when will promoters realize PPV is the past and network televison drives boxing

[therealpugilist]

PPV is star driven

Boxing never has more than one 1-3 huge ppv stars at a time, in an era

most PPV have a top notch and crap undercards

if they dont make the undercards as good as the 80s or 90s, you're wasting our time and money and it reflects

I remember the loaded cards of the past and they were worth every penny. now we practically pay for 1 fight, 5+ mismatchs and pray the main event isnt a dud

Stars have always been created on network television for the world to see whether ABC, ESPN, NBC, FSN, ETC.

[bojangles1987]

The problem is that purses have inflated to a point where promoters can't afford them without HBO, Showtime, and the promise of future PPVs. Without those purses, getting the best to fight the best is basically impossible. Contenders won't even fight each other without million dollar purses, at least.

Boxing needs to adapt, and a consistent network TV presence is the best way to do it. It's going to be a long, hard, very tough road though and I'm not sure the fighters or promoters are willing to sacrifice what will be needed.

[therealpugilist]

The problem is that purses have inflated to a point where promoters can't afford them without HBO, Showtime, and the promise of future PPVs. Without those purses, getting the best to fight the best is basically impossible. Contenders won't even fight each other without million dollar purses, at least.

Boxing needs to adapt, and a consistent network TV presence is the best way to do it. It's going to be a long, hard, very tough road though and I'm not sure the fighters or promoters are willing to sacrifice what will be needed.

It doesnt seem they are

PBC isnt well liked but its a start, they are trying to build stars, make them visible for casual fans and eventually put the best in PPV fights while we get to see the rising contenders


Man I miss the days of seeing title fights on Friday Night fights, NBC, ABC, CBS and USA.

Its gonna take a long time to transition but it is possible and everyone will benefit from adapting a new format to promote boxing

the old format is dead.

if fights like Ward vs Kovalev or walters v loma was on reg TV they would have def brought in millions of viewers and could have piggybacked off that...put the winner in tough on PPV and more casuals would be willing to come out of pocket

we'll get there one day

i never thought I'd see boxing on free television again after all the networks stopped putting boxing on in the early 2000s

[M Bison]

PPV's are now in the past because Mr.160k couldn't do good numbers when he had a suppose to be biggest match up of the year
GGG Vs Brook 600k
Anthony Joshua last PPV 500k

How are you?
HOW ARE YOU!?

[Deevel916]

The problem is that purses have inflated to a point where promoters can't afford them without HBO, Showtime, and the promise of future PPVs. Without those purses, getting the best to fight the best is basically impossible. Contenders won't even fight each other without million dollar purses, at least.

Boxing needs to adapt, and a consistent network TV presence is the best way to do it. It's going to be a long, hard, very tough road though and I'm not sure the fighters or promoters are willing to sacrifice what will be needed.

This ^^^

Next time some of you boxing snobs want to criticize UFC and Dana White for paying their fighters less than what the top boxers make, remember that at least UFC fans are getting stacked action packed ppv cards.

[Dr Rumack]

When it makes a loss often enough.

[therealpugilist]

This ^^^

Next time some of you boxing snobs want to criticize UFC and Dana White for paying their fighters less than what the top boxers make, remember that at least UFC fans are getting stacked action packed ppv cards.

well fighters are getting paid better. they are the ones putting their life on the line and boxing is a lot more dangerous than MMA....Quick stoppages and submissions.....boxing causes long term life issues

from a fighters standpoint....hell yea cash out

but the need to find some middle ground...now guys with trinkets expect millions.....the best fight the best and tank on PPV....casuals dont even know who the best fighters in the sport are any more

if they had fighters do network tv fights vs lesser guys to showcase them then put the top fights on ho or ppv...the outcome would be more $$$$$$

[therealpugilist]

PPV's are now in the past because Mr.160k couldn't do good numbers when he had a suppose to be biggest match up of the year
GGG Vs Brook 600k
Anthony Joshua last PPV 500k

How are you?
HOW ARE YOU!?

you do realize that even Manny isnt break 1 million viewers. Mayweather is retired....Cotto is on his way out.....Canelo is pretty much all we have for the future

600k and 500k isnt much considering the fighters purses.

this isnt about Ward vs Kovalev...this is about the sport as whole....If you could off GGG's nuts or a sec and be a real boxing fan, you'd see the current format is a joke. these fighters need to be seen by casuals like the NFL, NBA, etc on network TV TO BUILD PPV STARS.


people dont even know who these guys are

when i was a kid, everyone knew who the heavyweight champ was and the best lil guys

nowadays people know 1-3 boxers and consider themselves die hard fans lol

[juandabomb]

NO....lack of making great action ppv cards is the problem.

[soul_survivor]

PPV is star driven

Boxing never has more than one 1-3 huge ppv stars at a time, in an era

most PPV have a top notch and crap undercards

if they dont make the undercards as good as the 80s or 90s, you're wasting our time and money and it reflects

I remember the loaded cards of the past and they were worth every penny. now we practically pay for 1 fight, 5+ mismatchs and pray the main event isnt a dud

Stars have always been created on network television for the world to see whether ABC, ESPN, NBC, FSN, ETC.

If you've watched boxing long enough, you know what the problem is. HBO started inflating fighter purses in the late 90s, to the extent that Jones was fighting bums and getting paid millions. Come hell or high water, they could not get him to budge and fight any of the top British names unless everything was on his terms and then, when he moved to heavyweight, they couldn't make a big fight at that weight either.

That was the start of it. Since then we've seen Mayweather paid millions to fight bums, we've seen Ward paid millions to fight bums and the network was barely able to put together Bradley v Alexander and didn't have anything left over for Khan v Bradley.

American tv channels, promoters and managers created the problem and things have gotten so bad, that you now have an entire programming slot called PBC which has paid millions to fighters without any or many world class wins, continues to do so and barely stitched together any meaningful fights over the last 18 months.

We just barely got Thurman v Porter, whereas Thurman v Garcia had to happen in 2017 because even a big money enterprise like Haymon corporation can't put together more than one such fight per division per year because it costs too much. Jack v DeGale has become a sorry saga and many others are being equally wasted.

Over at HBO, the big dog is no longer that big. It's budget is slashed AND whereas a certain amount of money could provide HBO with 3 to 4 big PPVs a year, over the last 2 to 3 years, we've had maybe 1 or 2 PPVs a year worth anything on boxing terms. This year there was Ward v Kovalev, Pacquiao v Bradley and Khan v Canelo. None of them did outstanding numbers.

What's even more problematic for something like HBO and Showtime to a lesser extent is: PPVs are no longer making them the money they want but they persist because like most capitalist organisations, they have no idea what to do when the well runs dry.

If some new blood is bred into the American TV scene, they would park the ego at the door and realise they need to take some serious lessons from German tv and their management of the Klitschkos and the UK's ITV from the 90s and early to mid 00s.

That's the only thing that can save American boxing financially.