Ward/Kovalev II being a PPV is a bad sign

[jujigatame]

The first one did only 165K buys and was considered a commercial failure. It's doubtful the sequel will do much better. Yet this is still on PPV, which means HBO's boxing budget has been so severely slashed that we're unlikely to ever see a "big" fight on the network again in the near future. Never mind the fact that, even when limiting themselves to smaller budget cards, they've still only had like 3 or 4 non-PPV cards on the network this year.

I've never been a "sky is falling" type but I'm starting to get pretty concerned with the sport's future in the US.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

HBO is definitely backing off, but ward has a crazy contract with rocnation that HBO wouldn't meet. The sport is fairly dead here, but it will always have a pulse.

[world ranked]

Its similar to Crawford/Postol or the top rank ppv a couple of months ago. when your paying guys a certain amount and its more than the license fee it has to be on ppv. Simple economics.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Not the same at all.

[tiny_acres]

This fight will do more than 165,000 like the first.
I'm predicting 225-250,000.
Numbers still suck but considerably higher

[jujigatame]

I don't really understand how the fight is economically viable. It doesn't seem like the PPV revenue will be sufficient to pay the guaranteed purses, let alone other costs.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I don't really understand how the fight is economically viable. It doesn't seem like the PPV revenue will be sufficient to pay the guaranteed purses, let alone other costs.

Rocnation will lose money, duva will do ok. There is no buzz for the fight, I'm sure they would be thrilled at 200k.

[boxing_rocks]

If Kovalev was fighting a Mexican or an exciting American fighter, they would sell well. Only hardcore fans are watching Ward, and many of them do it via streams. I predict a number under 150K, probably around 100-120K.

[SFW]

The way Kovalev acted like a child when he lost surely put people off, who wants to pay to see him choke again? They'll be lucky to equal the first fight's numbers, which were abysmal.

[boxing_rocks]

The way Kovalev acted like a child when he lost surely put people off, who wants to pay to see him choke again? They'll be lucky to equal the first fight's numbers, which were abysmal.

Kovalev doesn't draw because of his poor English. What is Ward's excuse? Ah, those moron fans don't understand his style

[SaadOffTheDeck]

This one is $65+ tax. I think that's $15 more but I don't remember exactly.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

The way Kovalev acted like a child when he lost surely put people off, who wants to pay to see him choke again? They'll be lucky to equal the first fight's numbers, which were abysmal.

Kovalev doesn't draw because of his poor English. What is Ward's excuse? Ah, those moron fans don't understand his style

Why do some of you keep talking about speaking English as a selling point? It's inherently false.

[boxing_rocks]

The way Kovalev acted like a child when he lost surely put people off, who wants to pay to see him choke again? They'll be lucky to equal the first fight's numbers, which were abysmal.

Kovalev doesn't draw because of his poor English. What is Ward's excuse? Ah, those moron fans don't understand his style

Why do some of you keep talking about speaking English as a selling point? It's inherently false.

No, it is not. Kovalev and Golovkin are not connecting to most of casual fans because of their broken language. Different culture doesn't help either.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Kovalev doesn't draw because of his poor English. What is Ward's excuse? Ah, those moron fans don't understand his style

Why do some of you keep talking about speaking English as a selling point? It's inherently false.

No, it is not. Kovalev and Golovkin are not connecting to most of casual fans because of their broken language. Different culture doesn't help either.

Ggg sells out all the time. It's boxing that isn't popular. He's a bigger draw than any American.

[Freedom2013]

This PPV isn't going to sell very well.

There are a couple of good matchups on the card (Bivol-Agnew and Magomedov-Arias) but there will also be the boring runner Rigo and Andre "arm-clamp and clinch" Ward.

And the price is too high, it should cost no more than $50 at the most.

[boxing_rocks]

Why do some of you keep talking about speaking English as a selling point? It's inherently false.

No, it is not. Kovalev and Golovkin are not connecting to most of casual fans because of their broken language. Different culture doesn't help either.

Ggg sells out all the time. It's boxing that isn't popular. He's a bigger draw than any American.

He sells out arenas, but not PPVs.

[jujigatame]

I don't think language is the issue. Pacquiao never spoke great English but he still got mega-popular here.

Boxing is just becoming more and more of a niche sport here. To get famous as a fighter now you have to turn yourself into some kind of obnoxious cartoon character who can be loved/hated in equal measure.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

No, it is not. Kovalev and Golovkin are not connecting to most of casual fans because of their broken language. Different culture doesn't help either.

Ggg sells out all the time. It's boxing that isn't popular. He's a bigger draw than any American.

He sells out arenas, but not PPVs.

He sells more PPV's than any American does.

[jujigatame]

This PPV isn't going to sell very well.

There are a couple of good matchups on the card (Bivol-Agnew and Magomedov-Arias) but there will also be the boring runner Rigo and Andre "arm-clamp and clinch" Ward.

And the price is too high, it should cost more than $50 at the most.

Agreed, I'd pay $50 but $65 is a shade too high for me considering the mediocrity of the undercard.

But really I don't think price affects overall PPV buy numbers all that much. Only a very small number of hardcore fans are looking at every undercard fight and coming up with some theoretical price they think the PPV is worth. Most are just deciding "do I really wanna see this main event or not".

[SaadOffTheDeck]

This PPV isn't going to sell very well.

There are a couple of good matchups on the card (Bivol-Agnew and Magomedov-Arias) but there will also be the boring runner Rigo and Andre "arm-clamp and clinch" Ward.

And the price is too high, it should cost more than $50 at the most.

Agreed, I'd pay $50 but $65 is a shade too high for me considering the mediocrity of the undercard.

But really I don't think price affects overall PPV buy numbers all that much. Only a very small number of hardcore fans are looking at every undercard fight and coming up with some theoretical price they think the PPV is worth. Most are just deciding "do I really wanna see this main event or not".

Yeah, undercards have always contributed minimally. That's probably why they've gotten progressively worse through the years. I'm not buying this one because I'm buying Bellator. Putting on 3 title fights and two legend bouts deserves my $50 and I'm not dealing with the ridiculous bills I used to with a Boxing, UFC and Pride every month!

[victor-romeo]

Kovalev doesn't draw because of his poor English. What is Ward's excuse? Ah, those moron fans don't understand his style

Why do some of you keep talking about speaking English as a selling point? It's inherently false.

No, it is not. Kovalev and Golovkin are not connecting to most of casual fans because of their broken language. Different culture doesn't help either.

Kovalev English way better than GGG, Actually Kovalev speaks English fine. Different culture now thats something different. Me personally I am more into watching good talent fight than just personalities, so I have been watching for example people who speak other languages fight for years , if they don't speak English, it isn't a big deal to me that might not be the case for your average fan.

[jujigatame]

Yeah, undercards have always contributed minimally. That's probably why they've gotten progressively worse through the years. I'm not buying this one because I'm buying Bellator. Putting on 3 title fights and two legend bouts deserves my $50 and I'm not dealing with the ridiculous bills I used to with a Boxing, UFC and Pride every month!

Oh man that Bellator card is so bad. I just do not dig "legend" fights. They're really just sad old man fights with better branding. Davis/Bader and Larkin/Lima are good quality fights but no way I'm paying $50 for that.

Come to think of it, I usually buy more UFC than boxing events, but the only PPV I've bought so far this year is Golovkin/Jacobs.

[victor-romeo]

I will be buying this fight , but I don't buy PPV that much for years now. I used to buy PPV a lot. I think my last PPV purchases where Canelo vs Mayweather (boring as hell can I get my money back) and Ward Vs Kovalev I.
I don't regret paying for the first Ward vs Kovalev fight as that was very high level boxing, not a master piece but very interesting fight that I have now watched all the way through 2 other times on replay, and bits and pieces here and there.
I will buy the PPV for Kovalev vs Ward II and I like the under card for this one.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yeah, undercards have always contributed minimally. That's probably why they've gotten progressively worse through the years. I'm not buying this one because I'm buying Bellator. Putting on 3 title fights and two legend bouts deserves my $50 and I'm not dealing with the ridiculous bills I used to with a Boxing, UFC and Pride every month!

Oh man that Bellator card is so bad. I just do not dig "legend" fights. They're really just sad old man fights with better branding. Davis/Bader and Larkin/Lima are good quality fights but no way I'm paying $50 for that.

Come to think of it, I usually buy more UFC than boxing events, but the only PPV I've bought so far this year is Golovkin/Jacobs.

The UFC hasn't gotten my money either, but I'm likely to buy both next month. I love Sonnen and Wandy is a God to me. Plus, they're trying and I like that. Bader/Davis was a shitty fight but that's a great lead in. As far as Bellator cards go, it can't get much better.

[Enlightened-One]

Why do some of you keep talking about speaking English as a selling point? It's inherently false.

No, it is not. Kovalev and Golovkin are not connecting to most of casual fans because of their broken language. Different culture doesn't help either.

Kovalev English way better than GGG, Actually Kovalev speaks English fine. Different culture now thats something different.

I have watched half a dozen recent interviews and he always has a translator standing behind him.

He might be OK during brief post-fight interviews when being asked simple questions, but for anything more linguistically challenging, then he always requires the assistance of a translator.

Sergey Kovalev’s frequent bigoted and controversial actions, coupled with his inability and lack of personality (probably due to language issues) is partly the reason why he isn’t as popular as he should be.

If Sergey had made more of an effort to learn the social etiquette/tolerance of the western world and also attaining a better standard of the English language (to help convey his personality), then his fan-base would be far bigger and his PPV/audience figures would probably be double the size of his current numbers.

Sergey Kovalev is one of the sports’ most exciting fighters, but his out-of-ring actions are likely to discourage many fight fans from supporting him.