Following industry sources reporting that the third fight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez and Gennady Golovkin sold just over half a million PPV buys, the broadcaster has revealed the official figures.
Earlier today, journalist Dan Rafael detailed underwhelming figures, citing trusted sources for the information. The 550,000 – 575,000 number was around half of the PPV buys sold for Canelo and ‘GGG’s previous fight in 2018.
USA Today’s Lance Pugmire sought to confirm, and has now revealed that a DAZN representative has told him that the fight generated 1.06 million buys – a number which includes both monthly subscribers and one-time buyers. The pair’s first fight in 2017 was beamed into 1.3 million US homes via HBO PPV, and 1.1 million for the rematch.
Rafael, however, stuck to his sources, claiming that the newly-released 7 figure number was worldwide buys.
The 1st Canelo-GGG fight did 1.3M PPV buys in the US. The rematch did 1.1M PPV buys in the US. The 3rd is going to be between 550k-575k in the US, per sources. DAZN’s announcement of 1.06M is PPV buys for the ENTIRE WORLD. Apples to oranges.
This prompted a response from the fight’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, who said simply ‘No it’s not’ to the journalist’s claim. A back-and-forth ensued surrounding the cost of purses versus revenue.
Dan of those BUYS the huge majority were in US..you were well out
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) September 21, 2022
Hearn went on to say that the fight gate brought in around $22 million, and that the ‘vast majority’ of buys were from American customers.
The conversation is important to pundits and fans given the circumstances. DAZN is a worldwide monthly subscription service that has only recently entered into the pay-per-view market. Canelo, given his star power, is rightly seen as a good measuring stick for how the broadcaster will compete with other big business in the sport.
As of writing, DAZN has made no official statement on the purchases of the fight.