Frank Smith, the CEO of Matchroom boxing, has voiced his opinions on all the recent talk about pay-per-view prices and the frequency of them.
Next week fans will be asked to fork out £26.95 to watch Tyson Fury take on Derek Chisora for the third time, a price fans are finding hard to justify, especially considering how easily Fury dealt with ‘Del Boy’ on their previous two encounters.
Shortly after that price announcement, it was confirmed that the all-British clash between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith in January will be shown on Sky Sports box office.
Asked by iFL TV whether a fight like Eubank-Smith would be pay-per-view on DAZN, Smith replied:
“No, not on pay-per-view”
Sky are also planning to show the Taylor-Catterall rematch on box office just a few weeks after the middleweight clash. The Matchroom promoter thinks this is simply because they are ‘under pressure’ to do so.
“I think they’re under pressure because they need to deliver PPV shows, because they haven’t really delivered any that have been massive successes in the last year or so.
They’re both great fights, but it’s tough times as well, people aren’t spending as much money.
But ultimately these fights, sometimes the only way they can be made, on Sky for example, it wouldn’t be possible off PPV.”
Speaking further about the Fury-Chisora price point, Smith went on to say:
“Ultimately that’s probably what was required to make that fight financially viable. Is it expensive? Yes. But probably the reason they needed to do it.”
Matchroom, who are exclusive to broadcast partners DAZN, have come under fire recently for making fans pay out extra on top of their monthly subscription for the top fights – something that was originally ruled out.
With the current economic climate and the volume of PPV events, many fans will have to carefully select which shows they’ll pay for and value for money will be key in that decision.