Is Johsua the biggest draw ever?

[ILikeBeer]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/45598352

Discuss.

[Stuarty]

Not yet I wouldn't have thought. Well on his way though but lack of competition after Wilder could derail his progress.

[Zubrei]

Nope.

Currently Canelo is a bigger draw, Floyd if he comes back, and possibly Manny. He is massive but not as big as the others.

Going back in the past bigger draws:
Oscar De La Hoya
Mohammed Ali
George Foreman
Mike Tyson
Julio Caesar Chavez (Snr)
Jack Dempsey
Sugar Ray Robinson
Roberto Duran
Roy Jones Jnr
Hagler
Hearns
Leonard
Prince Naseem Hammed


Maybe:
Cotto
Holyfield
Frank Bruno (everyone loves Bruno)
Lennox Lewis

[fanman]

no. but in the modern age with social media, etc, surely there is the possibility to harness the biggest audiences / fight purses.

mayweather tapped into that u.s. ppv market by being brilliant and flashing money. as an undefeated heavy i would think joshua would be more interesting than that.

[gilgamesh]

If he can stay on top for several years to come he might get there. He's definitely become an enormous draw fairly early in his Pro career no question.

Mayweather was 10 years deep before he was making the kinda money AJ is already making after just 5 or 6 years as a Pro.

[brilo33]

heavy weights will always be, he looks the part big . black muscles , only thing is he aint mean or thick , comes across a nice geezer , if wilder was British he would be bigger , the uk hate irish travellers so fury has no chance , dave allen would of been a big draw if he was any good. my opinion obviously

[gilgamesh]

heavy weights will always be, he looks the part big . black muscles , only thing is he aint mean or thick , comes across a nice geezer , if wilder was British he would be bigger , the uk hate irish travellers so fury has no chance , dave allen would of been a big draw if he was any good. my opinion obviously

If Fury and Saunders are any indication I see why people would hate Travellers. Those two are scumf*cks.

[orbtastic]

I know Floyd and DLH have consistently broken PPV records but I think for pure circus/drama, nothing beats Tyson PPVs post-prison, he was commanding huge interest/money/press for fighting a bunch of no-hopers.

[brilo33]

I know Floyd and DLH have consistently broken PPV records but I think for pure circus/drama, nothing beats Tyson PPVs post-prison, he was commanding huge interest/money/press for fighting a bunch of no-hopers.

tyson was mean , people love horror films and being scared , that is why wwf was so big, and tyson was the real deal, you wouldnt want to meet him on the tube after missing your stop

[orbtastic]

There is that, suppose some people viewed it as he was literally the baddest man on the planet.

He was also clearly quite mental, unpredictable and violent (although you could argue he was consistently provoked).

So long as he had a willing dance partner, he at least tried to take their head off and you never quite know what you'd get, unless it was someone as useless as McNeeley...that said, he played his part and maybe even thought he'd wrap Tyson in a cocoon of horror. I'd have given his dad a better chance of winning though.

[kingmo]

The first Ali vs Frazier fight was sold to and broadcast by closed circuit, to 50 countries in 12 languages via ringside reporters to an audience estimated at 300 million, a record viewership for a television event at that time.

The fight was broadcast live pay-per-view on theatre television in the United States, where it set a record with 2.5 million buys at closed-circuit venues, grossing $45 million. It was also shown closed-circuit during the middle of the night in London theatres, where it set a record with 90,000 buys, grossing $750,000. Combined, the fight sold 2.59 million buys in the United States and London, grossing $45.75 million (inflation-adjusted $300 million).

On both closed-circuit and free television, the fight was watched by a record 300 million viewers worldwide. It was watched by a record 27.5 million viewers on BBC1 in the United Kingdom, about half of the British population. It was also watched by an estimated 54 million viewers in Italy, and 2 million viewers in South Korea.

No internet, no social media, no YouTube, no smart phones!

[fanman]

yea , ali was the goat. and whats more, you can inagine people actually cared. there'll never be another.