10-15 years ago, it wouldn't have been. Today? It was PPV or not at all. That trend isn't dying, unfortunately. The live draw wasn't that great, either. Despite the record setting Pac-Floyd fight, the boxing business here in the US as a whole is pretty ugly. PBC has to buy airtime in order to have a foty-caliber Thurman-Porter clash get outdrawn by two chicks in a UFC fight. Ward-Kovalev is one of the best fights in boxing, and it's going to do terrible numbers relative to the talent in the ring, especially if Pac is fighting in November. Just a rough time for the sport here.
I think you're right Kovalev-Ward will probably do bad numbers which is a shame because it's a great fight and should do great on PPV.
I'd love to be dead wrong on that. In a just world, that'd either do a solid few hundred thousand buys or deliver massive ratings on HBO championship boxing.
Every relevant promoter in the US at the moment is a "sham promoter." It's just a question of whether you're propped up by and take orders from HBO or Haymon. And that's exactly why Bob did what his bosses wanted for this fight instead of shopping it around, despite the fact that the absurd payday Crawford was characterized as supposdely wanting was scarcely much more than what he got against Lundy. Things are going to get even bleaker however if and when Haymon runs out of money and/or HBO decides to largely get out of airing network fights altogether. It feels like we're more than halfway towards both of those scenarios.
