Prime Video will again step into the pay-per-view boxing ring to distribute the September 14 Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga super middleweight championship bout.

The fight card from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which also features a co-main event bout between middleweight champion Erislandy Lara and Danny Garcia, will be Prime Video’s fourth PPV boxing event this year and its second featuring Alvarez, arguably PPV boxing’s most lucrative draw. The undisputed middleweight champion headlined Prime Video’s May 4 PPV card against Jaime Munguia, which reportedly drew more than 500,000 PPV buys. 

The Alvarez-Berlanga PPV fight is slated to occur on the same day as a scheduled UFC mixed martial arts PPV event in Las Vegas. 

Also Read: Prime Video Punches Up Live Sports Lineup with Premier Boxing Champions Distribution Deal

The Alvarez-Munguia fight comes as the PPV boxing industry prepares for ESPN’s August 3 event between undefeated welterweight champion Terence Crawford and junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov.   

Also on the upcoming PPV boxing schedule are ESPN’s October 12 light heavyweight title bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol and DAZN's December 12 Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury bout, a rematch of their May 18 PPV heavyweight championship fight, won by Usyk.  

Showtime Sports will look to tie a bow on a busy pay-per-view boxing year with a November 25 fight between interim WBC world super middleweight champion David Benavidez and undefeated fighter Demetrius Andrade. 

The fight will be the sixth PPV boxing event for Showtime in 2023, the most of any distributor. The announcement comes on the heels of the network’s September 30 Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo PPV bout, which drew between 650,000 and 700,000 PPV buys, according to published reports.

Overall, the PPV boxing industry has distributed nine major PPV boxing matches this year — more than double 2022’s output — with Showtime’s April 22 Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia event setting the mark as the highest-performing fight of the year so far with a reported 1.2 million PPV buys.

Showtime Sports event and programming president Stephen Espinoza said the Benavidez-Andrade fight will continue the network’s pursuit of attractive and competitive fights for the PPV industry. Benavidez fought in the main event of a Showtime-distributed March PPV event card, defeating former champion Caleb Plant. 

“The event continues a torrid run of big events on Showtime PPV and will include an undercard of competitive, compelling fights that have become the standard for Showtime PPV events,” Espinoza said.  

Also on the PPV boxing docket are two ESPN PPV-distributed fights, including the October 28 WBC heavyweight championship bout between titleholder Tyson Fury and former UFC fighter Francis Ngannou, and the November 16 WBC lightweight championship fight between Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos. 

On October 14, ESPN PPV will also distribute a boxing card featuring YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul in separate fights. 

The pay-per-view boxing category’s already strong 2023 campaign will get a major boost in July as Showtime will distribute the much anticipated welterweight boxing match between champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford.

The fight, for the undisputed welterweight championship, will take place in Las Vegas and will pit the undefeated WBC, WBA and IBF 147-pound champion Spence Jr. against WBO champion Crawford. Both fighters have headlined PPV boxing cards, and industry observers believe that the fight could surpass the industry standard 1 million PPV buys.

“Spence vs. Crawford is the type of matchup that will demonstrate boxing’s enduring popularity – a marquee event to bring the sports world to a halt with all eyes on the center of the ring in Las Vegas,” Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said. “This fight will be talked about alongside all of the legendary welterweight and undisputed world title bouts throughout history.”

The fight is the seventh major PPV fight card in 2023 and fourth for Showtime. The network’s April 22 Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fight is the highest-performing fight of the year thus far, generating a reported 1.2 million PPV buys.

Most recently, DAZN’s May 6 Canelo Alvarez-John Ryder bout drew a reported 450,000 PPV buys.

Showtime on Saturday will ring the bell for the start of the 2023 pay-per-view boxing schedule with its Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia championship fight card.

The fight, for Davis’ lightweight title, marks the undefeated champion's fifth appearance on PPV since 2020. Davis' last PPV fight in May against Rolando Romero generated more than 250,000 PPV buys, according to published reports. The Davis-Garcia fight will retail at a suggested price of $74.99.

If Davis wins, it sets up a potentially lucrative PPV fight this spring against rising, undefeated boxer Ryan Garcia.

The Davis-Garcia event is the first of what Showtime hopes to be a strong 2023 PPV campaign. Showtime distributed three PPV bouts in 2022.

“As strong a year as [2022] was, I think 2023 will be bigger and better,” Stephen Espinoza, Showtime Sports president, sports and event programming, said during the fight’s December press conference in Washington D.C. ”There’s no better way to kick off the year than with Gervonta Davis, the hottest young star in the sport.” ■

The pay-per-view boxing category will look to pack one last revenue punch this weekend as marquee fighters Terence Crawford and Manny Pacquaio step into the ring in separate fights.

Crawford, the undefeated WBO welterweight champion, will defend his title December 10 against top contender David Avanesyan in an event that will retail at a suggested PPV price of $39.99. Crawford last fought on PPV in November 2021, drawing a reported 135,000 PPV buys in his win over former welterweight champion Shawn Porter.

Pacquiao, the second biggest PPV boxing draw behind Floyd Mayweather, will fight Saturday in an exhibition match against mixed martial arts fighter DK Yoo that will retail for $29.99. The eight-division world champion retired in 2021 after suffering a loss to then welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas in a PPV bout that drew 250,000 PPV buys, according to reports.

Overall, Manny Pacquiao has generated 20 million PPV buys and around $1.25 billion in PPV revenue over 24 PPV bouts.  Pacquiao's 2015 fight against Mayweather remains the biggest PPV event of all time, drawing 4.6 million PPV buys.

The two fights will effectively end a busy PPV boxing year that didn’t include a blockbuster 1 million PPV buy event but included several mid-range events featuring such high-profile boxers as Canelo Alvarez, Deontay Wilder, Gennady Golovkin, Tyson Fury and Gervonta Davis.

Lightweight champion Davis will launch the category’s 2023 PPV lineup with a Showtime-distributed January 7 bout against Héctor Luis García. A Davis win would set up a major spring 2023 PPV fight against unbeaten Ryan Garcia. ■

The Veteran’s Day holiday weekend lineup of live TV sports events begins on the football field as the NFL travels to Germany on Sunday for a morning matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers on NFL Network. 

Also on Sunday, CBS and Fox will offer regional NFL afternoon telecasts, followed by NBC's Sunday Night Football contest between the Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49’ers.

In the octagon, ESPN will distribute the UFC 281 pay-per-view fight card on Saturday, headlined by the Israel Adesanya-Alex Pereira middleweight championship fight. 

Also on Saturday via PPV is the return of retired undefeated champion Floyd Mayweather, as he steps into the ring to fight an afternoon exhibition bout against MMA fighter Deji Olatunji. DAZN on Saturday will deliver a fight card featuring a main event junior welterweight bout between Montana Love and Stevie Spark.

The weekend college football schedule begins Saturday with a new top-ranked team, Georgia, who will take on Mississippi State on ESPN. Second-ranked Ohio State will face Indiana on Fox, while third-ranked Michigan battles Nebraska and fourth-ranked TCU travels to meet Texas on ABC. Other games featuring top 10-ranked teams include No. 6 Oregon-Washington (Fox), No. 7 LSU-Arkansas (ESPN), No.9 Alabama-No. 11 Ole Miss (CBS) and No. 10 Clemson-Louisville (ESPN).

NBC will tip off its women’s college basketball coverage on Saturday with a matchup between California and Notre Dame in the inaugural Citi Shamrock Classic, the first live women’s college basketball game on NBC ever, and the first college basketball game of any kind since 1988, according to network officials. ■  

Pay-per-view content aggregator In Demand will look to serve fight fans online seeking to purchase DAZN’s May 7 Canelo Alvarez-Dmitry Bivol fight with its new, interactive-based PPV.com website that the company hopes will grow as more viewers look to access big events digitally. 

The site, which the Cox Communications, Charter Communications and Comcast-owned In Demand launched this past December in partnership with interactive video company Kiswe, offers online users the opportunity to purchase PPV events like Avarez-Bivol outside of the company’s traditional linear PPV offering. PPV.com has already distributed 10 to 15 sports-themed events and has another three events scheduled through the month of May, according to In Demand senior VP of programming and marketing Mark Boccardi.

In Demand will launch a PPV.com app and hopes to have deals soon for mobile platforms Apple iOS and Android, as well as deals with connected TV platforms such as Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV by the end of the year. Boccardi recently outlined In Demand’s business plan for PPV.com with Multichannel News. Here's an edited transcript of that conversation. 

Also: Fite to Distribute Floyd Mayweather PPV Exhibition Bout 

Multichannel News: How does PPV.com fit into In Demand’s overall strategy of distributing major pay-per-view events to consumers? 

Mark Boccardi: In Demand along with our owners decided to launch a direct to consumer streaming platform because the pay-per-view business has become splintered. For every event, it’s become very confusing for the customer as to where they need to go to buy it – is it on Showtime? Is it Fox Sports? Is it DAZN? Is it Fite? Is it Triller? We already have relationships with all of these programmers and we’re carrying their content already via traditional PPV, so we thought we would consolidate all forms of pay-per-view distribution under one roof. We want it to be easy to find an event without having to subscribe to a whole new service. The beauty of PPV.com is that you just buy what you want.

MCN: Are you finding that more consumers are turning to the digital platform to purchase PPV events? 

MB: Absolutely. I think what we've recognized is that in order to be successful in this distribution environment, you have to be where the customers are. Clearly what we have seen happening across the entire TV landscape is a shift to digital as an option, and pay-per-view is a big part of that. It’s really just about customer options and being where customers are going to be. Having said that, the traditional pay-per-view platform with cable, satellite and telco distributors still represent the majority of pay-per-view buys for any one event. So what we're doing is really complimentary to the core business that we've always done. Now that we're in both, we can track and see how they move with each other, but the important thing for us is to be in both places.

MCN: What are some of the bells and whistles that PPV.com offers beyond the traditional event feed? 

MB: We offer a hosted chat where we bring in industry experts to guide the discussion between consumers on different subjects throughout the event. For [Alvarez-Bivol] we’re going to offer a bilingual chat. We also have an option for viewers to post video selfies to allow them to be part of the community. What we’ve heard from fans is that they love this more communal way to watch a pay-per-view event – you’re not just sitting alone at home but instead you’re part of this larger community. 

MCN: Will you look to expand PPV.com’s lineup beyond predominately ring sports events?

MB: I think everything is on the table. One of the nice things about having this new service is that we have a lot of programmers coming to us saying, ‘I have this concert or this sporting event.’ I’m confident that we’ll be carrying content outside of boxing, wrestling and soccer events. 

PPV.com May Event Schedule 

(Dates, Events and PPV Purchase Price)

May 7 – Boxing: Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol ($79.99)

May 14 – Boxing: Sergey Kovalev vs. Tervel Pulev ($29.99)

May 28 – Boxing: Gervonta Davis vs. Rolando Romero ($74.99)

May 29 – Pro Wrestling: AEW: Double or Nothing Price ($39.99)

Sports streaming service Fite has secured the pay-per-view distribution rights to the May 14 exhibition bout featuring PPV boxing champion Floyd Mayweather.

The event, which pits the retired, undefeated Mayweather against ex-boxer Don Moore, will retail for a suggested price of $29.99, according to the sports streaming service.

Mayweather, the biggest revenue generator in PPV boxing history, last stepped into the ring this past August in an exhibition fight against YouTube sensation Logan Paul. Mayweather's 2017 fight against mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor drew more than 4.3 million PPV buys, second in PPV boxing history to Mayweather’s 2015 fight against Manny Pacquiao, which garnered an industry-high 4.6 million buys.

FITE’s telecast will also feature former UFC fighter Anderson Silva against Bruno Machado in an exhibition bout, as well as a sanctioned fight between former world champion Badou Jack and Hany Atiyo, said the streamer. ■ 

The New Year’s weekend slate of live TV sports starts Saturday on the football field with five college football bowl games slated to air on across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. The Outback Bowl kicks off the day with Penn State facing Arkansas on ESPN2, followed by the Citrus Bowl matching Iowa against Kentucky on ABC. 

ESPN will televise three college football bowl games including the Fiesta Bowl (Oklahoma State-Notre Dame), Rose Bowl (Utah-Ohio State) and Sugar Bowl (Baylor-Mississippi). 

The penultimate week of the 2021 NFL season begins Sunday afternoon with regional game coverage on Fox and CBS, followed by NBC’s Sunday Night Football, featuring a battle between NFC Central rivals the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. 

Top-10 ranked men’s college basketball teams hitting the court this weekend include No. 1 Baylor’s matchup Saturday against eighth-ranked Iowa State on ESPNU, and 10th-ranked Michigan State’s game against Northwestern Sunday on Big Ten Network. 

On Saturday, Fox Sports will step into the boxing ring with a pay-per-view fight card featuring heavyweights Luis Ortiz and Charles Martin, while TNT will hit the ice with a primetime NHL Winter Classic outdoor game between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild. 

On Sunday, USA Network will feature two English Premier League soccer games, while ESPN airs the high school football All-Star game. ■ 

Legendary boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. is the latest retired fighter to step back into the ring as he headlines a June 19 pay-per-view event that also features his son Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. 

Chavez, one of PPV boxing's biggest draws in the 1990s, will fight Hector Camacho Jr. -- the son of late boxing champion Hector “Macho” Camacho -- in a six round exhibition bout, according to Integrated Sports, which is distributing the event.

Also Read: PPV Boxing's Summer Bonanza

The Tribute To the Kings PPV card will also feature Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. against former UFC superstar Anderson Silva in an eight-round light heavyweight bout, according to the company. 

The PPV event will retail at a suggested retail price of $39.95, according to Integrated Sports.

The event comes on the heels of the June 6 PPV exhibition boxing event between retired former champion Floyd Mayweather and YouTube star Logan Paul. 

Also Read: Mayweather-Paul PPV Performance Set to Deliver Bigger Punch Than Fighters

 Multi-media company Triller is throwing its hat back into the pay-per-view event  ring Saturday, working with PPV event purveyor In Demand to distribute via traditional linear TV a boxing and music event headlined by YouTube personality Jake Paul’s boxing match against former mixed martial arts fighter Ben Askren. The event, which retails at a suggested price of $49.95, also features musical performances from such artists as Justin Bieber, The Black Keys, Doja Cat, Snoop Dog and Ice Cube. 

The event follows Triller’s successful Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. PPV fight/entertainment event this past November, which drew a reported 1.6 million PPV buys. Triller also recently announced a June 5 PPV fight card which will feature the return of former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield to the ring against Kevin McBride, as well as a lightweight title fight between champion Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos Jr. 

I recently spoke to In Demand senior VP, programming and marketing Mark Boccardi about Triller’s influence within the PPV event category and how the company’s new boxing/entertainment strategy will affect traditional PPV boxing events going forward. Here’s an edited excerpt from our conversation. 

Picture This: What is your take on Triller’s approach to pay-per-view boxing events? 

Mark Boccardi: Boxing promoters have been forced to look at events differently, and that's a good thing. There is a tried and true way of doing things that still works, but I think when you look at the mix of sports and entertainment that Triller is doing, they are featuring legitimate pro boxers along with retired athletes and social media stars, as well as major music acts including Snoop Dog. That’s not to say that the traditional boxing way doesn't work, but when you have some opportunistic entrepreneurs who mix boxing and entertainment, it’s a combination that really does work. So when we look at this weekend, it’s a great way for us to leverage our decades of pay-per-view expertise and experience with what Triller brings to the table and grow an even broader fan base for the sport.

PT: You mention broadening the fan base -- are the viewers purchasing Triller events a new generation of PPV boxing consumers?

MB: Absolutely. We saw that with the Tyson event back in November. What we had was a huge pay-per-view number -- it was the eighth best pay-per-view event of all time. It was a remarkable number that wasn’t just made up of your traditional boxing fan base, nor was it  just a young, new fan base who wanted to watch the Jake Paul fight; it was a combination of the two. It was a perfect storm of attractiveness that turned it into a mega event. So with respect to this weekend and what Triller is doing, they are absolutely tapping into a new fan base, but I wouldn't say that they're not picking up the older fan base. I definitely think that there's widespread appeal for it,   but bringing in the new audience is really such a key point here. 

PT: Can this event generate a million PPV buys without the added appeal of a Mike Tyson or another marquee boxer? 

MB: We’ll see --  there are a number of boxing matches, and they have some big name musical acts from Justin Bieber to Snoop Dog to Doja Cat. I think that helps draw in a different fan base that would otherwise not be interested in a boxing event. We have everything aligning on our end in terms of distributor marketing support, Triller marketing support and social media support. The whole marketing machine is cranking. 

PT: Do events like this diminish the value and appeal of traditional PPV boxing events that don’t feature musical entertainment or social media celebrities?

MB: No, not at all. I really do believe that both scenarios can work. We’ve been busy over the last few months planning multiple pay-per-view events this year with several major fighters including Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Errol Spence and Gervonta Davis. These are the names that represent the future of boxing. I think we’re going to have a really busy summer and fall for boxing, and we really feel good about the future of PPV boxing. There’s a lot of pent up demand because there hasn’t been a lot of those big events lately. 

Streaming sports service DAZN is taking a unique approach to adding subscribers with Saturday’s distribution of the Canelo Alvarez middleweight championship fight.

The SVOD streaming service will offer the Alvarez-Callum Smith fight via pay-per-view through PPV event aggregator In Demand for $69.99. As part of the deal, viewers purchasing the fight will receive a four-month subscription to the sports service, according to DAZN officials.

Alvarez will be fighting on PPV for the first time since signing a 12-fight deal with DAZN in 2018. That deal was nullified last month after Alvarez settled a breach of contract suit filed in September against DAZN and boxing company Golden Boy.

Also Read: DAZN Sets Canelo Alvarez Fight for December

DAZN senior VP of marketing Rob Stecklow said the offer provides an opportunity for the SVOD sports streaming service to introduce itself to boxing fans while luring back former subscribers who may have dropped the service earlier in the year when the pandemic halted most pro sports events, including marquee boxing shows.

“We’re taking the best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport and someone who has been on our platform for three fights," he said. “We want to put this fight in front of as many fans as possible, which is why we’re opening up the DAZN subscription package through the more traditional pay-per-view purchase.”  

For In Demand, the Alvarez-Callum fight is the third PPV boxing event in four weeks, following the successful Nov. 28 Mike Tyson -Roy Jones Jr. exhibition bout -- which drew 1.9 million PPV buys, according to industry sources -- and the Dec. 5 Errol Spence Jr.-Danny Garcia welterweight championship fight. Neither In Demand nor DAZN would say whether cable distributors would receive a split of the revenue generated from Alvarez-Callum PPV buys.

“We just came off two hugely successful fights with Tyson/Jones and Spence/Garcia; in fact, the Tyson event was one of the top 8 PPV events of all time,” said Mark Boccardi, senior VP, programming & marketing for In Demand. “While we recognize that the structure of the deal with DAZN is unique, it gives us the opportunity to get Canelo back on PPV and allows our customers to conveniently order from their existing cable, satellite, and telco providers. DAZN clearly recognizes the broad reach that we provide, and wants to tap into our audience with this arrangement.” 

DAZN’s recent run of big fights, including the Dec. 12 Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev fight and tomorrow night’s (Dec. 18) Gennady Golovkin-Kamil Szeremeta middleweight fight, has helped the service reach its pre-pandemic subscriber numbers, although the service would not reveal specific figures. Stecklow added the PPV offer will provide greater exposure for DAZN’s combat sports-centric lineup of programming, but he would not project how many PPV buys the Alvarez-Smith fight will generate. 

Stecklow also wouldn’t rule out stepping into the PPV ring for future fights. “We ideally would like to do this with other fights, potentially with our Ryan Garcia-Luke Campbell fight on Jan. 2,” he said. 

Floyd Mayweather will follow Mike Tyson into the pay-per-view boxing exhibition ring in February to take on YouTube star Logan Paul, Mayweather announced Sunday on his Instagram page.

The Mayweather-Paul fight will be streamed exclusively on the Fanmio Boxing website and will serve as the first fight for the 43-year old Mayweather since his 2017 fight against former UFC champion Conor McGregor. That fight drew 4.3 million PPV buys, the second most in PPV history behind the 4.6 million buys garnered by the 2015 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight.  

Logan has fought twice against fellow YouTuber KSI, most recently in a Nov. 2019 PPV event.

The event will retail at a suggested price of $24.99 for the first 1 million buys before increasing to $39.99. Beginning Dec. 29 the fight will retail at $59.99 before increasing $10 to $69.99 starting Feb. 11, according to the Fanmio website.

Mayweather's announcement follows the Nov. 28 return of former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson to the squared ring for the first time in 15 years in a PPV exhibition fight against ex-heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. that ended in a draw. Logan Paul's brother Jake knocked out former basketball star Nat Robinson on the undercard of the Tyson-Jones fight. 

It also comes on the heels of Saturday night's big PPV welterweight boxing event in which champion Errol Spence Jr. defeated former champion Danny Garcia in a unanimous decision. 

Related: Fox Sports Gears Up for Spence Jr. Garcia PPV Fight

Fox Sports this Saturday will step in the pay-per-view boxing ring for the first time in 2020 with the much anticipated Errol Spence Jr.-Danny Garcia welterweight championship fight card from AT&T Stadium in Dallas. 

The Premier Boxing Champions-promoted fight card -- which was moved to Dec. 5 from its original Nov. 21 date to allow fans to attend the event -- is the fourth PPV boxing event for the industry since the pandemic virtually shut down all sports programming this past March, and features two of the biggest names in the sport. The fight, which will retail for a suggested price of $74.95, is the third straight PPV fight for Spence, who has reportedly averaged more than 350,000 buys for his March 2019 fight with Mickey Garcia and his Sept. 2019 bout with Shawn Porter. 

Fox Sports executive VP and head of programming and scheduling Bill Wanger recently spoke to Multichannel News senior content producer, programming R. Thomas Umstead about the big fight and outlines Fox Sports’ boxing plans for 2021. An edited version of the interview appears below.

Does the fight’s date change to December help or hurt the event’s PPV buy potential? 

I don’t think there’s a difference in terms of buys between late November and early December -- I think we’re in early enough before the huge holiday crush. I do think that this PPV event represents the two of the best of the best. They are both great fighters, and Errol -- with the storyline of him coming back after his horrific [October 2019] car accident.-- taking on the former champion in Danny represents a fight in which viewers will see sparks fly.

Are you concerned that the current economic environment that we’re in given the pandemic could dampen PPV buys? 

Of course, we’ve very cognizant of the fact that there’s unemployment, however we do feel that with this fight at this time of the year and people not traveling as much, this could offer a bit of an escape for people, and allow some families to get together and watch. We also feel confident that we’re giving the consumer a great product.

Any projections of how many buys the fight will generate?

No, but I would say that with the reported figures for some of the earlier PPVs that the category has had, I feel like the PPV industry is right where it was pre-pandemic in terms of number of buys in relation to the fights. We’re expecting this fight to do what some of the other Errol Spence [PPV] fights have done. 

Have you changed any specific marketing tactics to help drive buys for the fight? 

Our marketing tactics in general are similar to what they were pre-pandemic. What I would say is that on our digital platform we’re making it easier for people to buy the fight. We’re offering more of a one-click option like Apple Pay and PayPal versus entering your credit card. So in that aspect we are trying some new things that will benefit the consumer.

How do you see the business evolving in 2021?

I think for us we’ll see our normal load of about 10 Fox fights and maybe 12 FS1 fights, and I see us doing four to five PPV events. I do think there are a few interesting things out there within the boxing industry -- will [Tyson] Fury and [Deontay] Wilder fight each other again? What will happen to [middleweight champion] Canelo Alverez after his next fight? I think we’ll see some clarity in 2021 that will create some exciting matchups that viewers will want to see. 

Heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are expected to fight each other in a major pay-per-view unification bout in 2021, according to ESPN.com.

Fury, who holds the WBC championship and Joshua, the IBF, WBO and WBA champion, have agreed in principle to fight twice in 2021, according to ESPN, although official contracts have yet to be signed.

[embed]https://twitter.com/Tyson_Fury/status/1270735021314359303[/embed]

Both fighters would have to get through fights prior to meeting one another. Fury has signed to fight former champion Deontay Wilder for a third time -- Fury defeated Wilder this past February after earning a draw in their 2018 fight. Joshua has a mandatory fight against heavyweight Kubrat Pulev. Both fights are expected to take place sometime in 2020, according to ESPN.

RELATED: Fox Sports, ESPN to Lace Up for Wilder-Fury III

Fox Sports on Saturday will enter the pay-per-view boxing arena for the third time this year with its Errol Spence-Shawn Porter welterweight championship fight card.

Fox Sports, along with boxing promotion company Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), is hoping its aggressive marketing push for Spence-Porter will deliver strong PPV buys that could match or surpass the approximately 300,000 buys for its March Spence-Mikey Garcia PPV event and the reported 500,000 buys for its July Manny Pacquiao-Keith Thurman fight.

Since early September, the Fox broadcasting and FS1 networks combined have aired more than 10 hours of fight-themed programming in and around live NFL, Major League baseball and college football game telecasts. The content included a four-part documentary series, PBC Fight Camp: Errol Spence Jr. vs. Shawn Porter, the finale of which aired this past Sunday on Fox and drew a series-high 1.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen.  

Fox Sports executive vice president and head of programming Bill Wanger talks about Fox Sports’ run of PPV boxing events as well as the marketing push for the Spence-Porter event, which will retail at a suggested price of $74.99. Wanger also looks ahead at Fox Sports' PPV boxing plans for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020.

How do you see this fight shaping up compared to Fox Sports’ previous two PPV boxing events in terms of potential performance and overall awareness of the event?

They are all a little different. This one has the distinct advantage of being in the fall and being promoted throughout our various high-profile sporting events, including the NFL, Major League Baseball and college football. [Last Sunday] there was a good amount of integration of the boxing promotion inside of our NFL programming. I also think this fight has the benefit of a great co-feature event with (Super Middleweight World Champion) Anthony Dirrell against David Benavidez, which should be a great battle. So overall I think it's a really good card.

What are your PPV performance expectations for Spence-Porter?

We’re not in the business of projecting buys, but we think it will be robust.

Were you satisfied with the buys for the first two fights?

Yes. We had some growth from fight one to fight two, and that was great considering fight two was in the summer. We think in general with the UFC moving to ESPN+ that there’s an opportunity in the PPV market for the PBC and Fox to do well, because we’re the only game in town.

Will you look to do another PPV fight event in 2019, and will you remain aggressive in the PPV boxing category in 2020?

Yes, there’s some room to do a fourth fight this year but we’re not in a position to announce anything. I would look for a couple of PPV events in the first quarter -- we’re bullish on the category and we’ll keep moving forward.

How would you describe Fox Sports’ experience thus far in the PPV event business?

I think we, along with the PBC, have built good relationships with the traditional MVPD’s, and you can really see that when you look at the marketing, banners and other promotion for the fight. From a digital perspective where we actually sell the PPV event on our Fox Sports and Fox Now apps, we’ve seen some good growth and we expect it to continue to grow. 

Mark Taffet is leaving HBO at year-end after a quarter century in its sports department. Most recently senior vice president of HBO Sports, Taffet helped launch HBO’s pay-per-view division, then dubbed TVKO, in 1991 with the Evander Holyfield-George Foreman fight.

Through HBO boxing, Taffet has had a hand in delivering some of the biggest events in PPV boxing history, including two of the top three PPV events of all time: the May 2 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, which drew a record $400 million in revenue and 4.4 million buys; and the 2007 Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya bout, which generated the second-most buys at 2.7 million.

Taffet, who was recently inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, spoke to Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about his decision to leave HBO at the end of his contract as well as his future plans in the sport. An edited portion of this interview appeared in MCN's Dec. 14, 2015, issue; the full-length version follows.

MCN:What prompted your decision to leave HBO now?

Mark Taffet: I decided that, sitting at the top right now after the biggest year in the history of PPV and ending with the [Nov. 21 Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez PPV fight], there would never be a better time for me to begin the next chapter of my career. Given my passion and energy for the sport, I thought it was time for me to fulfill some of my dreams and work closer with promoters, fighters and other key players in the sport in a way that my job definition at HBO as a television executive wouldn’t accommodate.

MCN:So your plan is to remain in the sport of boxing?

MT: I have a keen interest in helping in some way to shape the next great era of boxing. I feel that it is the most fulfilling next step for me, and I hope to work with a number of players — most of whom do business with HBO — and help them realize their dreams.

MCN:Are we at the cusp of that great era, since Floyd Mayweather says he’s retiring and we’re still in the process of building that next pound-for-pound champion?

MT: I’ve been very fortunate in that I began during the great heavyweight era of Holyfield, [Mike] Tyson and [Lennox] Lewis, and worked through the transition of that era to Oscar De La Hoya, and was part of the transition to the next great era of Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquiao. What happens over the next year or two inside and outside the ring with those fighters and promoters will have a lot to do with the shape of boxing’s next great era, and I would like to be part of that process.

MCN: Along with experiencing the changes of boxing in the ring you’ve also witnessed an evolution in how boxing and other sports and entertainment events are delivered to homes via pay-per-view. How has the change in technology influenced the sport?

MT: Boxing was uniquely suited for pay per view because of the technology that was in place in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when people drove to stadiums, arenas, racetracks and movie theaters to watch big-time boxing on a closed-circuit basis. Pay per view offered a great improvement over that experience by allowing people to sit in the comfort of their own homes. The subsequent development of digital signals, high-definition pictures, surround sound and big-screen TVs took the in-home experience to another level and really helped accelerate the explosion of pay per view from 16 million homes in 1991, when we did our first fight, to well over 100 million homes today, with Mayweather-Pacquiao and Canelo-Cotto having taken place this year.

Technology has always been a driver of boxing pay-per-view, and I believe that we are approaching another one of those eras where technology will have a great impact on the next generation of the sport. Virtual reality, 3D TV, personal and mobile device viewing and video streaming are all likely to be factors in the next iteration of the sport’s growth. It will be a very exciting few years ahead for boxing and for pay per view.

HBO’s 24/7 sports documentary show will take a look at the upcoming Nov. 22 Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri pay-per-view fight, the network said Friday.

The one-episode 24/7 Pacquiao/Algieri show will air Nov.8 on the pay service and will explore the storyline for the fight and follow the fighters as they train for the big event, said the network.

The special will air after the network’s Nov. 8 World Championship Boxing telecast featuring the Bernard Hopkins-Sergey Kovalev light heavyweight unification bout, said network officials.

Welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao will return to the pay-per-view ring in November against contender Chris Algieri, HBO announced Saturday night.

Pacquiao will fight Algieri Nov. 22 in Macau, China where Pacquiao fought and defeated Brandon Rios last November. Pacquiao last fought April 12, defeating Timothy Bradley Jr. (pictured)  in a unanimous decision.

Pacquiao, once the biggest PPV draw in boxing, has generated more than 1 million buys combined for his last two fights.

Algieri earned his shot at Pacquiao after upsetting Ruslan Provodnikov in a June 14 junior welterweight championship fight.

The Pacquiao-Algieri fight is the second major PPV boxing match scheduled for this fall, following Showtime Sports’ Sept. 13 Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana event.