Tag Archives: view

Top Rank PPV Round by Round Results: Crawford Wins Fight When Khan Refuses to Continue

Posted on 04/21/2019

By: William Holmes

Amir Khan and Terence Crawford met in the main event of tonight’s pay per view offering by Top Rank Promotions and ESPN. Madison Square Garden was the host site of tonight’s card.

Three bouts were shown on the pay per view portion of the undercard and they showed some videos after the undercard to hype up the main event.

Danny Walter sung the national anthem of the United Kingdom. The national anthem of the United States was sung by Marissa Ann. Amir Khan entered the ring first and Terence Crawford came in second.

The following is a round by round recap of tonight’s main event.

Terence Crawford (34-0) vs. Amir Khan (33-4); WBO Welterweight Title

Rd 1:

Crawford looked intensely at Khan during the referee instructions. Both boxers start off in an orthodox stance. Khan goes with a body head combination but doesn’t land much. Crawford misses a check left hook, but follows it with a short left hook that partially lands. Khan comes forward with a double jab. Crawford is light on his feet. Khan misses with a two punch combination but lands a short left hook upstairs. Amir Khan throws out a few more jabs. Crawford lands a good short right hand and follows it with a two punch combination that knocks Amir Khan down. Crawford is looking for the knockout an dis pressing the pace. Khan is attempting to tie up at end of round and Crawford lands some heavy right hands as round comes to an end.

10-8 Crawford

Rd 2:

Khan was rattled as he walked to his corner in the previous round. Crawford paws out a few jabs and looks ready to surge forward. Khan circling away throwing out a few soft jabs. Khan with a two punch combination. Crawford throws out another two punch combination and bounces some off the guard of Khan. Khan lands a good straight right hand on Crawford. Khan is reaching for his punches a bit. Crawford lands another lead right hand and momentarily wobbles Khan. Crawford lands a good right to the body. Khan lands a good short left hook on Crawford. Khan may be recovered from that first round knockdown.

10-9 Crawford; 20-17 Crawford.

Rd 3:

Crawford lands an early jab. Khan comes forward and lands a good two punch combination. Crawford flicks out another jab and has Khan backing up. Crawford lands a good straight right hand. Khan lands a looping left hook. Crawford is controlling the territory of the ring. Khan’s hand speed is giving Crawford a little trouble. Crawford is more patient this round and looking for counters, but Khan may be stealing it by throwing first. Closer round.

10-9 Khan, 29-27 Crawford

Rd 4:

Crawford paws out a few jabs. Crawford in a southpaw stance. Crawford connects with a straight left hand. Crawford pawing out a few jabs, lands a good straight left hand. Khan lands a good multi punch combination upstairs on Crawford. Good body shot by Khan gets a tongue out response from Crawford. Khan rushes forward with a combination and Crawford ducks under. Khan lands a good straight right hand and Crawford answers with a combination to the body and head. Crawford’s punches do more damage than Khan. Crawford landing some heavy body shots on Khan. Khan getting hammered by Crawford. Good straight right by Khan at end of the round.

10-9 Crawford; 39-36 Crawford

Rd 5:

Crawford lands an early jab on Khan. Khan throws a double jab to the body of Crawford. Crawford lands a vicious two punch combination on Khan with his back against the ropes. Crawford lands a vicious right hook on Khan. Crawford starting to put a beating on Khan this round. Khan is reaching a bit for his punches, and Crawford makes him pay with good counters. Crawford with two more heavy shots to the body of Khan. Crawford looks extremely confident and barely misses with a windmill uppercut. Khan lands a reaching hook. Amir Khan lands a good right hand at the end of the round.

10-9 Crawford; 49-45 Crawford

Rd 6:

Khan misses with a jab to the body. Crawford is dictating the pace and barely misses with a two punch counter. Khan lunges forward on his attacks. Crawford lands a low blow and Khan visibly reacts. Khan is given time to recover.

The fight was stopped due to the low blow as Amir Khan is unable to continue.

The referee has to determine if the low blow was accidental or purposeful. If it is determined to be accidental the fight will go to the scorecards.

However, it appears the fight was not stopped due to a low blow, but due to Virgil Hunter asking Amir Khan if he wanted to continue and he said no. Therefore, Crawford gets a TKO victory since Amir Khan could not continue.

Terence Crawford wins by TKO at 0:47 of the sixth round.

More Headlines

Top Rank on ESPN PPV Preview: Crawford vs. Khan, Stevenson vs. Diaz

Posted on 04/18/2019

By: William Holmes

On Saturday night the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City will be the host site of Top Rank Promotions’ latest Pay Per View (PPV) offering. Terence “Bud” Crawford, one of the sports pound for pound greats, is slated to face off against international star Amir Khan.

This card will be distributed by Top Rank Promotions in conjunction with ESPN.

The undercard will feature several of Top Rank’s brightest prospects. The co-main event will be between Shakur Stevenson and battle tested veteran Christopher Diaz in the featherweight division. Other Top Rank prospects such as Teofimo Lopez, Felix Verdejo, and Carlos Adames will be featured on Saturday’s card.

The following is a preview of the co-main event and main event of the evening.


Photo Credit: Top Rank Boxing Twitter Account

Shakur Stevenson (10-0) vs. Christopher Diaz (24-1); Featherweight Division

Shakur Stevenson is probably the best prospect to come out of the United States Olympic team since Errol Spence Jr.

Stevenson is only twenty one years old and has never faced an opponent with a losing record. However, he will be facing the toughest test of his career when he squares off against Christopher Diaz on Saturday night.

Diaz is three years older than Stevenson and is in the midst of his athletic prime. Stevenson will have a two inch height advantage and a four inch reach advantage over Diaz.

Both boxers are known for having some pop in their punches. Stevenson has six stoppage victories and has stopped four of his past five opponents. Diaz has sixteen stoppage victories, and four of his past five fights resulted in a stoppage victory.

Stevenson has never been defeated and has beaten the likes of Jessie Cris Rosales, Viorel Simion, and Carlos Ruiz. He’s also been extremely active. He fought once in 2019, five times in 2018, and four times in 2017.

Diaz has defeated the likes of Braulio Rodriguez, Bryant Cruz, and Angel Luna. His lone loss was to Masayuki Ito in July of 2018. He fought three times in 2018 and three times in 2017.

Stevenson does have a significant edge in amateur experience. Diaz has no notable international amateur accomplishments, while Stevenson was a former US National Amateur Champion as well as a silver medalist in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

This should be a good test for Stevenson. He may be distracted with his latest legal issues with pending assault charges, but he’ll be fighting near his hometown of Newark, New Jersey and hasn’t shown many signs of weakness in the ring since his professional debut.

Stevenson should emerge victorious, but Diaz will likely not get stopped.


Photo Credit: Top Rank Boxing Twitter Account

Terence Crawford (34-0) vs. Amir Khan; WBO Welterweight Title (33-4)

Terence Crawford is currently the best pure boxer that Top Rank has under contract. However, it’s his drawing power as a pay per view star is debatable. But Top Rank should have a better idea of his ability to draw pay per view buys after Saturday’s fight.

Crawford is 31 years old and still in his athletic prime, and Amir Khan is only one year older and also still in the middle of his prime. Khan will have a very slight half an inch height advantage over Crawford, while Crawford will have about a three inch reach advantage.

Crawford does have an edge in power over Khan. He has twenty five stoppage victories, and has stopped his past five opponents. Khan has twenty stoppage wins, but he also has three stoppage losses.

Crawford has been fairly active recently. He fought twice in 2018 and twice in 2017. Khan has not been very active. He fought twice in 2018, but did not fight at all in 2017 and has only fought four times since 2015.

Khan does have an edge in amateur experience. He was a silver medalist in the 2004 Summer Olympics, while Crawford has success as an amateur in the US National Circuit, including a US National PAL Championship.

Crawford has beaten the likes of Jose Benavidez Jr., Jeff Horn, Julius Indongo, Felix Diaz, John Molina Jr., Viktor Postol, Henry Lundy, Thomas Dulorme, Raymundo Beltran, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Ricky Burns, and Breidis Prescott. Prescott is a common opponent that was able to stop Amir Khan.

Khan has defeated the likes of Samuel Vargas, Phil Lo Greco, Chris Algieri, Devon Alexander, Luis Collazo, Julio Diaz, Carlos Molina, Zab Judah, Marcos Maidana, Paul Malignaggi, Dmitriy Salita, and Marco Antonio Barrera. His losses were to Breids Prescott, Lamont Peterson, Danny Garcia, and Saul Alvarez.

Khan’s speed can give many boxers problems, but Crawford is an exceptional counter puncher who’s hand speed can match Khan. Additionally, Crawford’s knockout power will likely give Khan’s questionable chin issues.

This may be the last time we see Amir Khan in a big meaningful pay per view fight. Expect Crawford to emerge victorious with another stoppage victory.

More Headlines

PBC on Fox PPV Results: Benavidez Stops Love, Spence Cruises Past Garcia

Posted on 03/17/2019

By: William Holmes

AT&T Stadium, the home site of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, was the host site of tonight’s PPV offering by Fox Sports and Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.

This was the first ever boxing pay per view offering by Fox.

The first fight of the pay per view was between Chris Arreola (37-5-1) and Jean Pierre Augustin (17-0-1) in the heavyweight division.

Augustin was seven years younger than Arreola and has never suffered a defeat as a professional, but he has never faced someone on the level of Arreola before.

Arreola started the fight off by coming forward behind his jab, but Augustin was able to land his jabs from the outside and touch Arreola often, but his power didn’t bother Arreola.

Arreola had blood coming from his nose in the second round, but he didn’t appear to be bothered by it. Arreola connected with a stiff jab in the third round that staggered Augustin, and he was backing away and looked wobbly. Arreola followed it with a combination that sent Augustin to the mat and down for a count of nine, but the referee allowed it to continue.

Arreola immediately jumped on the still wobbly Augustin and forced the referee to stop the bout.

Arreola wins by TKO at 2:03 of the third round.

The next bout of the night was between Luis Nery (28-0) and McJoe Arroyo (18-2) in the bantamweight division.

Nery is a talented boxer and is making his US debut. Both boxers were southpaws and Nery was able to keep his distance and land outland his opponent early on.

Nery scored a knockdown in the second round with a short left uppercut, but Arroyo was able to survive the round.

Nery scored another knockdown in the third round after a quick combination that sent Arroyo to the mat. Arroyo had a small laceration by his nose as the third round came to an end.

Nery did not look like he was concerned about the power of Arroyo at all and landed a three punch combination in the fourth round that sent Arroyo down again. Arroyo got back to his feet, but was sent to the mat again in the fourth round after another combination and he got to his feet as the round came to an end.

His corner didn’t wait long to stop the fight in the fifth round, as Nery wins by TKO at 0:10 of the fifth round.

A walkout bout between Lindolfo Delgado (8-0) and James Roach (5-1) in the super lightweight division was shown due to the quick stoppage of the prior two fights.

Delgado looked to be in superior shape, and he has stopped all eight of his opponents that he faced so far.

This bout did not last long. Delgado blasted Roach for nearly the entire round and sent him down for the ten count after a vicious combination that ended with a body shot

Delgado remains undefeated with a knockout at 2:59 of the first round.

The next bout of the night was between David Benavidez (20-0) and J’Leon Love (24-2-1) in the Super Middleweight Division.

Benavidez looked to be a lot taller than Love, and was able to avoid the jabs and body attacks of Love early on. Benavidez was able to land some heavy combinations on Love when his back was against the back of the ropes, and he had Love stumbling back to his corner at the end of the first.

Benavidez continued to pound J’Leon Love when his back was against the ropes in the second round Benavidez landed two hard straight right hands to the chin of J’Leon Love, who covered up and offered nothing in return to stop the onslaught.

The referee jumped in to stop the fight at 1:14 of the second round to give Benavidez the TKO victory.

The main event of the evening was between Errol Spence Jr. (24-0) and Mikey Garcia (39-0) for the IBF Welterweight Title.

The announced attendance for this fight was 47,525.

Spence was active with his jab in the opening round and Garcia was showing good head movement. Spence’s straight left was landing in the first and second rounds, but Garcia kept it close in the second.

Spence’s reach was a major factor in the second round as his jab kept Garcia at bay. Garcia was unable to solve the reach of Spence and took some heavy shots in the third and fourth rounds, as he landed some heavy power shots.

Garcia came out strong in the beginning of the fifth round, but Spence quickly turned the momentum back in his favor with a crisp jab followed by power left hands. By the sixth round Spence looked like he was running away with the fight and was walking Garcia down and in total control.

Spence continued to touch Garcia at will in the seventh and eight rounds and Garcia had no answer for the offense of Spence. Garcia was able to land a few counter shots, but they had little to no effect on Spence.

Spence looked like he was close to stopping the fight in the ninth round as he pounded Garcia from corner to corner, but Garcia was able to stay on his feet and grit his way through the round.

Garcia was warned by his brother/trainer Robert Garcia that he was going to stop the fight before the start of the tenth round if he didn’t’ show him a little more than what he saw in the ninth round. Garcia was able to land some punches, but still got pummeled by Spence through most of the round and didn’t really threaten his opponent.

Garcia needed a knockout in the final two rounds in order to win the bout, but in the eleventh round it appeared it was Spence who was going for the stoppage as he brutalized both the body and head of Garcia.

Even though Spence was comfortably ahead in the final round, his corner told him to go for the stoppage and he did, but Garcia was able to survive the fight.

Errol Spence wins by a wide decision with scores of 120-107, 120-108, and 120-108.

Afterwards, Spence called out Manny Pacquiao for a fight and Pacquiao appeared to willingly accept it.

More Headlines

DAZN Flexes It’s Value with Canelo vs. Rocky

Posted on 12/12/2018

By: William Holmes

$74.99

That was the price for the latest boxing PPV offering between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. It was an instant classic and an amazing fight. The PPV started around 9pm and within four hours it was all over.

If you wanted to watch the heavyweight title fight you would have had to pay about $20 an hour to watch it.

Was it worth the price? For the main event fighters, especially for those that get a cut of the pay per view buys, absolutely.

But was the $75 price tag worth it for the fans? Comparatively speaking, no.

It wasn’t that long ago when PPV’s used to cost $39.99, but the price has nearly doubled since then and the monetary value for fans only decreases as the price increases.

If you want to buy a PPV chances are you’ll look for some friends, or maybe even some people you can barely call an acquaintance, that are willing to fork over some of their hard earned cash to chip in and watch boxing. If you’re willing to pay for the entire fight yourself you can probably fill your home with people, but finding fight fans willing to chip in $20 isn’t always an easy thing to do.

Some fight fans may resort to illegally streaming the fight and dealing with the annoying pop-ups and exposure to malware, while risking possible prosecution. Some fight fans will even resort to watching the fight on social media, as someone streams their television screen from their phone while exposing the interior and furniture of their abode.

Never mind the dog barking in the background, you’re saving money…illegally.

The price point for PPV’s has gotten so high that you basically have to either fork over $75 yourself to watch it, scramble to find willing and able friends to chip in for the fight, or risk illegally streaming the fight with low quality streams and virus infected ads.

DAZN’s biggest star and attraction, Canelo Alvarez, is no stranger to Pay-Per-View. He’s fought on PPV a total of nine times. The PPV that sold the lowest number of PPVs was his fight against Liam Smith, which sold 300,000 PPVs. His highest was against Mayweather, which sold 2,200,000 PPVs.

In total he has sold 8,075,000 buys for approximately $605,000,000 in revenue. He has averaged 897,222 PPV buys per event.

In comparison, Mike Coppinger of Ring Magazine estimated the PPV buys for Wilder-Fury to be a bit north of 320,000.

Canelo, who is by far the bigger draw when compared to Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, can be watched on Saturday for only $9.99 (and free for new subscribers). That price is at least seven times less than the price of the Wilder PPV, and includes several boxing and MMA events on top of the Canelo Alvarez fight for the month that you sign up. That price is at least seven times less than the price of the Wilder PPV, and includes several boxing and MMA events on top of the Canelo Alvarez fight for the month that you sign up.

The best part of this deal? Canelo’s next eleven fights will be shown on DAZN, and there’s many fights out there that can be made featuring Canelo that would normally have been put on PPV in the past.

$74.99 would get you about seven months with DAZN. That will likely include 2 Canelo fights that would have normally been shown on PPV, two fights featuring heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, Bellator MMA events, and a large number Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Boxing events.

With the PPV model, $74.99 will get you about four hours of fights.

Seven months vs. four hours.

The value, for fight fans, is clearly with DAZN.

More Columns

Showtime PPV Round by Round Results: Fury and Wilder Battle to An Entertaining Draw

Posted on 12/02/2018

By: William Holmes

Deontay Wilder (40-0) and Tyson Fury (27-0) met for the WBC Heavyweight Title in the main event of tonight’s Showtime Pay Per view (PPV) offering.

The heavyweight division used to be the glamour division in boxing with the biggest pay per view offerings, and this was the biggest heavyweight fight capable of selling pay per views and capturing the public’s attention since Lennox Lewis was a champion.

A silent tribute was given to former President George H.W. Bush before the start of the fight, and that was followed by the national anthems of tonight’s fighters.

Tyson Fury entered the ring first and he was followed by Deontay Wilder to an enthusiastic crowd.


Photo Credit: Showtime Boxing Twitter Account

Round 1:

Wilder throws an early jab to the body. Wilder looks to be in good shape. Wilder with another jab to the body. Wilder misses with two wild shots and Fury clings to Wilder. Fury puts his hands behind his back. Fury backs into a corner and Wilder lands some short shots on Fury. Fury lands two quick jabs on Wilder. Fury puts his hands behind his back again. Wilder hits the shoulder of Fury. Fury lands a body shots and Wilder lands a left hook to the chin of Fury. Fury lands another short jab. Wilder misses with another wild right cross. Wilder misses with another wild right and Fury lands a good combination.

10-9 Fury, but close round

Round 2:

Wilder misses with a jab. Fury is showing some good head movement. Wilder looks a little flustered. Wilder with two more jabs and misses. Wilder lands a right but it was partially blocked. Fury lands a good short right hand to the chin of Wilder. Fury puts his hands in the air and taunts Wilder. Fury lands two good jabs. Good right to the body of Wilder by Fury. Fury’s jab is looking good. Wilder barely misses with a vicious right hand and follows it with a left hook. Wilder barely misses with a right cross again.

Another closer round, 10-9 Fury. 20-18 Fury

Round 3:

Fury lands a quick jab to the body. Fury with another jab to the face of Wilder. Fury lands another jab. Wilder lands a good jab on Fury that gets his attention. Wilder barely misses with a wide left hook. Wilder with a decent hook to the body and Fury answers with a hook upstairs and then two jabs. Fury lands a good straight right hand and then puts his hands behind his back again. Wilder lands a good right hook and Fury then lands a combination to the body. Good short right by Fury and he then ties up with Wilder. Fury with a good right to the body.

10-9 Fury; 30-27 Fury

Round 4:

Wilder has a lot of Vaseline on his face. Wilder with a jab to the body. Wilder barely misses with a straight right hand. Fury lands a short left hook on Wilder. Good jab by Fury, and Wilder answers with a jab of his own. Loud chants of USA in the crowd. Wilder barely misses with a bomb of a right hand. Good jab by Fury. Fury lands a good two punch combination. Fury is still showing good foot movement and lands three good jabs from the outside. Fury looks like he is bleeding from his nose.

10-9 Fury; 40-36 Fury

Round 5:

Wilder is bouncing on his feet. Wilder gets tagged with a quick jab and answers with one of his own. Fury leads with a left hook. Wilder misses with a left hook right cross combination. Fury lands a left hook. Wilder backs Fury into a corner but doesn’t land anything with the opportunity. Wilder lands a jab in the nose of Fury. Fury may be tiring. They both land a jab. Fury with a jab to the body and then head. Fury with a quick little combination. Wilder misses with two bombs and Fury answers with a combination. Wilder just not landing his big shots.

10-9 Fury; 50-45 Fury.

Round 6:

Wilder backing away from Fury. Wilder throws a jab to the body. Wilder misses with two jabs. Wilder misses again with a straight right. Fury with two quick jabs, but Wilder lands a jab of his own. Fury lands a combination and backs Wilder up. Wilder has some swelling by his left eye. Wilder lands a quick jab. Wilder lands a short jab. Wilder gets tagged by two jabs. Fury looks comfortable on the outside. Wilder lands a short right, but then eats two jabs. Wilder gets hit with another jab. Wilder’s jab is effective when he throws it, but he’s not throwing it enough.

10-9 Fury; 60-54 Fury.

Round 7:

Fury is circling away from Wilder’s power hand. Fury lands two jabs followed by a right cross. Fury lands a good right cross. Wilder lands a good jab to the body of Fury. Fury lands a jab to the body and Wilder lands a counter left hook. Fury lands a hard right hand. Fury is throwing a little more power into his shots. Wilder throws some bombs but misses. Wilder lands a good jab. Wilder misses another hard right hand. Fury lands another good hard straight right hand. Wilder lands a good jab on Fury.

10-9 Fury; 70-63 Fury.

Round 8:

Fury lands a quick reaching jab. Fury looks like he wants to press more than earlier rounds. Wilder misses with a straight right hand. Fury lands another good jab on Wilder. Wilder misses with a jab. Fury is tagging Wilder with his jab and dodging out of the way of his power shots. Fury goes to the body of Wilder. Wilder lands a good jab. Wilder sticks two jabs in the body of Fury. Fury with a good right hand followed by a right cross. Tyson Fury is looking very confident.

10-9 Fury; 80-72 Fury.

Round 9:

Fury has Wilder backing away. Fury gets touched with a jab. They both land a jab at the same time. Wilder is still a danger with his power. Wilder barely misses with a two punch combination. Wilder lands a right hook and Fury gets to the mat. Fury gets up before the count of ten. Wilder is looking for bombs and Fury ties up. Wilder barely misses with a wild right hand Fury lands a good right cross. Wilder misses with another bombs. Fury lands a good two punch combination. Wilder throws some bombs but misses. Fury just took a deep breath. Fury puts his arms up and begs Wilder to come forward. Fury lands some short shots inside and makes Wilder miss again. Entertaining round.
10-8 Wilder, 88-82 Fury

Round 10:

Fury looks recovered. Fury lands a good short right hook on Wilder. Fury has Wilder backing up. Fury lands a good two punch combination. Fury lands a good jab. Fury lands a good two punch combination. Good jab by Fury again. Wilder lands a good jab. Fury lands a good two punch combination. Wilder lands a good right hand of his own. Fury lands another good two punch combination. Fury flicks out a quick jab. Wilder misses with a lot of combinations.

10-9 Fury; 98-91 Fury

Round 11:

Wilder lands a jab to the body of Fury. Wilder lands another jab to the body but Fury lands a jab upstairs. Wilder probably needs a knockout to win. Fury lands another good jab on Wilder. Wilder misses with a combination and Fury lands a short hook. Fury lands a good jab followed by a combination to the body. Fury lands another short jab on Wilder. Wilder lands a good left hook on Fury. Wilder landed a good body shot on Fury that appeared to slow him down a little bit. Fury gets tagged by a short uppercut by Wilder. Wilder may have stolen that round.

10-9 Wilder; 107-101 Fury

Round 12:

Both fighters are bouncing on their feet as round starts. Fury looks to have a little more energy than Wilder. Fury barely misses with a jab. Fury lands a good right cross and Wilder answers with a two punch combination but Fury gets back to his feet. Wilder throwing bombs and Fury ties up. Wilder lands another good shot on Fury. Fury backing up. Fury puts his hands behind his back. Fury lands two good shots of his own and then ties up. Fury coming forward and throwing good shots. Fury is coming forward on Wilder. Wilder looks tired. Fury tags Wilder with some shots to the body.

10-8 Wilder. 115-111 Fury by Boxing Insider.

Both fighters embrace each other at the end and exchange words of respect after a highly entertaining bout.

The judges scored the fight 115-111 Wilder, 114-110 Fury, and 113-113 for a split decision draw.

More Headlines

Showtime Boxing PPV Preview: Wilder vs. Fury

Posted on 11/30/2018

By: Sean Crose

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury will meet for heavyweight glory this weekend when they face off in a scheduled 12 round bout for numerous accolades. Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title is at stake, as is a claim to the lineal heavyweight championship, which Fury earned in stunning fashion by besting long standing lineal champ Wladimir Klitshcko in 2015. Also possibly at stake is a future battle with widely regarded heavyweight kingpin Anthony Joshua, who holds every other meaningful heavyweight recognition besides those held by Wilder and Fury. Both Wilder and Fury are reportedly earning a combined sum of well over 20 million dollars for their fight. The match will be aired live via Showtime PPV.


Photo Credit: PBC Twitter Account (@premierboxing)

America’s Wilder and England’s Fury are undefeated fighters. Wilder holds a record of 40-0. All but one of his fights has ended via knockout. An incredibly powerful puncher, the Alabama native most recently defeated the lauded and undefeated Luis Ortiz, a crafty and hard hitting contender who gave Wilder a considerable amount of trouble. Wilder was finally able to take his man out, however, proving that he could indeed meet and beat a top level contender. Although awkward, Wilder arguably works to land his big punches, rather than simply relying on them to carry or rescue him on the road to victory.

Fury, on the other hand, is known to rely on a slick skill set. Boasting of a record of 27-0, Fury’s greatest win was the victory over Klitschko. Afterwards, Fury lost his belts and also descended into a black hole of booze, drugs, food and depression. Fortunately, the fighter was able to pull himself out of the mire and went on to win two fights in the past year (against less than top opposition). He has reportedly lost over a hundred pounds since deciding to return to the ring after his over two-year absence, and has looked quite sharp in training for this weekend’s fight.

Although Wilder is favored to walk away with another win on Saturday – he isn’t favored overwhelmingly, as Fury is known to fight in a quirky, frustrating style that stopped future Hall of Famer Klitschko in his tracks. Fury is also a master of mind games, and has been said to have gotten into Wilder’s head in the leadup to this weekend’s bout. The general consensus, however, seems to be that Fury, slippery though he may be (especially for a man of his enormous size), can’t avoid Wilder’s devastating power all night, and that the American’s punches will ultimately tell the tale.

Also on the Pay Per View portion of the card will be a junior middleweight title bout between the 22-0 Jarrett Hurd and the 24-6 Jason Wellborn. At stake are Hurd’s IBF, IBO, and WBA titles. This fight is expected to end in a Hurd victory, as Wellborn isn’t a top name in the division and Hurd, who is coming off of surgery, recently bested the very impressive Erislandy Lara last spring. Wilder victim Ortiz will appear on the card, too. He’ll be facing the 32- 2 Travis Kauffman in order to improve his own record to 30-1. This will be Ortiz’ second fight since his lost to Wilder, having knocked out Razvan Cojanu last summer.

Saturday’s Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury Pay Per View Card will begin airing at 9 PM Eastern time, bringing with it a price tag of $74.99.

More Headlines

The PBC is Primed to Take Over the PPV Market

Posted on 11/19/2018

By: William Holmes

Much has been written about in the past several months about the arrival of streaming as a viable platform for boxing promoters. Top Rank has aligned themselves with ESPN+, which is available to subscribers for $5 dollars a month. Golden Boy Promotions and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing have aligned themselves with DAZN, which is available to subscribers for $10 dollars a month.

Both platforms seem intent on convincing promoters to abandon the traditional Pay Per View(PPV) model in favor of the newer streaming model.


Photo Credit: Stephen Espinoza Twitter Account (@StephenEspinoza)

However, there’s still one major player in the sport of boxing that isn’t aligned with any streaming service, and they appear to be focused on their relationship with Fox Sports and Showtime with an eye towards PPV for their bigger fights.

That player is Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBC).

HBO’s retreat from the Pay Per View Boxing business left a hole that the PBC appears to be more than ready to fill. On Saturday December 1st they’ll put on Heavyweight Title Fight on PPV between undefeated Tyson Fury and undefeated champion Deontay Wilder.

The Heavyweight division was considered to be boxing’s golden division in the Pay-Per-View business before Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. came along, and it is still the division that attracts casuals to the sport with its propensity for knockouts.

But the undercard for December’s heavyweight pay per view attraction shows the PBC’s serious commitment to PPV.

There appears to be at least nine different fights which showcase a boxer who has previously headlined a big event, holds a world title, or is line for a future title shot.

Jarrett Hurd will be defending his junior middleweight title in the co-main event with a possible shot against one of the Charlo brothers hanging in the balance. Luis Ortiz is looking for another title shot and will be facing Travis Kauffman in the heavyweight division. Anthony Yarde and Joe Joyce are two boxers who have been making a name for themselves in the United Kingdom and will be fighting stateside on December 1st in separate bouts. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is still a big name that carries a lot of attention, and he’ll be facing the always tough and former title challenger Alfredo Angulo.

Wait, there’s more…

Mark Barriga and Carlos Licona are also fighting on the undercard for the vacant IBF Strawweight Title. Chris Arreola is still a big name in the heavyweight division, and he’s facing Maurenzo Smith. Former world titlist Robert Guerrero is coming out of retirement to make his return in the welterweight division.

There’s a lot of fights and fighters on this card that are capable of headlining their own card on Showtime or Fox Sports that will be featured on this PPV. A card stacked with this much talent shows PBC’s commitment to the PPV model.

But, their PPV commitment doesn’t stop at the heavyweight division.

The PBC is expected to announce an upcoming PPV fight with Manny Pacquiao and Adrien Broner. Pacquiao, a long time client of Top Rank Promotions, is still a big pay per view draw if he is matched up with the right opponent. The only viable pay per view opponent Pacquiao had with Top Rank was Terence Crawford. Even though Crawford’s skills as a boxer and undeniable and he would probably be considered a favorite if he fought Pacquiao, he hasn’t shown that he has the name recognition to sell pay per view.

Broner is just one of many fascinating matchups that the PBC has for Pacquiao. Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Errol Spence Jr., Shawn Porter, and even Mikey Garcia are all possible opponents for Pacquiao that could eventually wind up on pay per view.

Most importantly, a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a more realistic possibility now that Pacquiao has signed with the PBC.

The PBC has also announced a PPV fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Mikey Garcia. Garcia brings the loyalty of the Mexican boxing fan base into play when it comes to pay per view buys and Spence is considered by many to be one of the top pound for pound talents in the sport today. It’s a good fight worthy of pay per view, but probably won’t sell as well as most Pacquiao or Mayweather PPVs.

What about the Charlo brothers? They’re highly entertaining and have engaging personalities. They’re two other highly talented boxers on the PBC roster with PPV potential, provided they can find quality opponents.

The co-main event of December 1st features one such opponent, IBF/WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Jarret Hurd.

The talent that the PBC has on their roster is undeniable. Can they turn that talent into PPV success? Wilder vs. Fury and the signing of Manny Pacquiao shows they’re certainly going to try.

More Columns

HBO PPV Preview: Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin Rematch, Plus Full Undercard

Posted on 09/13/2018

By: William Holmes

Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin PPV
HBO PPV: $84.95
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Start time: 8PM ET/ 5PM PT
TV Undercard: Jaime Munguia vs Brandon “Bad Boy” Cook
David Lemieux vs Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan
Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez vs Moises “Moi” Fuentes

On Saturday, September 15th the long awaited rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez will finally occur for Golovkin’s WBA and WBC Middleweight Titles.

They were originally to fight on May 5th, but a positive test for clenbuterol scuttled those plans. Canelo claimed the trace levels detected were due to contaminated meat, which was met with some skepticism by Golovkin and his team.

Jaime Mungui and Brandon Cook will meet in the co-main event of the night for Munguia’s WBO Junior Middleweight World Title. David Lemieux and Gary O’Sullivan will also meet in a middleweight bout with possible future title implications.

Other boxers such as Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, Moises Fuentes, Vergil Ortiz Jr., Alexis Rocha, and Brian Ceballo will also be featured on the undercard.

The following is a preview of the three top fights for Saturday’s HBO PPV offering.

David Lemieux (39-4) vs. Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (28-2); Middleweights

David Lemieux is only twenty nine years old, and will be five years older than Gary O’Sullivan come fight night, but in ring years he’s significantly older. He’s been in some tough fights with some tough competition and already has thirteen more professional fights than O’Sullivan.

They’re about the same size, O’Sullivan will have a slight ½ inch height advantage. They both have decent power. Lemieux has stopped thirty three of his opponents while O’Sullivan has stopped twenty. However, Lemieux only has one stoppage victory in his past five fights while O’Sullivan has five victories in a row by stoppage.

They also have both been stopped. Lemieux has two stoppage losses while O’Sullivan has one stoppage loss on his record.

They both have been fairly active. He fought once in 2018, three times in 2017, and twice in 2016. O’Sullivan fought once in 2018, four times in 2017, and once in 2016.

Lemieux does have an edge in amateur experience. He won the Canadian National Junior Championships in 2006 while O’Sullivan does not have any notable amateur accomplishments.

Lemieux’s losses were to Billy Joe Saunders, Gennady Golovkin, and earlier in his career to Joachim Alcine and Marco Antonio Rubion. He has beaten the likes of Elvin Ayala, Hector Camacho Jr., Fernando Guerrero, Gabriel Rosado, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Glen Tapia, Curtis Stevens, and Karim Achour.

O’Sullivan’s losses were to Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr. He has defeated the likes of Berlin Abreu, Antoine Douglas, Nick Quigley, Melvin Bentancourt, and Matthew Hall.

If this fight happened three years ago Lemieux would be considered the favorite. But he looked slow and old in his loss to Billy Joe Saunders and he is starting to show signs of ring wear. O’Sullivan on the other hand, has been riding a good win streak and looked sensational against a solid young prospect in Antoine Douglas.

This writer has to pick O’Sullivan in a minor upset.

Jaime Munguia (30-0) vs. Brandon Cook (20-1); WBO Junior Middleweight Title

Jaime Munguia is one of Golden Boy Promotions’ best young fighters and at the age of twenty one is already a legitimate world champion.

He has exceptional power. He has twenty five stoppage wins and has stopped six of his past seven opponents. He’s also eleven years younger than his opponent Brandon Cook, who only has thirteen stoppage wins, and already has one stoppage loss.

Munguia has been incredibly active. He already fought four times in 2018 and fought seven times in 2017. Cook has also been active and fought once in 2018 and three times in 2017.

Munguia has the better amateur pedigree. He was a Gold Medalist in the Mexican National Championships and turned pro at the age of 16.

Cook’s lone loss was to Kanat Islam by TKO in 2017. He doesn’t have any big victories of note, he has defeated the likes of Miguel Suarez, Steven Butler, and Hector Santana.

Munguia has defeated the likes of Liam Smith, Sadam Ali, Jose Paz, Paul Valenzuela Jr., and Johnny Navarrete.

On paper, it’s hard to find anything that Bradon Cook does better than Jaime Munguia. It’s likely we will see that in the ring too.

Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1) vs. Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2); WBA/WBC Middleweight Title

Gennady Golovkin has to be considered one of, if not the best middleweight boxers in the 21st century. However, he doesn’t have that big signature win over an exceptional opponent on his resume.

Many thought he did enough to beat Canelo last year, but Canelo came on strong in the later rounds and was able to make the fight a draw.

Both boxers have good power. Golovkin has stopped thirty four of his opponents, though his power seems to be slipping recently. Canelo also has thirty four stoppage wins. Neither boxer has ever been stopped in their career.

Canelo will have a slight ½ inch reach advantage, but will also be giving up about two inches in height. Canelo will be eight years younger than Golovkin on Saturday, and Golovkin may be showing some signs of rust in his armor with his advancing age.

Golovkin has the better amateur career of the two. He was a silver medalist in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Canelo turned professional at a young age, but did win the 2005 Junior Mexican National Championships.

Golovkin has beaten the likes of Vanes Martirosyan, Daniel Jacobs, Kell Brook, Dominic Wade, David Lemieux, Willie Monroe Jr., Marco Antonio Rubio, Daniel Geale, Curtis Stevens, Matthew Macklin, and Gabriel Rosado. He has fought twice a year in 2018, 2017 and 2016.

Canelo has beaten the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Liam Smith, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, Erislandy Lara, Alfredo Angulo, Austin Trout, Josesito Lopez, Shane Mosley, and Kermit Cintron. His lone loss was the Floyd Mayweather Jr., and he had a draw very early in his career to a Jorge Juarez.

Both boxers seem motivated and have a genuine dislike of each other since Canelo’s positive steroid test in the spring. In their last fight they appeared to be very respectful towards each other, almost too much.

Golovkin’s age is a big concern and his best days are likely behind him. Canelo also appeared to have figured out Golovkin by the end of the fight and was coming on strong. The fight fans in attendance will also likely be in favor of Canelo over Golovkin.

The intangibles favor Canelo,but it’s hard to pick against a man that has never lost and looked absolutely dominating at times.

This is basically an even fight, but this writer has to give the slightest of edges to Golovkin, only because it appeared that Golovkin should have received the decision last time.

More Headlines

Canelo and Mayweather Could Signal the End of PPV, Streaming Poised to Take Over

Posted on 09/12/2018

By: William Holmes

“I don’t fight for legacy. I don’t fight for none of that, I fight for that check. I’m in the check cashing business.”

-Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Boxing isn’t just a martial art, it’s also entertainment. Floyd Mayweather was wise enough early on in his career to understand that having a public persona sells, and when you’re a fighter it’s best to minimize the physical damage while maximizing your earnings.

He has professed that his career is over, and it’s hard to argue against the proposition that he has been boxing’s most profitable star.

Entertainment value is not the only key to a pay per view’s success, nationalistic pride can also be a driving force in PPV sales.

Manny Pacquiao was a pay per view force in part because of it. Today, the Mexican pride for Canelo Alvarez leads many to express their patriotism with their wallet.

But the long term stability of PPV fights is at risk with the rise of streaming platforms.

New outlets like DAZN and ESPN+ now offer a reasonable financial alternative for fight fans. PPV’s were costing anywhere between $60 and $100 for the opportunity to watch one fight. $60 will get you half a year subscription with DAZN. DAZN promises to have 32 US and UK Matchroom Boxing Events and 15 World Boxing Super Series Events for the year.

ESPN+ has a partnership with Top Rank Promotions and will broadcast 54 live boxing events annually. ESPN + is available for only $5 a month.

The value for fight fans is with the streaming services, and a fight fan that’s spending $15 a month for both DAZN and ESPN+ will be less inclined to shell out another $60 or more for a ppv.

The expansion of heavily invested streaming services combined with boxing’s lack of marketable stars to the wide casual sport fan, spells the beginning of the end for pay per view.

The past two years have been particularly troubling for the boxing pay per view business. The rematch between Golovkin and Canelo is the only notable boxing pay per view fight of 2018. In 2017, Canelo’s fights with Golovkin and Chavez Jr. did well on pay per view, as well as Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s one off showcase with Conor McGregor, but outside of these two Boxing PPV has floundered.

Andre Ward rematched Sergei Kovalev on HBO Pay Per View, but by all accounts that fight underperformed and only sold 125,000 pay per views.

The money for boxing is still present for promoters and boxers alike to take advantage of, even with the decrease in PPV events. The contract DAZN has with Matchroom is worth a reported $1 Billion dollars over eight years (125 million a year) and while the official financials that Top Rank has signed with ESPN hasn’t been reported, it is for seven years and was lucrative enough to lure Top Rank away from their long time partners at HBO, and to resign one of their top stars, Terrance Crawford, to a recent contract extension.

The rise of streaming will present many problems for the Pay Per View model. The obvious one is the value that streaming provides. Fight fans will be able to get high quality fights, and a large number of them, for a substantially cheaper price than PPV.

Additionally, streaming services like DAZN and ESPN+ provide access to other events besides boxing. DAZN has locked into an agreement with Bellator MMA and provides other sport offerings, and ESPN has an agreement in place with the UFC as well as other professional and collegiate sport leagues.

The CEO of DAZN, James Rushton, believes DAZN will be a big disruptor in the industry and he believes DAZN will help change the game of Sports Broadcasting. He recently stated, “We are the world’s first truly dedicated, which stand alone, OTT live sport streaming business. We focused on what that means, is providing fans with unlimited access to some of the best premium sports content available, for one affordable monthly fee. No contracts, no bundles, all that stuff that people don’t like with traditional network television. We are live in five markets right now, and we are launching here in the US later on this summer, we are super excited. We are looking to disrupt and change the game of sport broadcasting starting off with fight sports with our partnership with Matchroom Boxing US and Scott and his team at Bellator. We’re looking forward to our first event going live on the 29th of this September with Bellator.”

The introduction of ESPN+ and DAZN into the boxing viewership marketplace will also force each to be competitive and put on high quality fights. Under the PPV model, boxing broadcast mainstays like HBO and Showtime would showcase their best fighters against boxers that would basically be considered “enhancement” talent, in order to build their popularity for the almighty goal of PPV.

With streaming, DAZN and ESPN+ will have to put on high quality competitive fights to draw the consumer away from the traditional televised boxing model to the new streaming boxing model. Tune-up fights won’t attract paying customers.

Mayweather’s last hurrah was likely against McGregor. If he chooses to come back, he will undoubtably remain a PPV attraction. But as of now, he’s officially retired.

Canelo is still in his athletic prime and has many productive and profitable years ahead of him. A loss to Golovkin will hurt his financial drawing power, but he still has that passionate and loyal Mexican base and will still be a bigger draw than most in the sport.

But outside of Canelo and Mayweather the PPV pickings are slim, and for fight fans and their wallets, that’s probably a good thing.

Is PPV Dead? Not yet, and PPV will likely remain an option for promoters who want to cross promote. But it’s on wobbly legs, and the streaming platforms look fresh and ready to go.

More Columns

What Makes a Card PPV Worthy?

Posted on 07/27/2018

By: Oliver McManus

What makes a card pay-per-view worthy? It’s a good question and whilst there’s a general consensus on the criteria it’s still relatively subjective – it needs a top-class headlining fight, that’s a fact, and a cracking undercard but aside from that it’s a relative free for all.

Of course living in the UK we have it relatively easy in comparison to our friends over in America who frequently pay upwards of $70 for a PPV so the £19.95 we are asked to cough up by Sky (or £16.95 for BoxNation / £9.95-£16.95 for ITV Box Office) seems almost spare change.

But that’s not really the point, there’s still very much a live debate as to the future of PPV in the United Kingdom and I’m going to kick off with a fight you couldn’t exactly call “legit” despite the word being hammered down your throat if ever you were to scroll through the two competitor’s social media – KSI and Logan Paul will compete for the “YouTube Boxing Championship” in a glorified white-collar match at the Manchester Arena.

A Mayweather-McGregor-esque first press conference witnessed theatrics a plenty with both “boxers” doing their best to get under the skin of one another in a display that was, in parts, comical and, in parts, genuinely tense – no less than when KSI made reference to Logan Paul’s infamous suicide video.

Of course this attracts a different audience to those that will watch boxing on subscription channels such as Sky or BT and is, undeniably, targeted at a younger, more impressionable demographic but it’s just a nice place to get started when examining the British PPV scene.

Whyte-Parker is another card to examine with the headlining fight being a genuine 50-50 and one that certainly ticks the box of “fight that couldn’t be made without PPV revenue” but with no major title on the line nor the fight being an eliminator contest – despite Whyte being offered two – it’s certainly towards the weaker end of the PPV spectrum.

Taking that into account, then, you’d expect an even better undercard to try and off-set the slightly weaker, albeit enjoyable, headlining act and, despite the card being beset with injuries and withdrawals from the offing, you can’t really say it delivered – Katie Taylor fights an inactive opponent with her next fight already announced, Dereck Chisora and Carlos Takam fight in a barnstormer yet, overall, inconsequential fight and Connor Benn and Cedrick Peynaud rematch in a fight which is only marginally interesting because last time round Benn was worse than expected and Peynaud better than expected.

The question, then, to be asked is why is this capable of being marketed at PPV when the card is, in all honesty, a slightly beefed up Saturday fight night? It’s a simple answer and it’s not necessarily something that is particularly surprising but people will buy the card – which isn’t meant to be a dig at people who will buy it – and the promoter and broadcaster know that.

Sure, this won’t do Anthony Joshua numbers but it will still pull in 200-250,000 purchases and, on the conservative side, near an extra £4million in revenue. From that side of things it’s a no-brainer to make it a PPV because it just means more profit (although, of course, that money goes primarily to the fighters).

Many people will, and do, feel hard done by PPV shows when they feel they aren’t worth the asking price and that comes down to the fact that to access boxing on British TV you already have to subscribe to both Sky and BT which comes in the hefty price of £815.88 a year so when the argument of “if you don’t like it, don’t buy it” comes into play then HOLD ON, we’re already paying nearly a grand a year and what we’re saying is the saturation of quality for an increase in subscription costs.

The outrage, therefore, is somewhat understandable.

And this feeling then seeps into other offerings such as the World Boxing Super Series final between Usyk and Gassiev which are sensational fights and worthy of PPV BUT had me getting outraged in the early stages of the build-up at the prospect of having to pay a mere £9.95 for the pleasure of watching it.

My reasoning for getting worked up about it? Benn-Peynaud II! It makes no sense but it all comes full circle because here I am, a full-time student, working a 30 hour job on top of that all while trying to get started in this boxing industry and, to be frank, I haven’t got that much money to spare. I hear people saying “why don’t you just stream it?”, streams are so unreliable and I’ve not had a lot of luck so the prospect of Benn-Peynaud being justified as PPV worthy ended up getting me irritated about Usyk-Gassiev and no it doesn’t make sense but it is what it is.

And OF COURSE, no-one is making you pay for anything and this isn’t an article looking to attack pay per view, not in the slightest, that was just the negative section of this piece.

There are, in turn, huge positives that can come out of pay per views cards, when done properly so a few bad examples don’t mean the format is a write off as a whole and, indeed, the revenue created via a PPV card has enabled some fights to be made that, otherwise, wouldn’t be financially feasible.

If we look at Haye-Bellew / Bellew-Haye II then they are two of the most publically demanded fights in recent memory filled with genuinely bad blood and whilst there was no title on the line and the fights weren’t the most aesthetically pleasing, the spectacle, the story, the drama, well it easily justified the price tag in my opinion based on the fact it was a wanted fight and only viable through the revenue of a pay per view.

Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder, when or if that is made, will be a fight that you’d assume would be unable to be criticised for being on PPV but, as always happens with Joshua, there will be people incredibly vocal in their belief that they should be able to see the best of the best without paying extra BUT that for me raises a whole other point.

The point being Anthony Joshua, arguably, is the only real PPV fighter in the United Kingdom because his name alone is capable of selling an 80,000 capacity Wembley Stadium, regardless of opponent, and such is his attraction that you could put him in with a grizzly bear and it would sell upwards of one million buys (although, actually, that would be quite an interesting fight).

And my final point – entertainment. £19.95 for six, seven hours of entertainment on a Saturday evening, an opportunity for a social gathering, is bloody good value and certainly cheaper than taking my girlfriend to Nandos.

Anyway I’m going off on a ramble and I’m nearing 1,200 words so to conclude on PPV (in a very inconclusive fashion) – 1) too many PPV cards are saturating the quality of non-PPV cards 2) it doesn’t matter as long as people keep buying it 3) most PPV cards are good value for money for an evening’s entertainments.

Hey, I guess it’s a price you have to pay for being a boxing fan!

More Columns

Canelo-GGG Reportedly Does Over A Million Pay Per View Buys

Posted on 09/28/2017

By: Sean Crose

*UPDATE*

Since the publishing of this article Golden Boy Promotions released the following statement:

While everyone at Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions appreciate the media’s recognition that the fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin was an enormous success, the figure that is being cited by some news outlets is simply inaccurate.

Not only are satellite operators and cable companies still in the process of compiling data, that number does not include online PPV sales through RingTV.com, Sony Play Station, and Sling TV which far exceeded any previous fight featuring Canelo or Golovkin. The bottom line is that we expect the final numbers to be well north of current reports, and we will make a decision on reporting those numbers when we know they are accurate.

—————————————–
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that this month’s middleweight extravaganza between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin brought in 1.3 million pay per view buys. That’s a very impressive sum for any pay per view event, though some may be disappointed that the fight, which went down on September 16th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, didn’t perform even more strongly on the pay per view front. Any number over a million when it comes to pay per view sales is indicative of a clear success, however. This is particularly true in the case of Canelo and the fighter known as GGG.


Photo Credit: USA Today

To begin with, neither individual speaks English well. That’s a serious PR issue for any boxer looking to crack through towards mainstream success in the United States, where English is the dominant language. The fact that Mexico’s Alvarez and Kazakhstan’s Golovkin managed to draw in as many viewers as they did speaks volumes to both their in-the-ring skill sets and their likable personalities. It can be fairly stated that each fighter is a man of few words. Yet Canelo, and particularly Golovkin, have emerged as pleasant on-air personalities once the fists stop flying. Rather than engaging in outrageous pre-fight theatrics, the two middleweights came across as mature professionals in the leadup to their bout. Call it the anti-MayMac affect.

Speaking of what was clearly the pop culture event of 2017, last month’s Mayweather-McGregor battle may have also had an impact on the pay per view performance of Canelo-GGG. Lots of money – LOTS of money – was coughed up for fans to watch Floyd and Conor throw down in what was essentially a one sided but entertaining affair. That bout, which reportedly came within a hair of breaking the all time pay per view record (set by Mayweather’s 2015 battle with Manny Pacquiao) had the potential to either draw attention to or take attention away from the Canelo-Golovkin battle. Yet it remains to be seen what kind of impact, if any, the August 26th blockbuster had on the September 16th card.

One thing most analysts and fans agree on, however, is the argument that Canelo and Golovkin put on a highly entertaining affair that, unlike Mayweather-McGregor, didn’t skimp on showcasing high level ring techniques. The match, which was declared a draw, instantly begged for a sequel, one which is apparently already in the works. That inevitable pay per view card should draw in quite a good number, itself. At the moment, it appears either May or September will be the date for Canelo-Golovkin II. Both months have major Mexican holidays and are the months Canelo traditionally likes to fight during.

More Headlines

HBO PPV Undercard Results: Diaz, Martin, and De La Hoya Win Uneventful Decisions

Posted on 09/16/2017

By: William Holmes

Three bouts were televised on tonight’s HBO PPV offering before the start of the main event between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.

The undercard fight between Nicola Adams and Alexandra Vlajk was called off after Alexandra Vlajk failed the pre-fight medical. Three fights were on the untelevised undercard in front of a nearly empty arena.


Photo Credit: HBO Boxing

The first bout of the televised portion of the pay per view was between Ryan Martin (19-0) and Francisco Rojo (19-2) for the WBC Continental Americas and WBA Inter-Continental Lightweight Titles.

Martin was the taller fighter and fights out of an orthodox stance, but was previously promoted by 50 Cent and has been relatively inactive the past few years.

Martin stayed busy with his jab in the opening two rounds and Rojo targeted the body, but not much action and Rojo was slightly busier than Martin.

Rojo complained to the referee about punches landing to the back of the head and Martin appeared to be shaking off ring rust. Rojo continued to come forward in the fourth and fifth rounds and was the more aggressive fighter of the two.

Martin was able to land a good double left hook to the body and head in the sixth round but that may have been his best combination of the first half of the fight. Rojo was able to momentarily stun Martin with a right cross in the seventh round and Martin was warned by the referee to keep his punches above the belt line.

Martin was warned for low blows twice in the eighth round and the referee gave Rojo time to recover, but Martin was not deducted a point. Martin connected with some good right hooks this round, but this round, like the others before it, could have been scored either way.

Martin was finally deducted a point in the ninth round for landing another low blow, but he was able to land some good combinations to the head of Rojo.

The final round was similar to the rounds previous, with Rojo pressing the action coming forward and both boxers throwing and landing, with Martin appeared to land the cleaner punches but Rojo throwing slightly more.

The judges scored it 98-91 Rojo, 96-93 Martin, and 95-94 for Martin. The crowd loudly boos the decision of the judges.

The next bout of the night started almost immediately afterwards and was between Randy Caballero (24-0) and Diego De La Hoya (19-0) for the NABF and NABO Super Bantamweight Titles.

Caballero is another boxer that has not been very active in the past two years. De La Hoya was able to land good hooks to the body in the opening round but was reaching for his punches a bit. Both boxers were a little sloppy in the opening two rounds and clash of heads occurred in both the first and second round.

De La Hoya was landing the cleaner shots in the third and fourth rounds, though Caballero was able to knock De La Hoya off balance a little bit with a right hand to the chin in the fourth.

Caballero had a small shiner underneath his left eye in the fifth round and took a hard combination that forced him to retreat into the ropes a little dazed. De La Hoya continued to land good combinations in the sixth round and even pushed Caballero to the mat.
De La Hoya had a good showing in the seventh round and was able to tie up Caballero whenever he got in close.

Caballero needed a knockout in the final two rounds to win the fight, but that knockout never came and he didn’t press the pace enough to ever come close.

Diego De La Hoya wins by decision with scores of 100-90, 98-92, and 98-92.

The final bout of the undercard was between Joseph Diaz Jr. (24-0) and Rafael Rivera (25-0-2) in a WBC Featherweight Title Eliminator.
Rivera was training for another fight when he got the call to face Diaz at the last minute.

Diaz came out aggressive in the opening two rounds but Rivera was more than willing to fire back with shots of his own. Both boxers appeared to be evenly matched early on.

Diaz was pressing the pace more by the fourth-round while Rivera was looking for his counter shots, but Diaz was the more accurate puncher.

Diaz’s accuracy carried the way in the middle rounds with the exception of the seventh, in which Rivera was able to land several hard shots on Diaz during their exchanges.

Diaz focused on the body in the eighth and ninth rounds and looked like the fresher fighter. He had a dominating tenth round and landed several hard-straight left hands on Rivera.

Even though Diaz didn’t score any knockdowns, he looked like the fresher fighter and was boxing better as the fight progressed. The championship rounds were rounds that he clearly won.

The final scores were 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108 for Joseph Diaz.

Untelevised Undercard Quick Results:

Marlen Esparza (3-0) defeated Aracely Palacios (8-8) by scores of 60-54 on all three scorecards in the Flyweight division.

Vergil Ortiz (7-0) defeated Cesar Valenzuela (7-2) by TKO at of the 1:22 of the second round.

Serhil Bohachuk (5-0) defeated Joan Valenzuela (5-9-1) by TKO at 1:58 of the second round in the super welterweight division.

More Headlines

Why the Sport of Boxing Needs a Canelo Victory

Posted on 09/13/2017

By Jaime C. Feal

To many casual observers and fans, Saturday night’s superfight between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin represents a thoroughly even match up. Two fighters in their prime with fantastic records, both champions, ready to throw down and entertain all at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The largest gap between the two fighters, however, exists not in the ring, but outside of it.


Photo Credit: Tom Hogan-Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions

Simply put, Canelo has a fan base that can be monetized in a way not many other fan bases can. As a Mexican fighting in America, Canelo has the support of both his home country of Mexico, a neighbor to the U.S., and all the Mexican-Americans living in the U.S., as rabid fans who turn out for Canelo fights. Furtermore, Canelo is a “Golden Boy” both literally and figuratively, the baby-faced assassin being both the pride, joy, and hope of Mexico, and an Oscar De La Hoya-promoted boxer. A lot rides on Canelo’s success in the sport of boxing. While a loss to the highly ranked GGG wouldn’t ruin his career by any means, what the big players in the boxing industry want more than anything is a resounding victory for Canelo. Just shy of 30 years old, Canelo has many more years of top ranked fights ahead of him, and lucrative ones at that. Golovkin, on the other hand, is 35 years old, and might only have a couple years of top-level fights left in him.

GGG just can’t match the same level of numbers with his fan base. A native of Kazikhstan, a small country with even fewer immigrants in the U.S., Golovkin is at a disadvantage on the marketing side of boxing. While most American boxing fans appreciate a good knockout artist, they don’t have the same kind of attachment that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans do for their native son Canelo. What this means is that unlike the Mayweather-McGregor fight, which had a roughly even split of fan support both in the arena and at the bars and restaurants showing the PPV, the Canelo-GGG scrap figures to have the fan support massively in favor of Canelo. Indeed, the bars and restaurants will be filled with Mexican pride and support, and the T-Mobile Arena will be lit up with Mexican flags and apparel. You may see the odd Kazakhstani flag here or there, but for the most part, the sheer numbers and loyalty that the Canelo fan base produces will drown out anything the GGG fan base can muster.

What does this all mean? Now that Floyd “Money” Mayweather is out of the sport completely, Boxing needs a new money fighter. Canelo is much more ready to be the hero the sport needs, to drive the big money fights going forward into 2018 and 2019. Because of this, HBO and the powers that be will be massively rooting for Canelo, the younger, more popular fighter, to win emphatically. And although a rematch with GGG would be potentially lucrative, Canelo disappointed in his last big fight and still has a lot to gain with a victory over Golovkin. On Saturday Night, Canelo will not only be carrying the pressure and expectations of his home country, but also his adopted one. Here’s hoping he can live up to the hype and propel boxing to new heights and popularity.

More Columns

MMA and Boxing are Both Better For Mayweather vs McGregor

Posted on 08/27/2017

By Bryanna Fissori

The sport of Mixed Martial Arts as a whole had little to lose putting its poster boy up against arguably the most familiar face in boxing for this generation. McGregor the MMA fighter was coming into this bout with literally no professional boxing experience against boxing’s undefeated 49-0 Mayweather.

Expectations were exceeded by many when McGregor was able to not only make it through the early rounds, but to actually win rounds on the scorecard. Maywether contends that losing the early rounds was his plan all along. Given his propensity to warm up in the later rounds, this is not unlikely. Despite the loss, McGregor made many MMA fans proud and has undoubtedly served as a catalyst for change in the sport.

Several MMA fighters and industry professionals such as Max Holloway, Daniel Cormier, Eddie Alvarez, Cody Garbrandt, Mick Maynard, Matt Brown and more have praised McGregor for his representation of MMA athletes.

Increased Fan Base for Both Sports

McGregor’s efforts in entering the world of boxing will have long lasting effects on the MMA industry. First and foremost, a new demographic of fans has been introduced to the sport. Even if unintentional, hardcore boxing fans have sat through a plethora of UFC focused images and clips during the media circus surrounding this fight. Undoubtedly, many boxing fans who may not have the utmost appreciation for Mayweather have found themselves cheering for “the MMA fighter.” How much more likely are they now to tune into McGregor’s next UFC fight?

On that same note, MMA fans have been introduced to the world of boxing. They have looked up rules, questioned and compared striking styles and sat through at least nine full rounds. Talk of which other MMA fighters have good enough hands to box has already started to circulate through the discussion threads.

MMA Fighter Salaries

McGregor has been the most vocal proponent for an increase in MMA fighter salaries. In his professional boxing debut McGregor will have made more than his four and a half years in the UFC combined.

“The game changes every time,” McGregor said when asked about returning to a sport where the purses are traditionally much smaller than boxing.

With MMA promotions like Bellator and the Professional Fighter’s League who may be able to offer competitive salaries and bonuses, it is likely that the UFC will have to step up its pay scale. This is even more true now that fighters have seen how much more can be made in boxing rather than MMA.

The Best Got Tested

Boxing is something sacred that requires complete focus on the specific discipline. Boxing . . . went into the 10th round with a debut fighter. Some could view that as a weakness in the competitive caliber of boxing, others would see the strength of a 40 year old veteran coming out of retirement and still able to be victorious.

Props to Mayweather for a victory and solid game plan. For many fans of both sports, this was boxing versus MMA. No matter how it is viewed from the perspective of the actual fight, McGregor went nearly 10 solid rounds in an entertaining fight with a boxer some may consider TBE (The Best Ever.) McGregor landed 111 punches, which was 30 more than Manny Pacquiao. A debut boxer, an MMA champion and now the face of two sports, McGregor has done well for himself and the sport of MMA despite the loss.

More Columns

Golovkin Ready to Show Who the Better Boxer Is

Posted on 07/20/2017

By: Francisco Martinez

September 16th Gennady Golovkin is set to meet Saul Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile arena. A fight 2 years in the making. A fight announced right after Canelo’s shutout of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. a masterful performance not enjoyed to long by Canelo as his next opponent was brought to the ring there and then. To the surprise of many the fight we’ve all been asking for finally materialized. Canelo vs Golovkin is suppose to be the fight that proves what Canelo truly is capable of and the fight that proves is Golovkin the bogey man they make him out to be.

GolovkinLemieux_Hoganphotos1

With a combined record of 86 victories and 67 knockouts Canelo & Golovkin is almost a certain knockout ending. How do both fighters feel in regards to those expectations “It’s going to be a tough fight, a fight with a lot of action but I’ll make it clear as to who is the better man” expresses Canelo a conservative prediction as does Golovkin “I’m a professional athlete and for me it’s very interesting to see who’s better. Not special but who’s the better athlete, who’s the better boxer” states Golovkin.

If we look back into this fight and dig a little more we’ll find that Canelo & Golovkin have shared the ring before as both careers took off. In a sparring session that took place about 6 years ago or so at the Summit Boxing gym in Big Bear, California owned by Golovkin’s trainer, 2015 BWAA Trainer Of The Year, Abel Sanchez. The man responsible for Golovkin’s Mexican Style inside the ring. As for the sparring session a lot has circulated around the media and gym talk as to what actually happened but both fighters had this to say about their now legendary sparring session

“That happened about 6 years ago more or less. He has advanced, I have advanced. It can help a little bit but I won’t focus on it as we’ve both have totally advanced and sparring can’t influence a fight it’s way too different. It’ll be a good fight a fight the people have been wanting. It’ll be a good fight. We’ll be ready” says Canelo of the 6 year old sparring session. Gennady Golovkin had this to say about the past sparring session

“It was 6 years ago it’s a different time right now. It was sparring and it’s different. Sparring and fighting. It’s sparring not fighting” says Gennady Golovkin with a similar tone as Canelo to the past sparring between both. Canelo was just making his transition into 154lbs class and Golovkin was already a full fledged 160lbs fighter so the sparring can be taken with a grain of salt aside from what rumors might say took place within the sparring at the time.

About 21 days before Canelo & Gennady Golovkin are set to face each other another big fight will take place. The return of Floyd Mayweather in the same place and venue. A fight some critics think might affect Canelo & Golovkin’s revenue and possibly a strategic move by Mayweather. Arguably the best boxer ever, surely the best of our time and also known as one of the best business minds in boxing as well.

Golden Boy promotion’s Oscar De La Hoya is not concerned with Mayweather & McGregor taking place a couple of weeks prior to Canelo & Golovkin neither is K2 promotion’s Tom Loeffler “I figured they would make the fight I wasn’t sure when they would do it. It surprised us they would go before on August. You know August people are in still in vacation and you know that’s two big names that they have so they probably figured they can go when they wanted to and were gonna focus on our end to promote ours the best that we can and I’m sure that Floyd and Conor are gonna promote their event and I think that’s one of those fights that the build up would be more exciting than the fight itself but we’re gonna do the best we can on our end”

Floyd Mayweather gave his prediction to Canelo vs Golovkin late last year and he predicted Canelo would knockout Golovkin also went as far as to say he would beat Golovkin. Gennady had this to say about Mayweather’s recent comments “He talks too much. I think he’s not a promoter, he’s not Canelo’s promoter. I don’t know why? Ask him why?” Replied Golovkin to Mayweather’s comments.

Two mega fights that will take place withing a month of each other can only benefit boxing although some would disagree others would say it’s what boxing needs at this point in time in a year that has been one to remember boxing wise. This September 16th Supremacy in the middleweight division is what we’ll get once Canelo & Gennady Golovkin step into the ring in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena live on HBO PPV.

So don’t miss it and follow the conversation and converage leading up to fight night via #CaneloGGG

More Columns