part of your already considerable subscription fee". It's literally their job to extract as much cash out of the consumer, as possible.

The only ethics involved in this business is to make the consumer aware of what they are paying for and of course time after time the mugs line up to dig their own grave.

 

That's the case for some of them. But sometimes, PPV is made through greed. Bellew-Cleverly for example.

 

Ultimately the consumer sets the price like with every market. PPV based at 20 quid for AJ to blow some fat mess away in 60 seconds is on PPV and AJ may earn 5M quid because people buy it. If nobody bought PPV then AJ would be paid 80K. Simply don’t buy PPV.

I earn a good wage but I don’t have sky tv as I think it’s far too expensive. I certainly wouldn’t buy a PPV as they are not worth it, not fury/may weather or anyone else.

rather buy a couple of bottles of nice red wine and listen to the fight on the radio/YouTube the next day or via another secretive method.

 

Yeah I won't pay for Sky Sports as it's a rip off and certainly wouldn't pay extra ontop to watch the likes of Whyte and Chisora. I did pay for Taylor v Prograis though as I wanted to support such a top class fight and couldn't make it to the actual fight.

 

People need to stop buying the PPVs.
A lot of people complain but buy it anyway.

The problem with boxing is the casual fans are kept in the dark. Unlike football, where even a casual fan can easily understand the league and schedule and see where the teams are placed and why, boxing is based on bull****.
If enough pundits and promoters are on TV saying Chisora's a legend, or Whyte's a superb world class contender, the casual fans don't have anything to check it against. The WBC give someone a Silver Belt, call him Interim Champ and #1 then that must mean something, right?
It takes a bit of research and honesty to go beyond and realize maybe this "best fighter in the world" is actually nothing of the sort.
It's too much bull****.

Even before PPV, Sky were hyping the **** out of mediocre British boxers too.

 

I've seen the Eddie Hearn interview on IFL TV and I was a little sad when Hearn said that Chisora's jaw is still good and that he has not slowed down.

Seriously hope that there is one of Chisora's friends who takes a serious talk with him, but... it's a free world we live in.

 

I'm pleased to see this on the thread.

Aside from the PPV debate, the price of regular sports subscriptions with long-term contracts has to come into question too.

The conventional logic from many is that "everyone has Sky so their boxing is basically free to air".

Until more like you see Sky Sports for what it is - very very expensive, with dubious value for money offered - any debate about broadcasting degenerates into nonsense.

Spot on. The governance of boxing makes it too easy for each promoter / broadcaster / region to live in their own little reality bubble, often with no reference outside of their bubble.

 

Got to agree with the football league and schedule example - Tony Dosh PPV billed by Earn as Liverpool FC with opponents such as Pudding Pulev etc billed as Man City or Chelsea. The reality is that Joshua is more Derby County and Pulev etc more Accrington Stanley.