Ariel Helwani has revealed that Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou’s PPV numbers were not as bad as may have been previously projected.
The two fighters engaged in a thrilling fight on Ngannou’s boxing debut as the former UFC heavyweight champion was more than a match for Fury. The pre-fight trailer received over 100 million views, while the fight was attended by a star-studded lineup that included Cristiano Ronaldo, Eminem and Kanye West. Therefore, the build-up had increased the pressure on both fighters to perform, but they did not disappoint.
The fight was a worthy spectacle since Ngannou dropped Fury in round three, much to the shock of everyone, leading some to believe he should have been given the decision. Despite the enthusiasm for the fight, Dave Meltzer gave a negative outlook on the PPV numbers. The reporter stated that the numbers were fewer than Jake Paul’s fight with Nate Diaz. The latter bout had brought in over 400,000 PPV buys.
“Meltzer on Observer Radio – discussing the #FuryNgannou PPV buys: “I will have the exact numbers tomorrow, but they were terrible. Way below an AEW PPV. Possibly 10k for TV orders. I will have the streaming tomorrow. It was nothing close to Canelo or Diaz-Paul buys.”
In addition to this, further reports indicated that the fight did 11,500 buys on US TV on pay-per-view. In contrast, the numbers were 56,000 on ESPN+ PPV. Nevertheless, Helwani talked up the figures by claiming it had done well.
“Let’s just say it didn’t do over 100 [thousand buys in America], that’s Saturday afternoon/American pay-per-view numbers. That’s completely ignoring the fact that it also aired on TNT Sports Box Office, in the U.K. where Tyson is his biggest draw. That’s where he has his most drawing power, in the U.K, he’s British.
“[That’s] ignoring that [Canada] number, ESPN+ is not in Canada, and also ignoring the DAZN number. Which aired everywhere but the U.S., U.K., and Ireland. You’re ignoring all these numbers! I can tell you with great certainty right now, being extremely conservative as I say this, the number you shouldn’t be throwing in my face is 75k, isn’t even 100,” Helwani