That guy coming off a loss is the Undisputed SMW Champion, and the 40 year old is a Unified MW Champion who's only loss was to the guy he's fighting. I have a ton of problems with DAZN, mainly how even in their PPV fights, like Canelo Bivol, they still showed commercials in between rounds during the main event. That said, if it was HBO, I would have no problem shelling out $85 for this one. Not only is it a long awaited main event, but it has Bam on the undercard and Gabe Rosado. Boxers gotta get paid, especially GGG who isn't gonna see this kind of $$ outside of fighting Canelo. So for the people who stream it, that's less $$ going to the fighters. No one's forcing you to buy it, I'm not one to judge, but I don't think $85 is outrageous for a fight of this magnitude and given the talent on the undercard. Especially when you have guys like Andy Ruiz Ortiz as a PPV. How much will Andy Ruiz Ortiz be? I would imagine that would be at least $50 maybe even $60. Clearly Ruiz Ortiz is not PPV worthy, but if DAZN doesn't charge $85 (or $65 for subscribers) then they'd be charging about the same amount for Canelo GGG 3 as they are for Andy Ruiz vs Ortiz.
It's tough to pay this after all the gaps in content they've had this year. What did my subscription money go to in January when they staged zero fights? Snooker? Darts? Women's soccer? A boxing talk show where they interviewed guys who weren't fighting? At some point it stops being expensive and starts being insulting.
DAZN is a flop. I won't be renewing my subscription and I won't be paying for this fight... It's irritating that we now have to pay to watch literally any boxing match on TV at this point... Guys that have no business being on a ppv event.
The DAZN business model was suspect from the beginning. DAZN was scraped together to fill in the void left by HBO bailing out of the boxing business. But in fairness to DAZN, it was working somewhat out the gate until covid happened. The idea of a subscription based boxing App is appealing, but DAZN just doesn't deliver the quality in my opinion. And their content is inconsistent. Eddie Hearn is a great promoter, he has a true passion for the business and is far more likeable and enthusiastic about the sport than other boxing promoters. But the optics of DAZN just aren't good, you introduce it as a subscription based service as an App then 4 years in you start doing PPVs. That said, I don't actually have a problem with them charging $85 for a fight of this magnitude with this undercard. This is the biggest fight in boxing hands down, I don't care that GGG is 40 years old or that Canelo is coming off of a loss. Mayweather Pacquiao was overpriced at $100. Most PPVs are in the $65-$80 range. With Bam and Gabe Rosado on the undercard, that bumps it up in my mind. I mean ask yourself, what should this PPV be priced at? And if you say $70 or less, then you're saying that Canelo and GGG, two names aren't as big as countless other PPVs that have occurred at that price with crappier undercards than you're getting here. So I get it from the standpoint of those who have been paying $20 a month and not feeling like you're getting your $$s worth. I get it especially for Americans who are paying a lot more than Europeans for DAZN per month and for these PPVs. That's insulting, why should Americans pay 5X what British fight fans pay? (oh right that's because of what time it is live, like 4-6 am U.K. time?, to watch it live) But even for regular DAZN per month, it's only like a couple of quid per month for UK Fans vs $20 per month for Americans. That whole model just doesn't seem right, regardless of the fact that $20 these days really isn't that much. I mean a lot of the people who will be paying $85 to watch it through cable probably will be having a party and will be inviting tons of friends over to watch it, so per person the cost is ridculously low to watch. For Bivol they showed it in America at AMC movie theaters at $20 per person. I just want to make it clear that I have a ton of problems with DAZN as a business and how they present prize fights. Watching a card on DAZN is often unsatisfactory to me as a whole. Watching Canelo Bivol and seeing all the advertisements and commercials during rounds in the main event was appalling. The ring announcer David Diamante, frankly I think that DAZN should pay me for having to listen to that clown introduce fighters. So DAZN as a product, as a broadcaster of live matches, it doesn't even come close to holding a candle to HBO. Sergio Mora I actually don't mind, but watching fights on DAZN just doesn't have the feel that really engages me as a fan that I used to when HBO had a PPV. That said, the price itself for the PPV alone, given the good undercard talent, even at $85 I don't find unreasonable. And I say that because of how big the first 2 fights were on HBO and how much they cost. Remember that Canelo GGG 1 on HBO PPV was $79.99 for HD. Canelo GGG 2 on HBO PPV was $84.99, which is the same price as Canelo 3 will be. So if Canelo GGG 1 was $80, and if Canelo GGG 2 was $85, then what's wrong with Canelo GGG 3 being $85 as well? The answer is because DAZN as a broadcaster of boxing sucks compared to HBO. But the actual price is pretty much the same as the first 2 fights were and this one is arguably even bigger, and has a good undercard, so from that standpoint, I don't have a problem with the price being the same as Canelo GGG 2.
Canelo GGG 1 was $80 and Canelo GGG 2 was $85. To anyone who paid for those and was satisfied, I don't get the rationale for now thinking that the same price is now unreasonable. If you're reasoning is that that price was fine for HBO but DAZN doesn't do as good of a job as HBO, I get that, I get that 100% and agree. But when you buy a PPV, are you really paying for the network it's on or are you paying to see the fighters fight? I just don't think that it's Canelo or GGG's fault that DAZN is so much worse than HBO. And to DAZN's credit, they do provide a lot of free content (as HBO did) in the lead up, press conferences, etc. So I do feel like DAZN as inferior as they were to HBO, do actually put in the effort into trying to build this up and they do provide free content in the weeks and months leading up to the fight. At the end of the day, as much as I preferred HBO to DAZN, I still don't think it's right for the fighters to make less $$ because the network that only exists because HBO left just happens to suck, at least when compared to HBO. At the end of the day, the fight itself is still massive and arguably is bigger now than the first 2 fights were. At least the anticipation of it, all the belts at stake, the personal animosity between these guys. So I get people not wanting to shell out $85 for reasons related to DAZN's business model, or quality of broadcast, or whatever the case may be, but the fight itself is worth $85, especially if Canelo GGG 2 cost $85 on HBO, and if Canelo GGG 1 cost $80. That's about the same price as those were, and we're getting a great undercard. My main gripes at this point isn't the $85 price tag, it's David Diamante and the commercials between rounds in PPV main events. Get rid of those 2 things, get Michael Buffer in there and stop running ads between rounds in PPV main events like it's a regular ESPN card and I can stomach the substandard broadcast quality of DAZN compared to HBO.
No, the subscription fee reduces the $85 to $65. And again, Canelo GGG 2 was $85, the same price. Canelo GGG 1 was $80, $5 less. The first 2 fights were $15 / $20 more than this will be to DAZN subscribers.
That's what you get, when you overpay your fighters. It's bad for boxing overall. I really hope this event will flop and prices will be normal in the next year
Hey I complained about all those weak PBC PPVs we've seen, I'm consistent about that! I gotta agree with you on Mora, I like him (sometimes). David Diamante used to seriously **** me off but he's been better since his recent accident. Is it possible he was humbled a bit? Mannix is the one who really bothers me. I gotta give my hot take on PPV. They have it backwards. Put Canelo vs GGG, Fury vs Wilder, AJ vs Usyk, and all the best you have on free TV like the Super Bowl. Then make hardcore fans pay for the ones only they care about. Everything at super flyweight, our favorite prospect in a showcase, guys with a strong regional following, all that kind of ****. It would be like paying extra to watch an out of market game. Grow the pie and take more (but smaller) bites out of it. Oh! I hate to say it but that makes a difference. At least they are acknowledging their existing subscribers in some way.
