Comments Thread For: Fury-Wilder II Prelims Average 1.42 Million Viewers Across ESPN, Fox Sports Platforms

[Bob Haymon]

This is what the al haymon haters look like when PBC does well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xMd6pyyMbc

Comparing people to apes is incredibly offensive and racist. Didn't Motorcity Cobra get banned after he called someone a Trumpanzee?

[Monty Fisto]

Fair enough you make some good points. Fury did start it all with his victory over Klitschko in 2015 but you also confirmed my point as well. Since 2018 Wilder has been taking on the more risky fights that the boxing fans and public wanted to see. Starting with Luis Ortiz I and ending with Tyson Fury II.

Also, Fury was always a very risky and dangerous opponent for Deontay Wilder. Remember, even though he is a gifted puncher, Wilder has always lacked boxing skills and its sound fundamentals and couldnt box; While he was going up against arguably the best fundamentally sound heavyweight boxer in the division at that time with his victory over Wladimir Klitschko.

Which was the reason why Fury requested the fight in the first place in which Wilder gladly accepted because AJ had just recently turned Deontay down and didn't want to fight him then. So Fury decided to step up in order to represent the U.K.

What you have done is paint a narrative, though unfortunately it doesn't really reflect reality.

Fury took the belts off Klitschko -- which did send shockwaves through the division -- but then screwing around, pulling out of the rematch and basically disappearing from boxing did little to spark a renaissance in heavyweight boxing. In fact, it left a void.

Was it Wilder or Joshua who stepped up into that void and faced Klitschko? It was Joshua.

The huge spark in the division was Joshua knocking out Klitschko in front of 90,000 people at Wembley stadium.

Facts help us to be objective, so here is a fact: it was the biggest crowd for a heavyweight match in 90 years.

Another fact: the Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America named it fight of the year.

That was in April 2017. Tyson Fury fought no one that year, nor had he fought anyone in 2016. Wilder's two fights in 2017 were against Gerald Washington and Bermaine Stiverne. I don't think anyone was wowed too much by those fights.

I think boxing fans want to see unification fights. Joshua built on his new-found fame by seeking to unify the belts. That became an interesting story. This then brought Wilder into the picture because he held the remaining belt and like Joshua, he had a 100% win record. There was the prospect of an unprecedented fight between these two belt holders.

Then Fury edged back into the picture with his low-key fights against Seferi and Pianeta. No big deal. That all changed when he shook up the world again by agreeing to fight Wilder. So reality check: this was seen as a big risk for Fury, not for Wilder. Wilder was in top shape. Fury was coming off a two-year layoff, was massively overweight and had been struggling with mental issues and addiction problems. I do not agree that Fury was perceived as always a risky fight for Wilder. By the end of the 12 rounds, I think Wilder probably realised he had bitten off more than he could chew (but given the man's clear tendency for self-delusion, this may not even have been the case at that point). It was a controversial draw -- if Wilder had not pursued a rematch, he would have been admitting he was lucky to get the draw.

Ultimately, both Fury vs Wilder encounters were big fights and both deserve credit for making it happen, but we shouldn't get carried away and create a false narrative that Wilder has been at any point been the key driving force in the popularity of the division globally. Rather it has been a combination of the big 3, with all the unexpected twists and turns -- Joshua unifying belts, Fury surviving his deep cut scare, Joshua losing and regaining his belts, and now Wilder losing in such a manner -- that has kept the division compelling.

We may yet get some other names helping to propel the popularity of the division in a big way -- Dubois or Joyce maybe? -- but right now Fury and Joshua has to be considered the matchup that will push the division even higher in popularity.

[Oldskoolg]

Prelims destroy Dazn numbers.

Lmao.

Absolutely KILL anything on the deadzone 3 times over or more

[Kezzer]

Where this part of the ppv or not? If they got to 1.42 mil ppv sales then kudos! Even if arum suggested 2 mil, 1.4 mil is impressive given both fighters previous numbers

[YoungManRumble]

Were people just watching hoping they'd get the PPV main event for free somehow?

[TMLT87]

Don't shit on Wilder too much because if it wasn't for Wilder there would have never been a rematch in the first place. He was the one who had constantly pushed for it when Fury decided to sign with Top Rank by fighting the Schwarz' and Wallin's of the world.

Also, it's Wilder who is the one that is bringing the buzz and excitement back into the heavyweight division and spearheading these huge events that the boxing public wants to see by taking on these risky fights. Not Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury.

Those two were content on just fighting overmatched and mandatory challengers back in the U.K. Before Wilder started making some noise here in the U.S.

So let's give credit where credit is due.

Wilder is the weakest draw of the three and also the last of the three to have an actual high profile fight. The only value hes ever really brought is that he was an American in the mix.

Fury fought Wlad in 2015, Joshua fought Whyte a month later, Wilder was fighting Duhaupas at that time. Joshua then fought Wlad in 2017 in front of 90,000 people on a PPV that did 1.5 million buys while Wilder fought Gerald Washington. It wasnt until March 2018 that Wilder had his first big fight, against Ortiz who iirc was ranked #5 by Ring. The same month Joshua fought #3 ranked WBO champ Parker on another big stadium show that broke a million buys on PPV.

Even when it comes to the Fury/Wilder fights, the first fight did more PPV buys in the UK in the early hours of the morning that it did in America. And in both fights there was clearly a **** ton of Brits that had travelled and brought tickets to watch Fury. Even taking away that aspect of it, it was clearly Fury who did most of the work selling that fight to Americans, through his persona and him getting up from that knockdown. He probably has more American fans than Wilder at this point.