johnswan1 wrote:jamesmcdonnell wrote:johnswan1 wrote:
The Lemiuex PPV flopped. They are chasing paydays. They are by no means picking up safe cheques. They are having to pay opponents extremely well just to face him.
I don't think it was a flop, in the sense that they would have expected it to flop.
Those that did watch it, saw him put a beatdown on a dangerous puncher, albeit a methodical one. They were doing it to establish him as a PPV fighter, and continue to do so.
It's a shame GGG is already knocking on a bit, I fear he will never become the star his talent deserves, partly due to the lack of dance partners are 160, and the fact that he is unlikely to ever get to face Ward at 168.
It was a flop because they were very vocal beforehand about how anything over 200k would be a success. The event did superbly in terms of gate and merchandising but the PPV numbers did not follow the same momentum. Lemieux was reportedly paid $2m.
Afterwards Team GGG and HBO were left scratching their heads. Did the PPV itself flop, or had the PPV model itself been damaged post Mayweather-Pac. Many concluded it was the latter and expectations for PPV numbers on Cotto-Canelo were lowered as a result. People were wondering whether that PPV would manage more than 500k buys, but it ended up outperforming all expectations in coming in at over 900k - which itself is the definitive proof that there isn't much wrong with the PPV model - the problem was that Golovkin is not a well enough known name for an A side, or Lemieux was not enough of a B side draw outside of Canada, or a combination of both.
Interesting, thanks John.
It does sound like perhaps their expectations were a little unrealistic. GGG is not a household name stateside, he needs a well known dance partner.
If the fight with Canelo can be made, and he wins, which most would expect him to, bar a shafting on the cards, then he will kind of inherit some of his stardom, much like Mayweather did with DLH.
Against Canelo, I think GGG will have to accept the thin end of the wedge to a large degree to get the fight made.
The fact Cotto v Canelo did so well is perhaps an aberration, both men had large followings from their respective communities. I'd say any PPV like that will do well, but there aren't so many like that.
