Comments Thread for: Tyson Fury signs ESPN fight deal worth reported £80m

[Tom Cruise]

does ESPN have PPV though? I know they have ESPN+ but I don't see how they recoup their money doing this on cable

Idk, but they definitely won’t be spending the money so that they can get a cut of a shotime PPV right after announcing they have exclusive rights to Fury’s fights.

Imagine after Canelo signed his DAZN deal, he then goes and fights on Showtime PPV straight away. It doesn’t make any sense. Fury will be on ESPN in some capacity in his next few fights. Most likely vs a TR hw in a winnable fight to announce himself to the ESPN viewing public.

The HW division just got a whole lot ****ter.

[KTFOKING]

Even showtime, am sure they would have matched or improve on the offer from ESPN.

MTK and TR have a nice relationship and obviously BT Sports and ESPN. And this way Fury could be the lone HW face of the network. Going to PBC or DAZN, he would have to share the spotlight or play second fiddle.

[Stinger1]

Doesn't this just mean ESPN are going to have a go against Showtime and DAZN in the mother of all purse bids? Nothing was mentioned about pulling out of the Wilder negotiations/fight.

[_Rexy_]

Idk, but they definitely won’t be spending the money so that they can get a cut of a shotime PPV right after announcing they have exclusive rights to Fury’s fights.

Imagine after Canelo signed his DAZN deal, he then goes and fights on Showtime PPV straight away. It doesn’t make any sense. Fury will be on ESPN in some capacity in his next few fights. Most likely vs a TR hw in a winnable fight to announce himself to the ESPN viewing public.

The HW division just got a whole lot ****ter.

Pretty sure the only TR Heavyweight is Pulev. I don't see that happening.

[Tom Cruise]

Okay, this was crap DAZN/Hearn fans started when they would lump in ESPN+ with DAZN. Arum NEVER once said he won't have his guys on PPV. In fact, Crawford vs Khan is on PPV. Exclusive deal just means ESPN has to be involved.

Fair enough ESPN does have PPV then. But that isn’t what exclusive means.

[Ray*]

Doesn't this just mean ESPN are going to have a go against Showtime and DAZN in the mother of all purse bids? Nothing was mentioned about pulling out of the Wilder negotiations/fight.

Nope. it meant they have their own top HW. To fight him you have to go through them.

[_Rexy_]

Fair enough ESPN does have PPV then. But that isn’t what exclusive means.

there's always an asterisk though. Lomachenko has an exclusive contract with Top Rank/ESPN but he's fought on Showtime.

[Ray*]

MTK and TR have a nice relationship and obviously BT Sports and ESPN. And this way Fury could be the lone HW face of the network. Going to PBC or DAZN, he would have to share the spotlight or play second fiddle.

True that, he would definitely play second fiddle. Who else is in the market (Whyte? Ortiz? Breazeale?)...Which networks are left? lol

[Tom Cruise]

there's always an asterisk though. Lomachenko has an exclusive contract with Top Rank/ESPN but he's fought on Showtime.

Yeah in 2014 or whatever when he was a 1-1 prospect.

Has he been on Showtime since the TR/ESPN deal started?

[Randall Cunning]

What I don't understand about this move is Why PBC or DAZN didn't move heaven and earth to get Fury

Negotiations between any of the 3 top heavyweights are going to be ass now, none of them is going to be willing to miss out

Probably because of the deal with BT Sport. If he fought Joshua it would be on Sky PPV and DAZN, Wilder would be Showtime PPV and ITV PPV. Warren wants the fights to be on BT PPV, so ESPN is the move