Which Tyson Fury PPV was the biggest?

As boxing fans know, once a fighter reaches a certain level of competition or degree of popularity, their important fights move from regular broadcasting to pay-per-view (PPV). This enables larger purses to be offered to fighters as the revenue stream becomes wider than just a site fee, ticket sales, and broadcast rights. At times, certain fights need to take place on PPV. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to go ahead due to the purse demands of the fighters.

Tyson Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion, is one such fighter who has been operating in the PPV zone in the UK and Ireland since 2015 and in the United States since 2018. The following paragraphs will crunch some numbers across the two television markets and answer the question posed in the title.

Fury’s First PPV

November 28, 2015, was the date. Fury traveled to Germany to take on long-reigning heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf. Sky Sports Box Office was the PPV platform offering the fight to fans in the UK and Ireland. With the unified heavyweight crown on the line, Fury’s first PPV performed well. Sky reported 655,000 purchases of the event.

More UK & Ireland Only PPVs

In 2019, after he had debuted on PPV in America (more on that later), Fury took a couple of what looked like stay-busy fights. He faced Tom Schwarz of Germany in Las Vegas in June and Otto Wallin of Sweden in September, also in Las Vegas.

Despite the early hours of the morning start time in the market, UK and Ireland fans had to pay to watch the bouts on BT Sport Box Office. No viewing figures were ever officially released. It is reasonable to assume that the numbers weren’t great due to the start time and both opponents being perceived as incapable of giving Fury a competitive fight.

Real Big PPV Numbers Require A Suitable Dance Partner

The PPV numbers for Fury’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder provide a perfect example of how a genuine rivalry generates interest among hardcore and casual fans alike.

The first bout between the two, with Wilder’s WBC title on the line, took place in December 2018. In the UK and Ireland, the event tempted 420,000 households to purchase the event. In the United States, Showtime PPV reported 325,000 buys. Let’s call it 750,000 purchases across the two territories.

The dramatic nature of the first bout led to a massive increase in PPV buys for the February 2020 rematch between the two. This time, the United States market reported 1.2 million buys for the WBC title fight—around four times the number of households that purchased the first encounter. The UK and Ireland’s figures increased too. 800,000 households gave their money to BT Sport Box Office to watch the event—two million purchases between the two fanatical boxing markets.

The one-sided nature of the second fight probably affected the sales for the trilogy bout between Fury and Wilder. The boxers faced off for the third time in October 2021. Only 300,000 households purchased the event in the UK and Ireland, while 600,000 did likewise in the United States.

Two More Low-Selling Fury PPVs And The Answer To The Question

Tyson Fury’s two 2022 title defences were shown on PPV platforms. His April fight against Dillian Whyte sold poorly, with figures for the UK and Ireland not being divulged but reports from America indicate that less than 50,000 households purchased the event there. A third fight against Derek Chisora occurred in December of 2022, with a figure of 500,000 sales in the UK and Ireland being mentioned. Regardless of the Whyte and Chisora sales, neither fight got close to the figures set by Fury’s biggest-selling PPV. That, by a considerable margin, was his February 2020 rematch with Deontay Wilder.

Colin Morrison

A boxing fan since his teenage years, Morrison began writing about the sport in July 2016. He appreciates all styles of boxing and has nothing but respect for those who get in the ring for our entertainment. Morrison is from Scotland and can be found on Twitter @Morrie1981.

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