By: Sean Crose

Sometimes an article requires a preamble. This is one of those articles. The truth is that Boxing Insider can’t confirm what the pay per view numbers for the third Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin pay per view card are. The reality is probably that few people can. Since we’re not sure who those people are, or if they’d even provide the straight numbers rather than a PR spin, we’re keeping neutral regarding yesterday’s Twitter throwdown involving journalist Dan Rafael, Promoter Eddie Hearn, Promoter Leonard Ellerbe, and the DAZN streaming service.

All we can say is Rafael reported the pay per view buys for Canleo-Golovkin 3 were numbered at around the mid to high 500,000’s. Hearn, who promoted the fight, took exception, as apparently did DAZN, which announced a “worldwide” number of over one million. Somehow Ellerbe and Hearn started going back and forth, leaving the rest of the world to ponder. Or not. Yet the entire affair was off putting enough for Hearn to discuss it in detail with iFL TV today.

According to Hearn, Rafael “basically got fed numbers from rivals and people with agendas and chose to print it. He’s not working with a big outlet at the moment, so he really can say what he wants. He rolled with it and he never asked anyone for a comment. He just rolled with it. And obviously people aren’t going to tell you the truth – you see their reaction on social media.” Hearn added that “probably at the time he (Rafael) reported the numbers, probably the compete numbers weren’t in anyway.”

Hearn went on to indicate DAZN felt compelled to set the record straight. “So that’s why DAZN wanted to come out last night and say over a million people bought the fight,” said Hearn. “And then he (Rafael) comes out and says yeah but about 50% of those were in America. Bullshit. What about 80% of those were in America?” For the record, if Rafael is right, the number of buys for Canelo-Golokvin 3 aren’t particularly impressive. Hearn, though, has his own take on things. “Look,” he told iFL TV, “the numbers were probably a little bit lower than DAZN anticipated. I actually think they’re very solid.”

Ultimately, Hearn appeared more frustrated with Rafael in the video than he was with the number of people who purchased Canelo-Golokvin 3. “To be a reporter and to not ask the other side for a comment,” he said, “and just to roll with numbers. I feel that was irresponsible.”

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