If you are a boxing fan, between February 1 and March 1, you will have to pay a hefty price to see some of boxing’s biggest stars. On Thursday afternoon, PPV.com revealed a purchase price of $79.99 for the March 1 WBA lightweight title fight between the champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) and Lamont Roach(25-1-1, 10 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
Davis is one of boxing’s biggest stars and there is zero doubt that the Barclays Center will be buzzing that night. This fight against Roach is a DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) special as their rivalry goes all the way back to the amateur days. Expect fans of both to make that 3-4 hour drive to attend this one and root for their guy.
Davis has said that this year is his last in boxing, so the road to retirement (for now) begins with this fight against Roach, who is the WBA super featherweight champion moving up in weight to try and become a two-division champion. Although the fight has a level of intrigue, will it be enough for fans of the sport and/or even casual ones to pony up $79.99?
Boxing Is Putting A Big Dent In Fans’ Wallets
Over the last 12 months, there have been plenty of discussions about pay-per-view prices amongst some of boxing’s power brokers, with Turki Alalshikh leading the conversation. For the first time in a long time, if ever by anyone, Alalshikh made public statements about the prices of PPV and wanted to make an effort to lower the piracy rate on these events. So, he made it a point for boxing PPVs to come in at a lower price point. He began with Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois being 19.99, followed it with Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol 1 ($19.99), Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2 ($39.99) & now on February 22, Beterbiev-Bivol 2 at $25.99.
Premier Boxing Champions/TGB Promotions are the only major promotional company that doesn’t have a deal with Riyadh Season and has not succumbed to the pressure of lowering the PPV price. They are starting the year with Saturday’s PPV of David Benavidez vs. David Morrell at $79.99 and will follow it in March with Tank-Roach at $79.99 as well. Those three events come in at a grand total of $185.97 before taxes take it over 200 dollars. With the economy being the way it is, will the sport continue to expect the 200k-plus hardcore fans to keep ponying up for these events? The short answer is yes, which means more piracy and fewer actual PPV buys.
My Three Cents
This fight between Tank & Roach will have plenty of traction on social media and with casual fans. There is the thought that more would be interested if the PPV price were set at a lower cost than what it is right now. Obviously, the promoter feels that fans will tune in regardless of the price, but those times were in yesteryears when the economy was in a better shape than it is now. For the sake of the fans, one can only hope that these prices are examined for events moving forward.
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