How did Evander Holyfield become a big PPV draw?

[Clegg]

Holyfield-Douglas outselling Tyson-Spinks is surprising.

[V.WEBB]

Probably because he was the real deal.

Thread could have ended here.

[GOD-FR33]

Class act.......

Evander was a class act and throwback fighter. He was humble and loved to challenge himself and prove to the fans, he was the best. He didn't care how much you had in the bank, he didn't care about your PPV numbers, he would fight anyone, anytime, anywhere. That's back when boxing still had credibility. Nobody ever gave Evander anything, he EARNED his place in boxing history as an ATG. He is the greatest Cruiserweight ever, in my opinion and a top 10 all-time Heavyweight. One last thing, to be a PPV star back then, you just had to be willing to fight the best and be in exciting fights. There was no fanboys hyping up their favorite fighter, there was no Social Media either. Fighter's had to fight the best. The promoter's were more in control as well. Now a days, fighters get their own promotional company's, just to DUCK the biggest threat to their spot. The end.

[Larry the boss]

Because heavyweights are and will always be big PPV draws. If Wilder ever fought Wlad, I guarantee it would do well on PPV. If he won, he'd be the biggest boxing star in America.

Bingo.............

[Dr Rumack]

Because heavyweights are and will always be big PPV draws. If Wilder ever fought Wlad, I guarantee it would do well on PPV. If he won, he'd be the biggest boxing star in America.

This is it. Every great heavyweight should be a major celebrity in the US. Even nowadays.

[mrlopez]

I've been wondering about this for a few years now. How and why was he such a huge draw on PPV? I wanted to say it was because of Tyson but I saw his numbers before he fought Tyson and was surprised.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-10-27/sports/9010270154_1_holyfield-douglas-evander

Right out of the gate he did a million buys with Douglas, then he goes on to do 1.4 million with Foreman, 730k with Holmes, a combined 2.5 million for all three Bowe fights. Also at the time he was the biggest money fight for both Tyson and Lewis.

Whenever I've seen forum posts discussing PPV buys and stars, I never see Holyfield get mentioned. Was boxing just that hot in the early 90s or was there something else?

There were a few factors...

He lived up to his nickname "The Real Deal"
Boxing WAS hot in the 90's.
Heavyweights ruled
Holyfield was a f'kn WARRIOR who would give it his all
He was thee man at cruiser and brought up his power and tenacity to an exciting hw division

[sicko]

Don King! He wasn't charismatic or anything like that, hell most of the time I did not understand WTF he was saying during interviews lol but Don King was a Marketing Genius who knew how to get out and sell his fights and fighters

[GOD-FR33]

I've been wondering about this for a few years now. How and why was he such a huge draw on PPV? I wanted to say it was because of Tyson but I saw his numbers before he fought Tyson and was surprised.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-10-27/sports/9010270154_1_holyfield-douglas-evander

Right out of the gate he did a million buys with Douglas, then he goes on to do 1.4 million with Foreman, 730k with Holmes, a combined 2.5 million for all three Bowe fights. Also at the time he was the biggest money fight for both Tyson and Lewis.

Whenever I've seen forum posts discussing PPV buys and stars, I never see Holyfield get mentioned. Was boxing just that hot in the early 90s or was there something else?

This is why, Enjoy.

[KnockoutNed]

Because when you tuned in to see a Holyfield fight chances are it was going to be a instant classic.

[-DSG-]

He won a Gold Medal as well