Paul (5-0), the notorious YouTuber-turned boxer, will face what many think to be his toughest test yet in former longtime UFC middleweight champion Silva (3-1). The pair meet in an eight-round, 180-pound bout Oct. 29 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The card airs on Showtime pay-per-view.
Boxing Pay Per View Buys
In a WBC semifinal heavyweight title elimination fight, Wilder landed his calling-card devastating right hand for a one-punch first-round knockout of Helenius on Oct. 15 in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions Fox Sports pay-per-view card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The total, according to one of the sources, was a disappointment but not totally shocking given that Helenius was a big underdog and not that well known as well as the fact that the pay-per-view faced stiff competition from the undisputed lightweight championship rematch between Devin Haney and George Kambosos Jr. that was available on ESPN and as well as major college football games.
In a recent interview with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, hall of fame boxing promoter Bob Arum weighed in on a number of topics. One of those topics was the 400,000 pay-per-view buys reported by Showtime for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Adrien Broner fight on January 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
It sounds like there might be some sour grapes from Arum, who promoted Pacquiao for over a decade and helped make Pacquiao a massive pay-per-view star. The relationship has been strained recently as Pacquiao had since moved on and signed with Premier Boxing Champions in advance of his fight with Adrien Broner. Top Rank in the meantime continues to be the leading promoting in the sport with no signs of slowing down.
Approximately 1 million people paid to watch Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins knock out Oscar De La Hoya on Sept. 18, 2004, in the ninth round of this middleweight championship unifying fight. The million PPV buys grossed approximately $56 million
Seldon vs. Tyson, which had 1.15 million PPV buys, is notable for a handful of reasons: Tyson knocked out Seldon in the first round, Seldon was accused by the audience of fixing the fight and, perhaps more importantly, this was the fight legendary rapper Tupac Shakur attended the night he was murdered.
Pacquiao vs. Margarito (Nov. 13, 2010) took place because negotiations between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather fell through. This replacement fight still sold well, 1.15 million buys. Pacquiao won by unanimous decision.
Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV (Dec. 8, 2012) is the fight that gave us the knocked-out Pacquiao meme. The fight, which drew 1.15 million buys, was Marquez finally getting the much deserved win over Pacquiao. Anyone who knows anything about boxing will tell you that Marquez was absolutely robbed of a victory in Pacquiao vs. Marquez III.
Victor Ortiz didn't stand a chance when he faced Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 17, 2011. Mayweather dominated from the get-go before quickly disposing of Ortiz in the fourth round, knocking him out. The bout drew 1.25 million PPV buys.
The most interesting thing about Pacquiao vs. Mosley (May 7, 2011), which the former won by unanimous decision, is the musical performances at the fight. Tyrese Gibson sang the national anthem, Jamie Foxx performed "America the Beautiful" and LL Cool J provided Sugar Shane Mosley's entrance music by rapping live. This fight drew 1.34 million PPV buys.
What's notable about Mayweather vs. Mosley (May 1, 2010) is that it was the first boxing match in the United States to use Olympic-style drug testing. This was done at Mayweather's request and agreed to by Mosley, who wanted to dispel the persistent rumors that he was a doper. Mayweather won by unanimous decision. The fight drew 1.4 million PPV buys.
Pacquiao vs. Marquez III (Nov. 13, 2011) resulted in a questionable split decision for the former. Fans at the MGM Grand were not happy with the decision, booing loudly and throwing items at the ring to show their displeasure. The bout drew 1.4 million PPV buys.
Evander Holyfield surprised the world when he defeated Mike Tyson by technical knockout in the 11th round. No, this isn't the fight you're thinking it is. This is the one before it, and it was also very successful. It drew 1.59 million PPV buys.
I don't know what's more memorable about this fight (June 8, 2002), the fact that Tyson lost his mind and caused a scene at the pre-fight press conference (Ring Magazine called this the "Event of the Year" for 2002), or Lewis knocking Tyson out in eighth round (Ring Magazine gave it the "Knockout of the Year" for 2002). Lewis vs. Tyson drew 1.97 million PPV buys.
It's kind of crazy that Mayweather vs. Alvarez (Sept. 14, 2013) is one of the highest-selling fights of all time (2.2 million PPV buys for Showtime) and yet still manages to be completely forgettable. Mayweather won by split decision, handling Alvarez his first professional loss.
Poor Oscar De La Hoya, man. No boxer has been screwed over worse by controversial split decisions in high-profile fights more than him. Case in point: May 5, 2007. The Golden Boy lost his WBC light middleweight belt to Mayweather Jr. in a bout so close, Mayweather Sr. thought his son had clearly lost. Granted, he was De La Hoya's trainer, but still. De La Hoya vs. Mayweather was the first fight to ever cross the 2 million PPV buys threshold (it had 2.4 million buys).
Boxing fans finally got what they'd spend years clamoring for when Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fought on May 2, 2015. Unfortunately, the fight didn't deliver. Mayweather handily boxed his way into a unanimous decision over a Pacquiao clearly no longer in his prime. To date, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is the most successful fight of all time. It drew 4.6 million PPVs buys, nearly doubling De La Hoya vs. Mayweather's figures.
The fight on Saturday in Las Vegas generated between 550,000 to 575,000 pay-per-view buys in the United States, according sources of Dan Rafael of Fight Freaks Unite. One source told Rafael that the final figure could climb to 600,000.
Even if it does reach that mark, the third fight in the Canelo-Golovkin trilogy is set to be deemed a disappointment for DAZN. The company reportedly needed far more than 600,000 buys to break even, considering the reported combined US$75 million it had guaranteed the two boxers.
Update: DAZN has confirmed that there were more than 1.06 million buys generated worldwide, including PPV and DAZN subscriptions. The company added that the fight was its biggest yet in 2022 both globally and in the US.
"On the pay-per-view buys thing, the pre-buys were going crazy," Paul added. "Up, up, up. And on Wednesday, when the news came out about Anderson saying he got knocked out or whatever and the fight was in jeopardy and all this press came out, the pre-buys tanked. All the way down
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Pay-per-view (PPV) has become a major revenue stream for sports events worldwide. PPV allows viewers to pay for access to live broadcasts of their favorite sports events, whether it be boxing, MMA, basketball, or soccer. The demand for PPV sports events has increased dramatically over the years, with certain events commanding millions of dollars in revenue.
Combat sports dominate in terms of pay per views as all top billed fights are made available by pay-per-view exclusively. Other team-based sports like basketball and soccer (which wrapped up our list) are available to many viewers through either a subscription to a particular broadcaster or via cable package.
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Boxing is undoubtedly the sport with the most PPV buys. While HBO, DAZN, and others do show fights, the top-drawing events are almost exclusively pay per view. Fights generate billions of dollars in revenue, with the biggest names in the sport including the always well-paid Floyd Mayweather, Tyson Fury, Canelo Alvarez, and Anthony Joshua to name a few drawing even better. The highest-grossing boxing PPV event of all time was the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight in 2015, which generated a record-breaking 4.6 million PPV buys. Mayweather also had the second highest in his fight with Conor McGregor in 2017.
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Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is another sport that has seen a significant increase in PPV buys over the years. The UFC is the biggest MMA organization in the world of course, with its PPV events generating many millions of dollars in revenue at each event. The most-watched MMA event was the UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor fight in 2018, which drew in 2.4 million PPV buys.
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