Ward's eighth-round knockout of Kovalev in their rematch on June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas generated a live gate of $2,187,340, according to figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday, far less than the first fight generated seven months earlier.
The revenue from last month's bout came from the sale of 6,366 tickets, even though Roc Nation Sports announced a crowd of 10,592 on fight night. There were 2,113 complimentary tickets given out from a total of 10,748 available, according to the commission.
When Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) won a controversial unanimous decision... at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, that fight generated a live gate of $3,341,980 from the sale of 10,066 tickets (with 1,636 complimentary tickets given away and 2,525 unsold tickets).
Both fights did poorly on HBO PPV, as well, with the first fight selling only about 165,000 units, and the rematch, according to industry sources, selling perhaps only as many as 135,000.
When HBO replayed the rematch a week later, it averaged 752,000 viewers... according to Nielsen Media Research.
When HBO replayed the first fight a week after it took place, the bout averaged 834,000 viewers...
Note: Some media sources are saying that the Ward-Kovalev rematch only achieved 125K PPV buys (as per Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports), not the 135K figure quoted by Dan Rafael in this ESPN article.
In my personal opinion… I think it’s safe to say that we won’t be given an opportunity to watch a third bout between Ward & Kovalev, because there aren’t any sporting or commercial reasons to justify it.
Thoughts?
