The pay-per-view boxing category is set for a busy spring with several marquee events scheduled on the heels of Saturday’s Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia card.

Prime Video and Premier Boxing Champions will distribute a June 15 PPV boxing card with a co-main event featuring lightweight champion Gevonta Davis against Frank Martin and super middleweight champion David Benavidez battling former light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Govdyk, the streaming service announced. 

The event is Prime Video’s third scheduled PPV boxing event this year. On May 4, the service will offer the fight between super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and undefeated contender Jaime Munguia. It also distributed the March 30 Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora fight.

Also Read: ‘Boxing Is a Great Fit As It Relates to Our Portfolio of Live Sports Properties’: Prime Video’s Charlie Neiman Talks Up the Sweet Science Ahead of PPV Debut (Q&A)

Also on the schedule is DAZN’s May 18 PPV heavyweight unification fight between champions Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. 

The upcoming slate of PPV boxing events follows Saturday’s DAZN-distributed Haney-Garcia bout, in which Garcia upset the prior undefeated junior welterweight champion. While PPV buys have yet to be released for the fight, boxing observers said Garcia’s win positions the boxer and social media star for future lucrative PPV fights. Garcia’s 2023 fight with Davis drew more than 1 million PPV buys.

Pay-per-view content aggregator In Demand’s PPV.com digital service will look to engage boxing fans with a exclusive live chat that will run during its distribution of Saturday’s Devin Haney-Ryan Garcia super lightweight championship PPV event. 

The live text chat, hosted by International Boxing Hall of Fame announcer Jim Lampley, allows PPV.com fight purchasers to discuss the PPV event’s in-ring action in real time with Lampley along with boxing journalist Lance Pugmire and Inside Boxing Live podcast hosts Dan Canobbio and Chris Algieri.

Also Read: DAZN Weighs in With Content Ahead of Haney-Garcia Fight

In Demand senior VP of programming and marketing Mark Boccardi said since Lampley began hosting the chat in 2023, the platform has consistently increased the total number of overall messages and the number of messages per buyer. PPV.com’s most recent fight card, the March 30 Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora event, set record marks in both categories, although Boccardi did not reveal specific numbers. 

“We want to have fans chatting and talking about what’s going on in the fights — that’s what differentiates our product and we’re definitely seeing that,” Boccardi said. “So much of that is attributed to having Jim on board … he is still beloved by fans, and he’s been a terrific addition to our team.”

Lampley, who serve as the blow-by-blow announcer of HBO Boxing for 30 years as part of a 50-year sports television career, spoke about his his new role at PPV.com as well as the evolution of boxing on television and its future prospects in an interview with Multichannel News. Here’s an edited transcript of that conversation. 

MCN: How much of an adjustment has it been for you from announcing live boxing matches to text chatting about the fights in real time? 

Jim Lampley: When HBO folded its boxing tent in December of 2018, I fairly confidently expected that at some point I would wind up doing blow-by-blow for some other boxing television purveyor. And that turned out not to be the case, so I was fairly certain that I was out of boxing. And then [In Demand and PPV.com president and CEO] Dale Hopkins approached me and asked if I would be interested in participating in a new media form, which is live chatting. It consists of texting out observations during the fight, not verbally expressed in speech form, but rather via a keyboard text during the fight. I've done about a half-dozen fights so far and commented in text on what I see, getting feedback from audience members and from the other media people who have worked with me on it, and it’s great fun. It's a terrific way to be back in the game and back at ringside. Every once in a while somebody will ask when they will hear your voice. I just say, ‘Imagine my voice when you look at the words that I'm texting because it’s like talking, but it's not exactly the same.’ 

MCN: Do you expect the Haney-Garcia bout to generate a decent amount of live messages given the hype around the fight and Garcia’s huge social media following?

JL: This weekend’s fight is very much a social media fight because Ryan Garcia seems to be a 23-hour-a-day social media user. All of these things figure into the ongoing process of telling stories and attracting fans to the stories of the fighters. I’m sure there will be a discussion about whether Garcia is crazy or crazy like a fox, given what he’s done on social media leading up to the fight. There's no rational explanation for why he jumped into Haney’s face and had a shouting match with him on the top of the Empire State Building and shoved him aggressively the way he did this week. I'm not sure what any of that accomplishes other than to draw attention to the event itself. In the ring, they’ve competed against each other as amateurs six times and the official record shows that each man won three, so that alone tells you that there’s every potential for a legitimately competitive fight.

MCN: You have seen the evolution of televised boxing from broadcast TV to premium cable and now predominantly the pay-per-view and streaming platforms. Is the current distribution model helping or hurting the sport's efforts in drawing in a new generation of viewers?

JL: Boxing is a storyteller’s sport, and it will thrive in certain audience segments and with certain kinds of events as long as the stories can be effectively told. I grew up watching [NBC’s] Gillette Friday Night Fights on what we called free television back then. Shows like that, [ABC’s] Wide World of Sports, and CBS Sports Spectacular were the places where boxing was distributed to a much broader audience. Then in 1971, the pay model was more or less created for the fight of the century between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. The unique nature of intensifying and exploding demand by providing it only to the people who were willing to pay to get the signal served as a clarion call to boxing promoters and television distributors that there may be better ways to capitalize on the appeal of the sport rather than to do it in the old traditional broadcast format. Then HBO and Showtime became the model — you were still paying a monthly fee, but that became a more-efficient way of collecting money for the fights and pay-per-view. But wherever it is shown, boxing thrives when it can attract fans to the stories of the fighters. It’s the most human sport as long as that can be conveyed effectively in some way, shape or form. I'm confident there will always be an audience. I've seen boxing declared dead many times for some fairly valid reasons sometimes, but my response has always been that as long as human beings can stand up and walk on their own two feet on this planet, people are going to fight each other face-to-face for money. It's just too obvious a capitalization not to take place.

MCN: If you could call a boxing match between any two current fighters, what would that fight be?

JL: I’d like to call a fight between [undisputed super middleweight champion] Canelo Alvarez and [undefeated contender] David Benavidez. I hope that fight actually takes place.

Prime Video on March 30 officially rings the bell for Amazon’s first pay-per-view boxing event as it looks to integrate the fight game into its growing live sports distribution portfolio. 

The Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora PPV fight card, which retails at $69.95, is the first of as many as 12 boxing events the streaming service hopes to distribute in 2024 as part of its recently signed multi-year deal with boxing promotion company Premier Boxing Champions, according to Prime Video director, head of partnerships Charlie Neiman. The streaming service has already announced it will distribute the May 4 Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia PPV fight. 

Neiman recently spoke to Multichannel News about the Tszyu-Fundora bout, as well as his expectations for boxing content on Prime Video. Here’s an edited version of that discussion.

MCN: How does the addition of pro boxing enhance Prime Video’s portfolio of live sports content? 

Charlie Neiman: Prime Video is an entertainment destination, and what we do is we bring premium content to customers year-round. Championship boxing is broadly appealing and the big fights are high-stakes events, so we really looked at the space and said that boxing is a great fit as it relates to our portfolio of live sports properties on Prime Video. So offering a year-round slate of really big boxing fights alongside things like exclusive Thursday Night Football games and a NASCAR package that we recently announced that runs in the summer really provides a nice component to what fans can expect from the service. 

MCN: What does Prime Video bring to the sport of boxing and to its boxing partner, Premier Boxing Champions?

CN: What I’m most excited about is the distribution we’re going to bring to the partnership. We have 200 million plus Prime members around the world. That number is even larger when you think about customers who access our service. So the sport of boxing is going to have a partner that is going to bring more awareness, and it’s going to drive a new generation of fans. Premier Boxing Champions obviously carries a really strong stable of fighters. They’ve been great partners and we’re excited to innovate the sport together.

MCN: What are your expectations for Saturday’s event, and how big was the loss of Keith Thurman to Saturday’s main event fight?

CN: I think we’re bringing a high volume of quality fights to our first card, which is great out of the gate. We’re learning about the boxing industry in real time as it relates to injuries, and understand that these things happen. Luckily, PBC has a great stable of fighters, so they were able to plug in a replacement who, frankly, is a really compelling fighter — a lot of folks have been wanting to see [Tszyu and Fundora] fight each other. So we don’t view it as a major change outside of a little bit of tweaking that had to happen on the back end, but we’re still really excited about the card. 

MCN: Do you have any technological concerns revolving around the distribution of your first pay-per-view boxing event? 

CN: We’re confident it's going to be a great experience. Obviously, we are throwing in a lot of resources from our product, technical, and operational teams to make sure that it’s a flawless experience for customers. Luckily, Amazon has a lot of experience not only in the live sports arena when you think about Thursday Night Football and other marquee major properties we've streamed, but also in the transactional space. Our customers are very used to buying and renting movies and TV shows, as well as adding channels to their Prime Video experience. We think pay-per-view is just a natural extension of that experience. 

MCN: How many boxing events do you expect to distribute this year? 

CN: During our multiyear deal, we’re targeting somewhere between 10 to 12 fights a year, the majority of which I think will be pay-per-view, including some really major bouts, the May 4 [Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia] fight being a good example. Alongside that we’ll have PBC fights that will be available without pay-per-view and free to prime members. With those fights, we’ll have an opportunity to showcase up-and-coming fighters and to tell their stories as we potentially watch them develop into future pay-per-view stars.  

Prime Video’s March 30 inaugural pay-per-view boxing event suffered a body blow Monday when former boxing champion Keith Thurman withdrew from the card’s main event title fight with Tim Tsyzu due to injury.

Tsyzu will now fight Sebastian Fundora for the vacant WBC super weltrweight world title, according to Prime Video and fight promotion company Premier Boxing Champions. Thurman, a former welterweight champion, was forced to withdraw after suffering a bicep injury in training, according to PBC. Fundora had already been preparing to compete in the PPV card's opening fight before being moved up to the main event.

Other fights on the fight card include the co-main event bout between WBA Super Lightweight World Champion Rolando Romero and Isaac Cruz, WBA Middleweight World Champion Erislandy Lara against Michael Zerafa and WBC Flyweight World Champion Julio César Martínez against Angelino Cordova. 

The PPV boxing event is the first for Prime Video under its multi-year rights deal with Premier Boxing Champions, reached this past December. 

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

Prime Video will look to build awareness of its March 30 Keith Thurman-Tim Tszyu pay-per-view boxing card with the March 15 debut of its Gloves Off boxing documentary series.

The two-episode series will preview the fighters’ lives and feature interviews from various members of each camp, according to the streaming service. In addition to Thurman-Tszyu, the series will also document the Rolando Romero-Isaac Cruz undercard fight.

The Thurman-Tszyu fight is Prime Video’s inaugural PPV boxing event under its multi-year rights deal with Premier Boxing Champions, reached this past December.

It’s also one of two major 2024 PPV boxing events scheduled, along with the May 4 Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia fight.  

Prime Video and Premier Boxing Champions will distribute their inaugural joint pay-per-view boxing match on March 30, headlined by the Keith Thurman-Tim Tszyu super welterweight fight. 

The fight card, the first as part of a multiyear deal between Premier Boxing and Prime Video, will also feature bouts between junior welterweight champion Rolando Romero and Isaac Cruz, middleweight champion Erislandy Lara against Michael Zerafa and super welterweights Sebastian Fundora and Serhii Bohachuk, according to Prime Video.

The PPV fight card, promoted by TGB Promotions, will be available to purchase from Prime Video as well as traditional cable and satellite outlets. Prime Video and Premier Boxing did not disclose a suggested retail price for the PPV event. 

PBC's PPV fights were previously distributed by Showtime, which this past October announced it was dissolving its sports division at the end of 2023.  

“This first show on PBC on Prime Video is ham-packed with fan-friendly matchups featuring stars who are established as the best of their generation and new stars who are looking to make a claim to lead the next generation of champions,” TGB Promotions Tom Brown said in a statement. 

DAZN on Saturday (December 23) will finish off a busy 2023 pay-per-view boxing year with a big heavyweight fight card featuring former champions Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua.

The fight, which retails at $39.99, is headlined by the Joshua-Otto Wallin match along with the Deontay Wilder-Joseph Parker bout. Also on the card is the Dmitry Bivol-Lyndon Arthur light heavyweight title bout.

Also Read: Showtime Sports To Shut Down at End of Year

The fight card is DAZN’s second PPV boxing event of the month following its December 9 Devin Haney-Regis Prograis PPV event. 

The fight is the 11th major PPV boxing match for the industry, which more than doubled last year's output. Showtime's April 22 Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia event set the pace for the year with a reported 1.2 million PPV buys. 

Also Read: What's on This Weekend in TV Sports (Dec. 23-25)

A Christmas Day lineup of NBA and NFL games highlights a holiday weekend schedule of live TV sports events.  

Christmas Day will feature three NFL games, beginning with CBS and Nickelodeon’s simulcast of the Las Vegas Raiders-Kansas City Chiefs game, followed by Fox’s coverage of the New York Giants-Philadelphia Eagles contest and ABC’s primetime telecast of the Baltimore Ravens-San Francisco 49ers game.

On the basketball court, the NBA has five games scheduled for December 25, including Milwaukee-New York Knicks (ESPN), Golden State-Denver (ABC), Boston-Los Angeles Lakers (ABC), Philadelphia 76’ers-Miami Heat (ESPN), and Dallas-Phoenix (ESPN).

The NFL also has a doubleheader matchup on Saturday featuring the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh (NBC) and Buffalo-Los Angeles Chargers (Peacock) games. On Sunday, Fox and CBS will air regional NFL coverage, while NFL Network will air a primetime AFC conference matchup between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos. 

College football continues its bowl season Saturday with seven games across ABC and ESPN, while NBC, Peacock, and USA Network will feature six Premier League soccer games. 

Also on Saturday, DAZN will distribute a pay-per-view boxing card featuring former heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder in separate bouts. The afternoon fight card will retail at $39.99.

Premier Boxing Champions will step into the streaming ring with Prime Video for distribution of its boxing events as part of a multiyear rights deal. 

Prime Video will distribute PBC’s live boxing cards, including its marquee boxing pay-per-view events, beginning as early as Match 2024 with an as-yet-announced event, according to representatives from both companies. PBC's fights were previously distributed by Showtime, which this past October announced it was dissolving its sports division at the end of the year. 

This past year PBC and Showtime distributed six major PPV boxing events, including the year’s biggest event, the April 22 Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia bout which drew more than 1 million PPV buys.

In addition to live boxing events, Prime Video will produce behind-the-scenes PBC docuseries, live weigh-ins, as well as on-demand access to previous events, highlights and archival footage.

The PBC deal adds to Prime Video’s lineup of live sports programming, which includes its NFL Thursday Night Football package and live WNBA, NWSL, and Overtime Elite basketball games. The service also features ONE Championship mixed martial arts events. 

“We are thrilled to join with Premier Boxing Champions to bring the best boxers in the world to Prime Video, and to give more fans than ever the chance to experience these must-see events,” Amazon U.S. sports content & partnerships VP Marie Donoghue said in a statement. “With live coverage of PBC action throughout the calendar year, Prime Video continues to bring viewers in the U.S. and around the world the best in sports.”

ESPN Plus looks to add another big revenue punch to this year’s busy PPV Boxing category with Saturday’s (October 28) Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou event while looking to be opportunistic in the category in 2024.

The fight, pitting the current heavyweight boxing champion Fury against the former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou, is the 10th major PPV boxing match in 2023 and the first to feature the heavyweight division in the main event.

While Fury’s World Boxing Council heavyweight title is not on the line in the 10-round bout, ESPN VP of programming and acquisitions Matt Kenny says the fight pits the two combat fighters in a much-anticipated battle. 

“We look at it as a very compelling event with two very high-profile heavyweight combat athletes,” Kenny said. “The ability to see both of them compete in the ring has captured the imagination of sports fans, and certainly those who follow combat sports.”  

The fight marks ESPN Plus’ fourth PPV-distributed boxing match this year and third  mixed combat fight, following February’s Jake Paul-Tommy Fury bout and its October 14 bout between YouTube fighter KSI and Fury. ESPN also distributed a May 20 Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko event.

While Kenny would not project buys for the bout, he said the fight should draw both boxing and mixed martial arts fans to purchase the event. He added that ESPN will remain “opportunistic” in its overall approach to the pay-per-view boxing category in 2024. 

“We’re bullish on PPV Boxing. When presented with the opportunity to offer the biggest events on a pay-per-view basis, we’re open for business,” Kenny said. “Pay-per-view fans vote with their wallets. Consumers have so much choice, convenience and control over their viewing choices, so at the end of the day we want to be there to showcase to them the biggest athletes and events.” 

Showtime Sports, a prolific distributor of championship boxing and sports documentary programming for more than 37 years, will cease operations at year-end.

Showtime parent Paramount Global said in a statement that it has made the “difficult decision” not to move forward with boxing and other content produced by the Showtime division. Showtime Sports has distributed nearly 750 boxing events since its inception in 1986, including an industry-high five pay-per-view events in 2023.

Showtime Sports' November 25 David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade fight will go on as scheduled, according to Paramount. 

“As we evolve our strategy to more efficiently allocate resources and align our content offering across the business, we've made the difficult decision not to move forward with boxing and other content produced by the Showtime sports team,” said Paramount officials. “Showtime will continue to air and support the remaining 2023 boxing slate and honor obligations through the end of the year. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our employees who have contributed to this award-winning sports programming over multiple decades."

Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said in a statement that the company’s decision was not based on the division’s performance. “The company’s decision is not a reflection of the work we have done in recent years, nor of our long and proud history,” Espinoza said. “It is not an indictment on the value we have delivered to this network for 37 years, nor, in particular, in 2023. Unfortunately, in a rapidly evolving media marketplace, the company has had to make difficult choices allocating resources, resetting priorities and reshaping its content offering.”  

Showtime’s decision to step out of the boxing ring follows a similar move by HBO in 2018 after 45 years of televising live boxing matches. The two premium services helped establish the pay-per-view boxing business in the 1990s, often battling each other for the rights to the biggest fights. 

Overall, Showtime has distributed more than 2,000 live fights on the service and through PPV.  The company’s 2015 Manny Pacquaio-Floyd Mayweather fight remains the biggest PPV event in history with 4.6 million PPV buys, while its 2016 Mayweather-Conor McGregor bout stands as the second-biggest PPV event with 4.3 million PPV buys. 

Showtime Sports has also garnered 77 Sports Emmy Awards nominations and 17 Sports Emmy Awards.  

The busy lineup of live TV sports events airing during the first weekend of May begins Saturday in the boxing ring as super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez battles contender John Ryder in a DAZN-distributed pay-per-view event. 

Also on PPV Saturday, ESPN Plus will distribute the UFC 288 fight card featuring the main event bout between bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and former champion Henry Cejudo.

The NBA Playoffs continue Saturday on ABC with Game 3 of the New York Knicks-Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors-LA Lakers series. On Sunday, ESPN will air Game 4 of the Boston Celtics-Philadelphia 76’ers series, while TNT telecasts Game 4 of the Denver Nuggets-Phoenix Suns series.

On the ice, the second round of NHL playoffs continue Saturday on TNT with Game 2 of the Edmonton Oilers-Vegas Golden Knights series. On Sunday TBS will air a tripleheader of Game 3 contests featuring the Carolina Hurricanes-New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs-Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars-Seattle Kraken series.

NBC on Saturday will televise live the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race. On the links, CBS will televise final round coverage of the PGA Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament. 

Undefeated lightweight boxer Gervonta Davis positioned himself as one of pay-per-view boxing's biggest names by knocking out former undefeated boxer Ryan Garcia Saturday night in Showtime's blockbuster PPV event. 

The Davis-Garcia bout, the fourth and arguably the biggest PPV boxing event in 2023, showcased Davis as he knocked down the taller Garcia in the second round before landing a powerful body blow in the seventh round to end the fight. Davis is now 29-0 with 27 knockouts. 

“I didn’t think that body shot would end it, but I saw his facial expression and that’s what made me take it to him,” Davis said after the bout. “It was a good shot, for sure.”

While it's too early to determine overall PPV buys for the event, the Davis-Garcia fight — which was distributed by PPV.com and DAZN PPV — attracted significant prefight publicity as a meeting between two of the highest-profile boxers in the lightweight division. Davis drew approximately 200,000 PPV buys for his January 7 fight against Hector Garcia.

Showtime will replay the Davis-Garcia fight this Saturday (April 29), followed by the network’s documentary series All Access: Davis vs. Garcia Epilogue.

The live TV sports lineup for a busy April weekend begins in the boxing ring as Showtime distributes a much-anticipated pay-per-view boxing event featuring undefeated lightweights Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia. 

The Davis-Garcia fight is the second PPV boxing event for Davis this year and the fourth overall for the category so far in 2023. Davis-Garcia will be distributed by In Demand, PPV.com and DAZN PPV for a suggested retail price of $84.99. 

On the ice, the NHL winds down the first round of its postseason with a Saturday tripleheader of game three’s on TBS including the Vegas Golden Knights-Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs-Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche-Seattle Kraken contests. Also, ABC will air game three of the New Jersey Devils-New York Rangers matchup.

On Sunday, TBS will air game four coverage of the Dallas Stars-Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers-Los Angeles Kings series, while game four of the Carolina Hurricanes-New York Islanders and Boston Bruins-Florida Panthers matchups will air on TNT.

On the court, the first round of the NBA playoffs continue on Saturday afternoon with the Philadelphia 76’ers looking to close out the Brooklyn Nets in game four of their series on TNT, while the Phoenix Suns look to go up three games to one over the Los Angeles Clippers, also on TNT. ESPN will air a primetime doubleheader featuring two game three matchups – The Miami Heat-Milwaukee Bucks and the Memphis Grizzlies-Los Angeles Lakers. Both series are tied at one game apiece.  

On Sunday, ABC will air game four of the Cleveland Cavaliers-New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings-Golden State Warriors playoff series, while TNT will air game four of the Boston Celtics-Atlanta Hawks and the Denver Nuggets-Minnesota Timberwolves series.

Peacock on Sunday will launch its 19-game MLB Sunday Leadoff live streaming baseball package with the Philadelphia Phillies-Colorado Rockies game. ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit the New York Mets against the San Francisco Giants.  

Also on Sunday CBS will offer championship round coverage of the Professional Bull Riders' Great Northwest Invitational event, while Fox will televise the Pro Bowlers Association’s World Series of Bowling championship.

The March Madness college basketball tournament enters its elite-eight round this weekend as part of the busy lineup of live sports events airing on broadcast and cable networks.

The NCAA Men’s college basketball tournament action begins Saturday on TBS with Fla. Atlantic facing Kansas State and UConn battling Gonzaga. Sunday’s action will pit the winners of Friday night’s San Diego State-Alabama and Princeton-Creighton  games in one elite eight matchup, and the winners of the Miami-Houston and Xavier-Texas games in the other contest.

In other sports, Showtime on Saturday will offer a pay-per-view boxing fight card featuring the super middleweight bout between David Benavidez and Caleb Plant. In the octagon, ESPN will air a Saturday afternoon UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event bout between bantamweights Marlon Vera and Cory Sandhagen. 

On the racetrack, Fox on Sunday will televise the NASCAR Cup EchoPark Grand Prix auto racing event. On the ice, ABC on Saturday will televise live the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins NHL game.

On the football field, the XFL enters week six with three games, including ABC’s Saturday Seattle Sea Dragons-Orlando Guardians and Sunday San Antonio Brahmas-Arlington Renegades telecasts, as well as FX’s Saturday St. Louis Battlehawks-Vegas Vipers game. 

The National Women’s Soccer League kicks off its 2023 season Saturday on CBSSN, which will air the Chicago Red Stars-San Diego Wave FC. ■ 

This weekend’s full lineup of top live TV sports action begins on the soccer field as Major League Soccer launches its 28th season exclusively on Fox and FS1.

Fox will telecast the New York City FC-Nashville SC MLS match on Saturday, while FS1 will air the Seattle Sounders FC-Colorado Rapids game. The games officially launch Fox Sports’s four-year linear TV deal with MLS.

On the NBA court, ABC will air a Saturday primetime matchup between Eastern Conference rivals the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers. On Sunday ABC will air an afternoon NBA doubleheader featuring the Phoenix Suns-Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers-Dallas Mavericks contests, while ESPN’s primetime doubleheader includes the Minnesota Timberwolves-Golden State Warriors and L.A. Clippers-Denver Nuggets games. 

Week two of pro-football league the XFL will launch Saturday with the D.C-Vegas game on FX, while ESPN on Sunday will air the San Antonio-Orlando game and ESPN2 will offer the Arlington-Houston contest.

In the ring, YouTube star Jake Paul on Sunday will look to advance his boxing career when he faces Tommy Fury in the main event of an ESPN Plus pay-per-view boxing card on Sunday. On Saturday, Showtime will telecast a live fight card headlined by the junior welterweight championship fight between Subriel Matias and Jeremias Ponce.

The men’s college basketball lineup begins with top-ranked Houston traveling to face the Pirates of East Carolina on ESPN2, second-ranked Alabama taking on Arkansas on ESPN2, third-ranked Kansas taking on West Virginia on ESPN and fifth-ranked Purdue hosting No. 17 Indiana on Fox. On Sunday, fourth-ranked UCLA plays Colorado on CBS. 

Saturday’s women’s college basketball schedule of top-ranked teams includes fourth-ranked UConn playing DePaul on Fox. On Sunday, top-ranked South Carolina hosts Georgia on ESPN2, second-ranked Indiana battles No.6 Iowa on ESPN, and fifth-ranked LSU meets Mississippi State on the SEC Network. 

On the links, NBC and Golf Channel will offer weekend coverage of the PGA Honda Classic golf tournament, while Fox will continue its NASCAR coverage with the Sunday telecast of the Pala Casino 400 race. 

On the ice, ABC on Saturday afternoon will telecast the N.Y. Rangers-Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins-St. Louis Blues NHL games. ■

The on- again, off-again fight between YouTube star Jake Paul and Tommy Fury is back on and will take place February 26 in Saudi Arabia on ESPN Pay-Per-View, the network said.

The undefeated Paul, who last fought this past October against retired UFC champion Anderson Silva, and Fury – the half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury – were supposed to fight in December 2021, but the fight was postponed due to a Fury medical issue. The event marks the first time ESPN will distribute a Paul PPV boxing event, after Showtime distributed Paul’s previous PPV events.

The Paul-Fury fight will retail at $49.99, according to ESPN. 

The Paul-Fury fight is the second PPV boxing event announced for February. Former welterweight champion Adrian Broner is scheduled to fight Michael Williams Jr. on a February 25 PPV fight card promoted by BLK Prime and distributed by Integrated Sports Media.■

With Saturday's Canelo Alverez-Gennady Golovkin fight officially in the books, the pay-per-view boxing category is in the process of finalizing it's fall schedule, which could include a lucrative Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford welterweight unification bout. 

Alvarez, the undisputed super middleweight champion, won a close but unanimous decision against Golovkin in the third bout between the two boxers. While PPV buys for the fight were not available, the event is expected to rank among the top performing PPV boxing events of the year. The fighters’ 2017 fight, which ended in a draw, and their 2018 bout – won by Alvarez in a disputed decision – drew a combined 2.4 million viewers, according to industry sources. 

Following Alvarez-Golovkin, the PPV boxing category is hoping for a mega welterweight unification fight between WBC, WBA and IBF champion Spence and WBO champion Crawford. The fighters have agreed to terms for a November 19 bout, but no contracts have been signed, according to ESPN.com.

Spence last appeared in the PPV ring this past April, defeating former welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas by TKO. Crawford last November defeated Shawn Porter in an ESPN-distributed PPV event. 

The fall PPV fight schedule also includes Fox Sports’ October 15 fight between former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and Robert Helenius, as well as Showtime’s Oct. 29 bout between YouTube sensation Jake Paul and former UFC mixed-martial arts champion Anderson Silva.■

On the heels of this past Saturday’s Anthony Joshua-Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight championship pay-per-view fight, the PPV boxing industry is gearing up for two more heavyweight fight cards heading into the fall.

Fox Sports will deliver the September 4 PPV bout between former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz and top contender Luis Ortiz, followed by an October 15 fight between former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and Robert Helenius.

Fox Sports Executive VP and head of programming Bill Wanger said that the two fight cards look to take advantage of increasing interest in the heavyweight division, which has featured several PPV events over the past four years. 

Since 2018, six PPV boxing events featuring either Wilder, Ortiz or Ruiz have drawn collectively more than 2 million PPV buys, according to industry sources. The fights are led by the second bout between Wilder and current heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, which drew more than 800,000 PPV buys, according to industry sources.

Wilder is stepping into the ring in October for the first time since losing his last two fights to Fury, with the hopes of eventually regaining the heavyweight championship belts. Ortiz and Ruiz are both looking to position themselves for another shot at the title by winning their September matchup.

All three fighters are chasing the current WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Usyk – who on August 20 defeated former champion Joshua for the second straight time in the rematch of their September 2021 fight – as well as Fury, who holds the WBC title. Fury announced his retirement earlier this summer, but industry observers say a potentially lucrative unification fight against Usyk could lure him back into the ring. 

Outside of the heavyweight division, the PPV boxing category is counting down to the September 17 Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin trilogy fight. The first two Alvarez-Golovkin fights in 2017 and 2018 generated a combined 2.4 million PPV buys, according to industry sources. ■

Showtime’s August 6 Jake Paul-Hasim Rahman Jr. pay-per-view boxing card has been canceled over a contract dispute regarding Rahman’s weight, Paul's promotion company Most Valuable Promotions said.

The fight card, which also featured women’s boxing champion Amanda Serrano, was canceled after Rahman -- the son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman --  weighed 215 pounds during a pre-fight weigh-in this past Friday, which would have made it difficult for Rahman to safely meet a contractual agreement setting Rahman’s weight at 200 pounds for the event, according to an MVP statement. Rahman’s camp said the fighter would not step in the ring under 215 pounds which violated the contract, even after Paul said he would compromise and fight at 205 pounds, according to MVP.

“MVP is left with no choice but to cancel the August 6th event,” said MVP. “This forced outcome impacts Jake Paul, Amanda Serrano and every other fighter on this card who have trained tirelessly over the past few months for this event.” 

The fight was set to kick off a busy schedule of PPV boxing events, including a Fox Sports-distributed September 4 Andy Ruiz-Luis Ortiz heavyweight fight and a September 17 Canelo Alverez-Gennady Golovkin bout distributed by DAZN PPV. ■

The pay-per-view boxing schedule for the second half of 2022 is starting to take shape with a number of high-profile fights set and one blockbuster bout in the wings. 

DAZN on Saturday (July 16) will kick off the schedule with a lightweight fight involving contenders Ryan Garcia and Javier Fortuna. Consumers purchasing the $34.99 fight via ppv.com will receive a free month of DAZN, according to the online PPV distributor. 

Showtime will showcase YouTube star Jake Paul as he continues his boxing career in an August 6 PPV fight against Hasim Rahman Jr., the son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman. Paul’s last PPV bout was a December 18 knockout of Tyron Woodley in a rematch of their August 2021 PPV event. 

The event will also feature a women’s championship fight between featherweight titleholder Amanda Serrano and Brenda Carbaja.

“Jake clearly moves the needle like no one else, and we at Showtime are proud to be in business with him and he’s clearly bringing the sport to a new audience,” Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said. “The same can be said of Amanda Serrano, who inspires multitudes of young girls every time she fights. We’re proud of our history with women’s boxing and proud to have Amanda back for a fifth time.”

Arguably the biggest fight scheduled so far is the September 17 Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin trilogy fight, which pits two of the PPV industry’s biggest draws against each other. The first two Alvarez-Golovkin fights in 2017 and 2018 generated a combined 2.4 million PPV buys, according to industry sources. 

Also in September, Fox Sports will offer a Labor Day weekend PPV fight card with a main event bout matching up heavyweight title contenders Andy Ruiz Jr. and Luis Ortiz.

On the horizon is a potentially lucrative PPV welterweight unification bout between Terrence Crawford and Errol Spence. Industry sources say Showtime is in negotiations to bring the fight to pay-per-view this fall, although a deal has yet to be reached. ▪️

The Indianapolis 500 revs up the lineup of TV sports events airing over the Memorial Day weekend.

NBC on Sunday will televise the 106th running of the venerable auto race from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year’s event will be highlighted by the appearance of NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson, who will compete in the IndyCar race for the first time.

Also on Sunday, Fox will televise the NASCAR Cup Coca-Cola 600 race, while ESPN airs the Formula One: Monaco Grand Prix race.

In the ring, Showtime on Saturday will distribute a pay-per-view boxing card headlined by the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero lightweight championship fight. 

Also: Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin Trilogy Bout Set for September; Showtime Laces up for Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero Fight 

On the ice, the NHL Playoffs continue Saturday on ESPN as the Carolina Panthers look to close out the New York Rangers in game 6 of their second-round Eastern Conference Playoff series.

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast originates from New York as the Mets host the Philadelphia Phillies. Peacock’s Sunday-morning baseball game features the Cincinnati Reds hosting the San Francisco Giants.

On the links, NBC and the Golf Channel will air final round coverage of the Senior PGA Championship, while CBS and Golf Channel will offer weekend coverage of the PGA Charles Schwab Challenge. On the tennis court, NBC and Tennis Channel will provide weekend coverage of the French Open.

ABC on Saturday will offer WNBA coverage as the Las Vegas Aces meet the Chicago Sky, while CBS on Sunday will televise the Phoenix Mercury-Atlanta Dream game.  

The USFL heads into its seventh week with three weekend games, including Saturday’s New Jersey Generals-Tampa Bay Bandits (USA Network) and New Orleans Breakers-Michigan Panthers (FS1) contests, as well as Sunday’s Birmingham Stallions-Pittsburgh Maulers (Fox) game. ■

As Showtime gears up for its Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero pay-per-view boxing match this Saturday (May 28), DAZN PPV has set a September 17 date for the highly anticipated Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin trilogy fight. 

The Alvarez-Golovkin fight announcement comes after Alvarez -- arguably the PPV boxing industry's most lucrative draw – was upset earlier this month in his attempt to win the light heavyweight championship against titleholder Dmitry Bivol. Initial speculation was that Alvarez would immediately fight Bivol in a rematch, but instead he will take on Golovkin in what is expected to be a lucrative PPV event.

The first two Alvarez-Golovkin fights in 2017 and 2018 generated a combined 2.4 million PPV buys, according to industry sources.

Meanwhile, Showtime’s PPV fight on Saturday will pit the undefeated lightweight champion Gervonta Davis against undefeated up-and-coming contender Rolando Romero. The fight is Showtime’s second PPV boxing match this year, following the April 16 Errol Spence-Yordenis Ugas fight, which generated a reported 240,000 PPV buys. 

Showtime Sports & Event Programming President Stephen Espinoza said the Spence and Davis PPV fights are part of the network's overall commitment to provide live, quality boxing events for the premium service's combat sports fans.

"We are staying in the boxing business and expanding our investment," he said. "The metrics that we're seeing show that boxing is driving good business for us -- it's bringing in new subscribers, and the association with these big events is having a real strong halo effect on the brand."

Boxing champion Canelo Alvarez’s upset loss Saturday to light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol may have cost the pay-per-view boxing industry a big fall payday.

The fight, distributed by sports streaming service DAZN and PPV.com, saw Alvarez -- arguably the PPV boxing industry’s biggest draw -- lose an unanimous decision to the undefeated Bivol. The loss was the second for Alvarez, following a defeat to Floyd Mayweather in 2013.

Also: Digital Sportsplay: In Demand Punches Up Streaming PPV Service

Alvarez was scheduled to fight former champion Gennady Golovkin for the third time in a much anticipated September PPV fight. Instead, Alvarez may first ask for a rematch against Bivol as stipulated in the contract between the two fighters.

Last month Golovkin did his part by knocking out Ryota Murata in the ninth round of their middleweight fight to set up the third fight with Alvarez. If Alvarez-Golovkin happens, it could be among the most lucrative events for the PPV category this year. The first two Alvarez-Golovkin fights in 2017 and 2018 generated a reported combined 2.4 million PPV buys.

Alvarez’s last fight, a November 2021 super middleweight bout against Caleb Plant, averaged a reported 800,000 PPV buys. ■ 

 The TV sports lineup for the Easter holiday weekend starts on the football field as the USFL kicks off its inaugural season on Saturday. 

Fox and NBC on Saturday will simulcast the eight-team league’s first game between the New Jersey Generals and the Birmingham Stallions. 

Sunday’s games include Houston Gamblers-Michigan Panthers (NBC), Philadelphia Stars-New Orleans Breakers (USA) and Tampa Bay Bandits-Pittsburgh Maulers (FS1). The USFL's 10-week season will run through June. 

Also: USFL Kicks Off Inaugural Season: TV Sportsplay 

The NBA Playoffs tip off this weekend with first-round play throughout the weekend. On Saturday ESPN will air the Utah Jazz-Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves-Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors-Philadelphia 76’ers games, while ABC telecasts the Denver Nuggets-Golden State Warriors matchup.

On Sunday, ABC will air the Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics game, and TNT will televise the Chicago Bulls-Milwaukee Bucks contest.

Also: NBA Playoff Ads Nearly sold Out as Post Season Launches on ESPN, TNT

On the ice, ABC on Saturday will televise the Minnesota Wild-St. Louis Blues game, and ESPN on Sunday will telecast the Florida Panthers-Detroit Red Wings matchup.

Showtime on Saturday will step into the pay-per-view boxing ring to distribute the Errol Spence Jr.-Yordenis Ugas welterweight boxing championship fight.

Also: Showtime Punches Up Marketing Efforts for Errol Spence-Yordenis Ugas PPV Boxing Event 

Fox on Sunday hits the race track for the NASCAR Cup City Dirt Race, and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will feature a matchup between the 2021 World Series champion Atlanta Braves and the San Diego Padres. 

CBS and the Golf Channel will offer final round coverage of  the PGA RBC Heritage golf tournament throughout the weekend, while streaming service Peacock, CNBC and USA Network will televise live Premier League soccer matches. ■ 

Showtime hopes to give a big promotional punch to Saturday’s Errol Spence Jr.-Yordenis Ugás welterweight championship pay-per-view fight by showcasing a live fight card on the premium channel and on YouTube leading into the PPV event. 

The premium network enters the pay-per-view boxing ring for the first time this year with its Spence-Ugás event, which will retail at a suggested price of $79.99. The fight, a unification of three welterweight titles, pits arguably the sport’s pound-for-pound champion in Spence against Ugás, who defeated Manny Pacquiao last August. Spence was initially scheduled to fight Pacquiao, but had to pull out of the fight with an eye injury. 

Showtime Sports & Event Programming President Stephen Espinoza said Spence is also among the sport’s biggest PPV draws, having pulled in nearly 500,000 buys for his last fight, a 2020 win against Danny Garcia. His return to the ring after the eye injury should drive boxing fans’ interest in the fight. 

“We have a long history with Spence going back to his pro debut, and this matchup falls right within our wheelhouse of us trying to provide elite matchups at the highest level of the sport,” he said.

Showtime will support the fight with a live, two-fight boxing event that will air on the premium service Saturday night prior to the PPV event. Espinoza said the fight card -- which features the Radzhab Butaev-Eimantas Stanionis welterweight bout as well as the Brandun Lee-Zachary Ochoa super lightweight match -- is also one of the main highlights of the network’s current subscriber acquisition campaign offering Showtime free to non-subscribers for 30-days. The Showtime fight card will also be offered for free on the network’s YouTube page. 

“There’s a lot of value in this offering,” Espinoza said. “We’re trying to make it as easy for subscribers and non-subscribers to enjoy a great day of boxing as possible.”

Espinoza wouldn’t predict how many buys Spence-Ugás would generate, but he did say that he expects the fight to do very well. “This is as tough of a fight as Errol has had arguably in his career, and with the stakes of three championship belts on the line, there’s a lot to attract the boxing fan," he said. "Errol has a pretty well established track record of over 300,000 pay-per-view buys in his past fights – we certainly see that as a floor with the potential for more than that.”

Spence-Ugás is the first of at least four PPV boxing events Showtime is planning to distribute in 2022. The network already has scheduled a May 28 Gervonta “Tank” Davis-Rolando Romero PPV fight. Espinoza said Showtime will use the PPV platform only for big PPV events featuring the top fighters in the sport.

“Pay-per-view is a useful tool to help finance fights that wouldn’t otherwise happen without the pay-per-view revenue mechanism,” he said. “Our core business remains programming for Showtime – we have the deepest and highest profile schedule of any network in the sport – but occasionally we have to use that mechanism to allow fights to happen.” ■

The spring pay-per-view boxing calendar is set to rumble with the recent announcement of three marquee boxing cards on tap beginning in April. 

On April 16, World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. will return to the ring to fight World Boxing Association welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas in a PPV unification fight distributed by Showtime. Spence, who will enter the ring for the first time since 2020 when he defeated Danny Garcia, was scheduled to fight Manny Pacquiao in August 2021 but had to withdraw after suffering an eye injury.

Ugas replaced Spence in the fight and defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision.  

“The welterweight division has always been boxing’s glamour division … this is a three-belt unification fight and exactly the kind of fight that Showtime has become known for,” said Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza during Tuesday’s press conference to announce the fight. 

A week later, current WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will defend his title against contender Dillian Whyte. The fight, which will be distributed by ESPN PPV, will mark Fury’s first fight since his 11th round knockout of Deontay Wilder in their October 2021 trilogy fight. That fight reportedly generated around 600,000 PPV buys.

Super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez will enter the PPV ring a month later, moving up in weight to face light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in a May 7 PPV event distributed by DAZN. If Alvarez wins, he has already committed to fight former champion Gennady Golovkin in a highly anticipated third bout between the two in September. 

Fox Sports kicked off the 2022 PPV boxing schedule with its February 5 Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios welterweight event. Given the marquee fighters on the PPV boxing cards and live sports' continued appeal to viewers, April and May’s lineup of fights could punch up some significant PPV revenue numbers for the category. ■ 

Fox Sports enters the pay-per-view boxing ring Saturday (February 5) to distribute the Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios welterweight boxing match as it gears up for what could be a busy year in the genre, according to executives.

The fight, which marks the former welterweight champion Thurman’s return to the ring for the first time since a 2019 split decision loss to Manny Pacquiao, is the first of what Fox Sports and promotion company Premier Boxing Champions hopes to be quarterly PPV boxing matches featuring some of the most popular and successful fighters in the sport.

 It also comes on the heels of a busy end-of-the-year lineup of Fox Sports boxing events, which included a Christmas night fight card on Fox broadcasting and a New Year’s Day PPV event featuring heavyweights Louis Ortiz and Charles Martin. 

Fox Sports executive VP, head of Programming and Scheduling Bill Wanger discusses the Thurman-Barrios fight as well as the company's PPV boxing strategy for 2022 in an interview with Multichannel News/Broadcasting & Cable senior content producer R. Thomas Umstead. An edited version of the interview appears below.

Picture This: What was most appealing to you about Thurman-Barrios from a pay-per-view perspective? 

Bill Wanger: With Keith, as one of the top stars in the sport, coming back from a bit of a hiatus and with Mario going up in weight class, I think it's a really intriguing fight. Also, the PBC put together a great undercard. 

PT: How do you see the PPV boxing landscape developing in 2022 and how aggressive will Fox Sports be in distributing PPV fights? 

BW:  I think there's room for a pay-view-event per quarter. In the ring [welterweight champion] Errol Spence is out there, as well as [middleweight champion] Canelo Alvarez and [former heavyweight champion] Deontay Wilder, so I think that there are plenty of opportunities to develop PPV events. One of the things we're focused on is putting some of the young up and coming stars in front of a large audience on Fox. At the end of the year we featured [super middleweight] David Morrell, [lightweight] Frank Martin, [middleweight] Joey Spencer and [welterweight] Vito Mielnicki Jr.  Having those young up and comers on Fox really helps grow their profile and is good for the sport.

PT: With so many viewing options fans have to watch sports, Is the pay-per-view boxing model still viable?

BW: Yes I do because fans are accustomed to it. If you put out a good product, they will pay for it, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I think it has a bright future. I also see PPV buys from digital continuing to grow. We’ve seen that since we’ve started doing pay-per-views at Fox back in 2019. Our digital buys as a percent of our overall buy continues to increase, and I see it growing. But the traditional way that people buy pay-per-view events through their cable or satellite system is still a very viable option for people and still represents the majority of the buys. 

PT: Are there any new technological innovations that Fox Sports will look to feature during its upcoming pay-per-view boxing events? 

BW: From a technological standpoint, we're very much focused on audio enhancements, bird's eye view camera angles, super slow motion and great storytelling. Some of the things that we're doing from a digital perspective to allow fans to get very up close and personal with the fighters is something that we call All-Access. We have embedded cameras on fight night that, for example, will follow Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios from their hotel to the arena to the locker rooms and really give fans a fly-on-a-wall perspective. It helps with the [PPV] buys because people get interested in what's going on and learn about the fights and then click the button to buy. 

ESPN Plus Saturday (Nov. 20) will distribute its first ever exclusive pay-per-view boxing event as it teams with boxing promotion company Top Rank to offer the Terence Crawford-Shawn Porter welterweight championship event.

The PPV event, which retails at a suggested price of $69.99, follows the streaming service's strategy of exclusively distributing the UFC's monthly mixed martial arts PPV events. ESPN VP of programming and acquisitions Matt Kenny discusses the decision to secure exclusive PPV rights for Crawford-Porter and the streaming service's future PPV boxing plans, as well as the performance of last month's Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III PPV boxing event . An edited version of the story appears below.

Picture This: How significant for ESPN Plus is securing exclusive pay-per-view rights for a major boxing event?  

Matt Kenny: I think this is a great example of just how dynamic our relationship is with Top Rank. We're very opportunistic about each and every one of the cards that Top Rank stages and promotes on our platforms. We’re laser focused on serving fans, and the opportunity to bring Crawford and Porter together exclusively on ESPN Plus pay-per-view is just a great opportunity for us.

PT: Is it possible that some potential PPV fight buys could be left on the table by not offering this fight through other traditional PPV distribution outlets?

MK: We have a lot of experience doing exclusive pay-per-views with the UFC. At the end of the day, we want to create the best possible experience for fans on our platforms. ESPN Plus is an incredible product -- we have more than 17 million subscribers as was reported during our last earnings call. At those type of numbers, we're proud of the product that is available to fans. Over the last couple of years, ESPN Plus has become a really vibrant environment for combat sports fans. We think an event like Crawford-Porter not only super serves the combat sports fan, but certainly has crossover appeal to general sports fans that are already on our platform watching other content.

PT: Will PPV buys for Crawford-Porter match or surpass what ESPN Plus has done for some of its top-performing, exclusive UFC PPV events?

MK: We certainly don't get into projections. This is our first exclusive ESPN Plus PPV boxing event with Top Rank, and as I mentioned earlier I feel really optimistic that we're going to have a very successful night and more importantly deliver a fight that sports fans are really going to appreciate.

PT: ESPN and Fox Sports co-distributed the third Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight last month. How did that event performed and will ESPN and Fox Sports work together on future PPV boxing events?

MK: We were very pleased with the results of Fury-Wilder III, both quantitatively and qualitatively. That was the second event that we partnered with Fox Sports, and the collaboration between the teams was incredible. We all left that experience hoping that we'd have the opportunity to do it again at some point down the road. Those fights were wonderful examples of different media companies coming together and actually creating something special in an industry that is usually regarded for not necessarily having folks play nice in the sandbox. We’re proud to shatter that traditional dogma, and if the opportunity presents itself to work together again down the road, we’d certainly take a look at it.

PT: How aggressive will ESPN Plus be on the PPV boxing front in 2022?

MK: We're going to continue to be opportunistic and evaluate opportunities as they become available. We have the flexibility to be nimble, so as things materialize in this very dynamic sport we could respond appropriately to better serve fans as well as  help drive shareholder value and hit our company goals and objectives.

Showtime will extend a busy 2021 pay-per-view boxing calendar with a Dec. 5 fight between five-time world champion Gervonta Davis and undefeated lightweight contender Rolando Romero.

The fight will be lightweight champion Davis’s third straight PPV appearance and second this year after beating Mario Barrios in a June 26 event. “Tank Davis is at the top of the boxing mountain and selling out arenas coast-to-coast for a reason,” Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said in a statement. “His explosive power, style, and take-no-prisoners attitude make him a captivating, must-see attraction.”

Also Read: Industry Awaits PPV Returns for Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder Trilogy Fight

The Davis-Romero PPV fight marks Showtime’s fifth PPV boxing match this year, which includes the scheduled Nov. 6 Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant super middleweight unification bout. Other Showtime 2021 bouts include June’s Davis-Barrios bout, the June 6 Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul bout, and the Aug. 29 Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley fight. 

Those three fights combined have generated approximately 1.7 million PPV buys, according to industry sources. 

Saturday night’s Tyson-Fury-Deontay Wilder pay-per-view trilogy fight surpassed all expectations in the ring -- now the industry waits to see if the epic fight will meet PPV buy projections.

The Oct. 9 event, in which Fury knocked out Wilder in the 11th round of an action-packed fight in which both fighters hit the canvas a combined five times, was arguably worth the $80 PPV retail price event distributors ESPN and Fox Sports set for the third and most likely last bout between the two heavyweight fighters. 

Industry observers expected the third Fury-Wilder fight to at least match the close to approximately 1 million PPV buys the February 2020 second Fury-Wilder fight generated. While industry executives said it’s too early to project PPV buys for fury-Wilder III, PPV distributors were confident the fight would perform up to expectations.

Fury’s win clearly places him at the top of the heavyweight division, and could set up a potential unification fight in 2022 against the winner of the upcoming rematch bout between current champion Oleksandr Usyk and the fighter he beat last month for the title, Anthony Joshua. Wilder could also fight either or both Joshua and Usyk, setting up a number of PPV event opportunities in the marquee heavyweight division. 

“The heavyweight division is much bigger than any one fighter,” In Demand senior VP of programming & marketing Mark Boccardi said. “There are a bunch of top-drawing heavyweights right now, and boxing fans are going to want to see the best, no matter who they are.”

This Saturday (Oct. 9) ESPN and Fox Sports will team to deliver the third pay-per-view fight between heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and top challenger Deontay Wilder. Industry observers are cautiously optimistic that the fight could match or surpass the more than 1 million PPV buys generated for the February 2020 second bout between the fighters, in which Fury stopped Wilder in the seventh round. Fury and Wilder’s first fight in 2018 ended in a draw.

“We think Fury-Wilder III is going to be huge,” said Mark Boccardi, senior VP programming and marketing for PPV event purveyor In Demand. “When’s the last time we had such a highly anticipated trilogy, much less a heavyweight trilogy? Between the growing popularity of Wilder and Fury and their in-ring skills, this has the makings of a mega-event.”

ESPN and Fox are hoping to maximize PPV buys for the fight — which was rescheduled to Oct. 9 from its original July 24 date after Fury tested positive for COVID-19 — through an aggressive, multi-platform marketing campaign that featured spots in high-profile sports events like Monday Night Football, marquee college football games and baseball post-season telecasts.

ESPN VP of programming and acquisitions Matt Kenny spoke to me in the final days leading up to Fury-Wilder III about the PPV appeal of the event, Fox Sports and ESPN’s marketing strategy for the fight and ESPN’s plans for future PPV boxing events. An edited version of the story appears below.

Picture This: Do you feel that there’s as much momentum heading into the third Fury-Wilder fight than there was for the first two fights between the two champions?

Matt Kenny: Yes. We couldn‘t be more excited for Saturday night. We’re talking about Fury and Wilder — the two fighters at the top of the heavyweight division — in a trilogy match. They've obviously participated in two iconic bouts with incredible promotions in their own right, so we couldn’t be happier to partner again with Fox Sports to help bring a massive event like this to not just boxing fans but mainstream sports fans as well.

PT: Is there a greater promotional push for this fight than the previous two events?

MK: The best way to describe it is in both instances, the promotion was incredibly strategic and well thought out between us and Fox. Fury-Wilder 2 took place in February of 2020 after the Super Bowl, so we were able to capitalize on all the live events that led up to that date, including the Super Bowl itself. What we're finding here is we're doing the exact same thing, but again being opportunistic with the live events that we have in front of us as we push towards Saturday night. For instance, we had promotion within Monday’s Raiders-Chargers Monday Night Football game, and then the following night we had promotions within the Yankees-Red Sox [MLB] Wild Card game, which was the most watched baseball game on ESPN since 1998. We have had massive events that we have been able to leverage to create exposure and awareness for the fight, and that'll continue to be the case as we head into the weekend.

PT: Having said that, are you confident that the fight can match Wilder-Fury II in breaking the 1 million pay-per-view buy mark?

MK: We don’t get into projections, but what I can say is we are incredibly optimistic for what's ahead. It really starts with the event participants at the top of the marquee, and that’s Fury and Wilder. They have a long track record, and there are no shortage of human interest stories related to this bout. Both ESPN and Fox are continuing to walk hand-in-hand to help tell that story and to help present these athletes in a way in which boxing fans won't want to miss it.

PT: Does former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s recent upset loss take some luster away from Fury-Wilder III since the winner was projected to fight Joshua in a mega PPV unification fight?

MK: The best way to answer that question is to say that this is boxing and anything can happen. Obviously that was a fight that many fans were interested in seeing, but at the end of the day, again anything can happen in boxing. I think fans on Saturday night are going to be in for a treat, and where it goes from there nobody knows.

PT: Do you believe that the PPV boxing category in general can remain a viable option for big events going forward in a very crowded TV sports marketplace?

MK: We do. We really like to be opportunistic and we like to think of pay-per-view as one of several distribution options that we have, depending upon the nature of the event and our relationship with [boxing promotion company] Top Rank. We have live events that air on ESPN and we have exclusive events that are on ESPN Plus. We also have pay-per-view events, both on a non-exclusive basis, like Fury-Wilder III, and we're excited about the ESPN Plus pay-per-view exclusive for the Terence Crawford-Shawn Porter fight on Nov. 20. So we do believe that pay-per-view is very much a viable option, and we just like to be opportunistic as we consider which live events we put where.

Showtime will continue its busy 2021 pay-per-view boxing campaign in November with the distribution of the Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant super middleweight unification fight.

The Nov. 6 fight from Las Vegas will pit arguably the PPV boxing category’s biggest draw in WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Alvarez against IBF super middleweight champion Plant.  

The event -- Alvarez’s first appearance on Showtime in nearly nine years --  will mark the latest PPV boxing event the premium service has distributed this year following its June 6 Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul bout, its July 3 Gervonta Davis-Mario Barrios fight and its Aug. 29 Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley event. 

“2021 has been a phenomenal year for Showtime Boxing,” said Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza during the event’s Sept. 21 press conference.. “It’s one of our most prolific years in recent memory … we are proud to welcome Canelo Alvarez back to Showtime and we also welcome Caleb Plant for his Showtime debut.”  

The fight joins the ESPN/Fox Sports-distributed Oct. 9 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder trilogy fight as well as Triller’s Oct. 4 Teófimo López-George Kambosos Jr. boxing event on the Fall PPV boxing card. 

Fresh off its Sept. 11 Evander Holyfield-Vitor Belfort pay-per-view event, event distribution company Triller will now turn its attention to its Oct. 4 Teófimo López-George Kambosos Jr. boxing event.

The PPV fight, for López’s undisputed lightweight titles, will take place on a rare Monday night after being rescheduled several times from its original June 19 date. In June López was diagnosed with COVID, initially postponing the fight to Aug. 14 before eventually settling on the Oct. 4 date at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The PPV event will retail at $49.99 and will feature several undercard fights as well as a number of musical performances which will be announced at a later date, according to the distribution company. In Demand will distribute the fight along with digital streaming service FITE.TV.

The López-Kambosos fight follows Triller’s Holyfield-Belfort event in which Belfort, a former UFC mixed martial arts champ, scored a technical knockout of the 58-year old Holyfield, who replaced COVID-19 stricken Oscar De La Hoya a week before the event. It's unclear how many PPV buys the fight generated. 

The event also featured commentary from former President Donald Trump, who provided color commentary through the event's multiple secondary audio programming (SAP) offering.  

Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield will once again step into the pay-per-view boxing ring this Saturday night (Sept. 11) to fight former UFC mixed martial arts champion Vitor Belfort, with former President Donald Trump providing commentary for the PPV event.

Holyfield -- who last fought professionally in 2011 -- replaces former boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya, who pulled out of the fight last week due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. The fight card also features a boxing match between mixed martial arts legends Anderson Silva and Tito Ortiz.

Also Read: Triller Looking To Shake Up PPV Category

Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. are scheduled to provide fight commentary during the multi-fight PPV card, according to industry sources. Purchasers of the $49.99 event will be able to access the Trump commentary on the multiple secondary audio programming (SAP) service, according to sources.

Showtime Sunday (Aug. 29) will distribute its second pay-per-view boxing event featuring YouTube stars Jake and Logan Paul, when Jake Paul steps into the ring with former mixed martial arts champion Tyron Woodley. 

The fight comes on the heels of Showtime's June 6 PPV event pitting Logan Paul against retired former boxing champion Floyd Mayweather. Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza spoke to me about Showtime's decision to distribute the event as well as his thoughts on how well the event will perform in an edited version of the interview. 

Picture This: Are you defining the Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley fight as an exhibition fight or a true professional boxing match?

Stephen Espinoza: Paul versus Woodley is a sanctioned professional, fully competitive fight. We're describing it is part of a different genre. Obviously it's slightly different from the championship level boxing that Showtime's been known for for the last 35 years, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be doing it. This is something which is obviously generating a large amount of attention, and we’re featuring fully competitive bouts. Jake has shown himself to be pretty skilled for someone at his level of interest, so we see this as part of the broader mission to  expand the entire breadth of the combat sports world.

PT: Are you concerned that by expanding the combat sports world you might be alienating the traditional boxing fan that has supported the pay-per-view boxing industry over the years? 

SE: To be honest I understand the traditionalists and the boxing purists who may not view this as their cup of tea, and that's fine. I think the reason that isn't problematic is because we're certain that this can live side by side with what our core business has been for the past 35 years. So just in the same way that Mayweather versus Logan didn't take away any resources or any budget for our championship level boxing, the same is true for Jake Paul.  We've had an incredibly busy and strong schedule -- I'd say the strongest of any platform in professional boxing -- and so we're able to simultaneously do a sort of non-traditional type of event as well. So again, we are very confident that the two can live side by side with each other. If people are interested in these types of events, then the opportunity is there to watch them.  If they're not and they'd prefer to stick with the traditional box events, then we have plenty of those as well.

Also Read: Showtime Hoping to Expand Boxing Fan Base with a Pair of Paul Fights

PT: You mentioned the Mayweather-Paul fight. Do you know how many PPV buys that fight generated? 

SE: It’s right at a million -- within 10,000 to 20,000 [buys] either way -- but buys are still trickling in. 

PT: Can this fight perform in that neighborhood without the attraction of a former boxing champion like Mayweather? 

SE: We’d be thrilled if it approached those numbers, but it's tough to compare anything to Floyd Mayweather. Floyd is a singular personality and one of the most compelling combat sports figures of his generation. There hasn't been anybody like him before, and it’ll probably be a long time before there's someone like him, so I hesitate to make any comparisons. What we've seen from Jake's first three events is that he is very capable of driving business, particularly on his last event against [Ben Askren] where he was the main event of a pay-per-view headliner that did healthy mid six-figure [buy] numbers. We're confident that we can generate at least that going forward with this event. 

 PT: Is Showtime looking at any other PPV events for the rest of the year? 

IE: I think we were looking at at least one more pay-per-view event before the end of the year, and possibly two. Jake would very much like to do one more fight before the end of the year, and we're also anticipating another pay-per-view event with Gervonta Davis, whose last fight at the end of June was a very successful pay-per-view event for us. We also have our typically busy Showtime championship schedule which includes big events throughout the third and fourth quarter.

In a major upset, welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas defeated boxing icon Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision Saturday night in what could be the eight-division world champion’s final bout. 

In the PPV boxing event, Ugas -- who took the fight against Pacquiao on two weeks notice after Pacquiao’s original opponent, Errol Spence Jr., pulled out of the fight with an eye injury -- was able to use his height and stinging jab to keep Pacquiao from landing effective punches. All three judges gave the fight to Ugas, who retained his WBA “super” welterweight championship. The fight was the first for the 42-year old Pacquiao since defeating Keith Thurman in 2019. 

After the fight, Pacquiao, who is the PPV industry’s second biggest revenue generator behind Floyd Mayweather Jr., was noncommittal when asked if he would fight again. Pacquiao did say he would make a decision in September as to whether he would run for President in his home country of the Philippines next May.

The Fox Sports-distributed fight was the first of two rare late August PPV boxing events. Showtime will distribute an Aug. 29 exhibition fight featuring YouTube star Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley.

The Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight pay-per-view fight is back on and will take place Oct. 9, boxing promoter Top Rank announced Thursday.

The fight, which was postponed from its originally scheduled July 24 date after Fury tested positive for COVID-19, will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, according to Tom Rank.

The first fight in 2018 between the two heavyweights ended in a draw. Fury scored a 7th round TKO over Wilder in the February 2020 rematch.

The fight will be the third major PPV boxing match to take place in as many months, following the Aug. 21 Manny Pacquiao-Errol Spence Jr. fight and the Sept. 18 Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant bout.

Also Read: PPV Boxing's Summer Bonanza

Boxing promotion company Triller on Tuesday postponed its June 19 Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos pay-per-view fight card after Lopez was diagnosed with COVID-19. 

The fight, for Lopez’s lightweight championship belt, is now set for Aug. 14 at a location to be determined, according to Triller executives. The move marks the second for the event after being rescheduled to June 16 from its original date of June 5, avoiding any conflicts with Showtime’s June 6 Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul PPV event. 

Read Also: Triller Looking to Shake Up PPV Event Category

"We send our best to Teofimo and his family and hope they get well soon, and look forward to seeing this epic battle on August 14, 2021,” said Triller Fight Club co-founder Ryan Kavanaugh in a statement.

Boxing fans will still have several fights to watch on Saturday as Showtime airs a tripleheader fight card headlined by the Jermall Charlo-Juan Macias Montiel middleweight championship fight. ESPN will also feature a bantamweight title bout between titleholder Naoya Inoue and Michael Dasmarinas. On PPV, legendary boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez will return to the ring to fight an exhibition fight against Hector Camacho Jr.

Read Also: Boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez to Fight in PPV Exhibition Bout 

Showtime is hoping for big pay-per-view numbers for its June 6 Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition fight as it looks to draw both Mayweather’s traditional boxing fans and Paul’s social media followers. The network in August will again look to tap into the Paul social media mystique as the network distributes Jake Paul’s Aug. 28 boxing match against UFC fighter Tyron Woodley.

Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza spoke to me on the eve of the Mayweather-Paul fight about the network’s decision to distribute boxing matches featuring the Paul brothers. Espinoza also talks about the potential PPV performance of the events as well as potential backlash from boxing purists revolving around the network’s association with non-traditional boxing events. An edited version of the interview appears below.

Picture This: What attracted Showtime to the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition fight? 

Stephen Espinoza: The Logan Paul-Floyd Mayweather event was sort of a no brainer for us, given our history and track record of success with Floyd Mayweather. He's the one who came up with the concept, made the arrangements, and then brought the fight to us. That was a relatively easy decision. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think that we want to be in the position of turning our nose up at what could be a new trend in the sport. I certainly think it's important for our credibility that we be honest about what this is -- it isn’t a championship level, elite boxing competition. This is a spectacle and an event featuring a retired Floyd Mayweather coming out of retirement to do an exhibition. It’s about fun and about something unexpected. It’s a different flavor of combat sports than we’ve done before, but it certainly is something that has attracted more than its fair share of interest from the audience.

PT: Does the event have a chance of hitting the industry’s gold standard of 1 million PPV buys?

SE: I certainly think this has the potential. There aren’t many personalities in the world with the following that Logan Paul has. When you're talking about the pay per view business, the ability to bring a built in audience to the table is really an attractive factor in the whole mix. I think it’s really the combination of a few things: the chance to see perhaps the greatest living boxer back into the ring and performing at some level again; the intrigue of seeing how  a younger, bigger, stronger, opponent would do against a Mayweather who's been retired for almost five years; and just the melding of two worlds and two huge fan bases from very different demographics. I don't know if this is a once in a lifetime thing, but in terms of commercial attractiveness and financial viability, again, it was a no brainer. This thing was definitely going to attract a lot of attention, and it was definitely going to do business. Given our relationship with Mayweather it was an immediate yes for us.

PT: Showtime is planning to distribute Logan Paul’s brother Jake Paul’s August boxing event against UFC fighter Tyron Woodley. With now two PPV events featuring non-traditional boxers, are you concerned about potentially turning off fight fans going forward? 

SE: We have to be protective of our credibility and our reputation. We’ve worked 35 years to establish ourselves as the most experienced and credible boxing outlet in the sport, and we certainly wouldn’t sacrifice that for anyone. So obviously we believe that the two can co-exist side-by-side. We’ve seen this sort of crossover before -- we've seen UFC stars and WWE stars crossover. Even [TNT's The Match golf event] with Aaron Rogers, Tiger Woods and Tom Brady is a crossover event. No one looks at a golf event featuring Rogers, Brady and Phil Mickelson, or looks at Charles Barkley and Tony Romo playing in a golf tournament at Lake Tahoe and calls it an affront to The Masters tournament or that it is somehow an insult to what professional golfers do on the PGA Tour. The audience is smart enough to know the difference. We do high level MMA, we do championship boxing, we do premium sports documentaries like The Kings, and we’re in the midst of this spectacle. So for those who are worried about [Mayweather-Paul] diverting resources or attention from other events, I say  we can do these things side-by-side. In the long run we believe that this is just broadening the tent and extending the potential universe of boxing fans. If they come through the door for a Logan Paul or Jake Paul event and become boxing fans, I think that’s a positive thing for the sport and certainly a positive thing for the network.

Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao will step into the pay-per-view boxing ring in August to challenge undefeated Errol Spence in a welterweight championship fight.

Pacquiao, who announced the fight in a Tweet Friday night, has generated the second most PPV revenue ever behind Floyd Mayweather. Pacquiao’s 2015 fight against Mayweather remains the biggest PPV event ever, generating 4.6 million PPV buys.

Pacquiao will fight for the first time since defeating Keith Thurman in 2019. Spence, the WBC and IBF welterweight champion, last fought in December, defeating Danny Garcia. The Pacquiao-Spence fight will take place in Las Vegas, according to ESPN. 

The fight is arguably the biggest PPV boxing event announced so far in an already crowded late spring/early summer schedule of PPV fights. Mayweather will fight a Showtime-distributed June 6 PPV exhibition fight against YouTube star Logan Paul; Triller will distribute the June 19 Teófimo López-George Kambosos Jr. lightweight championship PPV event; and Showtime will offer the June 27 Mario Barrios-Gervonta Davis junior welterweight title PPV fight.

Also Read: Showtime Sets June Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul PPV Exhibition Fight

Fox Sports’ Andy Ruiz Jr.-Chris Arreola heavyweight pay-per-view boxing event this past Saturday night ushered in what is shaping up to be a busy -- and hopefully lucrative -- spring and early summer period for the PPV boxing category. 

After a relatively quiet 2020 -- mostly due to the crippling effects of the pandemic on live sports events -- 2021 is already shaping up to be a comeback year for the PPV boxing category. It’s too early to tell how many PPV buys were generated from Saturday’s event -- in which Ruiz Jr. won in a majority decision over the veteran Arreola -- but the event serves as a launching pad for at least four PPV flights over the next three months. 

This Saturday, arguably PPV boxing’s current pound-for-pound champion Canelo Alvarez fights Billy Joe Saunders in a super-middleweight unification championship fight that will also stream on the DAZN sports service. 

Showtime will step into the PPV ring June 6 with an exhibition bout featuring retired PPV boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and  YouTube star Logan Paul, according to sources. Showtime will follow that fight up with a more conventional PPV fight card June 27 headlined by its Gervonta Davis-Mario Barrios super lightweight championship fight.

Read Also: Showtime Sets Gervonta Davis-Mario Barrios PPV Boxing Event 

The company having arguably the biggest influence on the PPV boxing genre this year is social media company Triller. Fresh off its April 17 Jake Paul-Ben Askren event that featured a mix of boxing matches and musical performances -- and still giddy over the success of last November's Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. exhibition boxing/concert event which drew north of 1.6 million PPV buys -- the company will offer via PPV a June 5 fight card featuring the Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos Jr. lightweight championship fight. The card will also feature the return of former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield to the ring against journeyman Kevin McBride.  

The company is also reportedly working on a July 3 fight that would mark the ring return of former six division champion Oscar De La Hoya. 

Read Also: Triller Looking to Shake Up PPV Event Category

The industry is hoping that the success and appeal of these events could help build momentum for some potentially lucrative Fall PPV boxing events that could feature such PPV draws as Manny Pacquiao, welterweight champion Errol Spence, heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, as well as a second Tyson event. 

As Major League Baseball, the NBA and NHL gear up for fall postseason runs, boxing is quietly putting together a robust lineup of pay-per-view events to run over the next four months.

Three PPV boxing cards combined from Showtime and Fox Sports, as well as the scheduled November return of former PPV boxing champ Mike Tyson to the squared ring, will look to put boxing on the TV sports map in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a crowded fall boxing line-up, which is great for sports-starved consumers,” Mark Boccardi, senior VP of programming for PPV event aggregator In Demand, said.

Showtime recently launched an ambitious eight-fight fall boxing schedule which includes two major PPV events: a Sept. 26 card featuring world champion brothers Jermall and Jermell Charlo fighting in separate bouts, and an Oct. 24  Gervonta Davis- Leo Santa Cruz championship unification event, said Showtime officials.

The Sept. 26 card would be the first major PPV event for the category since the Feb. 22 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder II heavyweight championship fight, and the first being held amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Showtime is holding all of its fights with no fans at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

Fox Sports will step into the PPV boxing ring on Nov. 21 with the Errol Spence Jr.-Danny Garcia welterweight championship fight. It's the undefeated Spence's first fight in more than a year after suffering serious injuries in an Oct. 19 car crash. 

A week later, former heavyweight champion Tyson is expected to enter the ring for the first time in 15 years when he fights another former heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round PPV exhibition fight. The event, distributed by multi-media company Triller, is reportedly expected to also feature musical performances as part of the PPV event.

In the wings is a scheduled Dec. 19 Fury-Wilder trilogy fight, although reports say that the fight could be moved to 2021.

While it’s too early to predict whether boxing fans will support PPV events in today’s difficult economic environment, the industry has to be somewhat encouraged by PPV performance numbers from mixed martial arts outfit UFC’s recent PPV events. The UFC’s Aug. 15 UFC 252 event drew around 400,000 buys according to Sports Business Daily, the third best performance for a UFC PPV event since the pandemic began. The May 9 UFC 249 -- its first and top performing PPV event since the pandemic -- drew more than 700,000 buys, according to SBJ.

Boccardi is confident that boxing fans will gravitate to the upcoming PPV fights, especially given the number of high-profile fighters stepping into the ring. 

”This fall’s PPV boxing line-up is going to be major, probably the biggest and most exciting one in recent memory," he said. "Since a lot of traditional fall sports, including some of the biggest conferences in college football, have sadly been postponed, we’re happy to be able to offer PPV customers the opportunity to support this incredible boxing season."

Fox Sports and ESPN hope their unprecedented joint marketing and promotional efforts for the Feb. 22 Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury heavyweight boxing rematch will deliver a major pay-per-view performance punch.

Fox Sports and Premier Boxing Champions promote Wilder, and ESPN and Top Rank represent Fury. Together, they’ve rolled out a massive marketing campaign for the Feb. 22 fight that started with spots in ESPN’s Jan. 13 LSU-Clemson College Football Playoff Championship Game telecast and included ads in Fox’s Feb. 2 Super Bowl LIV telecast.

“This has been a remarkable effort by many different stakeholders, both internally and externally,” said Matt Kenny, ESPN’s VP of programming for combat sports. “The Fox Sports team has been a great partner and it’s been very rewarding to see all the contributions from so many people.”

Fox Sports executive VP and head of programming and scheduling Bill Wanger said the magnitude of the fight brought both Fox Sports and ESPN together as promotional partners, and the ad push is reaching viewers. Fox Sports reported that its Wilder-Fury Super Bowl promo spot was seen by more than 105 million viewers.

Overall, Wanger said, Fox Sports has produced more than 10 hours of original programming around the fight, including a four-part docuseries dubbed Inside Wilder-Fury II and a fight countdown show currently in rotation on ESPN and Fox Sports platforms.

ESPN has also created several originals around Wilder-Fury II, including Ring Science, which is streaming on ESPN+.

“It’s really an unprecedented amount of promotion and level of cooperation among the two main media sports companies,” Wanger said.

The Wilder-Fury fight is the second between the two undefeated heavyweights; their 2018 bout ended in a controversial draw. That PPV event, distributed by Showtime, generated a reported 325,000 buys.

On fight night for Wilder-Fury II, a combined ESPN and Fox Sports on-air crew will describe the action. Fox Sports' Lennox Lewis will join ESPN's Andre Ward and Joe Tessitore for ringside commentary, while Fox Sports' Shawn Porter and Brian Kenny will team with ESPN's Timothy Bradley and Max Kellerman for live analysis.

ESPN and Fox Sports hope their collaborative on-air and promotional efforts will drive enough PPV buys from hard-core boxing aficionados and casual sports fans to reach the industry-standard 1 million buy mark.

Pushing for 1M Buys

“I think a million buys is reasonable given everything that’s being put behind it,” said sports consultant Lee Berke. “You have two strong, popular fighters. It's a throwback in a sense in that heavyweights have not been that popular on PPV lately. You have two media powerhouses promoting the hell out of it. And it's scheduled during a lull in sports between the end of football and beginning of the NCAA college basketball tournament and baseball. I think it will do well.”

Wanger would not project how many buys the fight would generate, but said he’s excited about its PPV potential. “The buys will be what the buys are,” he said.

While the fight marks the first PPV boxing co-promotion for Fox Sports and ESPN, similar recent team-ups have proven successful. Showtime and the UFC combined resources in 2017 to promote the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight, which drew 4.3 million PPV buys. That fight’s PPV performance was second only to the 4.6 million PPV buys generated by the 2015 Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, co-promoted by HBO and Showtime.

This week, both ESPN and Fox Sports will ramp up marketing for the fight. On Wednesday FS1 and ESPN2 will simulcast the final fight press conference as well as Friday’s weigh-in. ESPN and Fox Sports studio shows will originate from Las Vegas, including FS1’s Speak for Yourself and ESPN’s First Take.

“This will raise awareness for one of the most anticipated heavyweight fights in a number of decades,” Wanger said. “We’re pulling out the stops.”

Along with traditional PPV carriage through In Demand, DirecTV and Dish Network, both Fox Sports PPV — which includes foxsports.com and the Fox Sports App — and ESPN+ PPV will stream the fight, which retails for a suggested $79.99, said representatives from both parties. ESPN’s Kenny said he would not rule out future marketing partnerships with Fox Sports on major PPV boxing events.

“ESPN is laser-focused on serving sports fans and should a collaborative approach with a partner like Fox Sports help stage, promote and produce the biggest fights, we are certainly open to exploring those opportunities,” he said.

When Showtime and HBO teamed to distribute the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view boxing event in 2015, it brought together the two champions of the PPV distribution business.

That fight went on to set the all-time record for pay-per-view boxing event buys while solidifying HBO and Showtime’s position as the preeminent distributors of high-profile  boxing events.

Fast forward just four years to today, and the PPV boxing marketplace has changed significantly. Sports streaming services such as ESPN+ and DAZN have muscled their way into the business and have secured the rights to marquee fights like the Nov. 2 Canelo Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev fight and the Dec. 7 Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr. bout -- both championship fights will stream live on the DAZN $20 monthly subscription service -- that a few years ago would have cost fight fans $60 or more to watch via PPV.

When fights do make it to the traditional PPV platform, such as the Nov. 23 Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz II heavyweight championship match, its Fox Sports -- and not Showtime or HBO -- more often than not delivering the event to boxing fans. In fact, Fox Sports has distributed four of the six major PPV boxing events in 2019, including Wilder-Ortiz. 

HBO last year hung up its PPV boxing gloves and completely stepped out of the TV boxing ring, due in part to the emergence of streaming competitors DAZN and ESPN+. Showtime -- which rang in 2019 with its January Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner PPV event -- is still a major player in the game, but recently negotiated and passed on the PPV rights to the Wilder-Ortiz rematch after the premium service distributed the March 2018 first bout between the fighters. 

“We did negotiate for the right to distribute the Wilder-Ortiz event via Showtime Pay-Per-View, but ultimately, we chose not to move forward ... the proposed deal terms didn’t make sense for us,” Showtime president of sports and entertainment programming Stephen Espinoza said. “Our strategy going forward remains unchanged, as we will continue to deliver the best boxing on TV for our subscribers and deliver, when the time is right, the sport’s biggest pay-per-view events.”

For Fox Sports, which distributed via PPV the Errol Spence-Mikey Garcia fight in March, the Manny Pacquiao-Keith Thurman fight in July and the Spence-Shawn Porter bout last month (pictured), the addition of Wilder-Ortiz is another piece in its growing portfolio of PPV sports content. 

“Fox Sports is thrilled to be working with the PBC and the most exciting heavyweight champion of the world, Deontay Wilder, for his next title defense against Luis Ortiz,” Bill Wanger, Fox Sports executive vice president and head of programming & scheduling said.“Deontay fought on Fox in 2016 and 2017 and had more than 2.5 million viewers watching each time. His popularity has exploded since then, and we’re expecting this to be a can’t-miss night of boxing.”

If Wilder wins, industry sources say Fox Sports is expected to team with ESPN to distribute a Wilder-Tyson Fury rematch fight during first quarter 2020 in what could be the biggest PPV event since Showtime's 2017 Mayweather-Conor McGregor PPV fight. It would also usher in a new generation of boxing content providers working together to bring the biggest PPV fights to the category. 

“Much like when HBO was going against and working with Showtime, I think you have the same dynamic today, but it’s been reinvented for a new set of platforms,”sports analyst Lee Berke said.

Veteran welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao turned back the clock to beat former undefeated champion Keith Thruman in a split decision during Fox Sports’ second pay-per-view boxing event.

The 40-year old Pacquiao knocked down Thurman in the first round and controlled the pace for much of the 12-round fight to run his record to 62-7-2. Thurman’s first loss dropped his record to 29-1.

In the aftermath of the fight, Pacquiao said he most likely would not fight again until 2020. Pacquiao could next face the winner of the Sept. 28 Errol Spence Jr.-Shawn Porter welterweight unification PPV fight, which Fox Sports and Premier Boxing Champions announced Saturday.

The undefeated Spence fought Mikey Garcia on Fox Sports' inaugural PPV boxing event in March, drawing more than 330,000 PPV buys, according to the company. 

RELATED:Fox Sports Takes Second Jab at PPV Boxing with Pacquiao-Thurman

On Saturday ESPN and boxing promotion company Top Rank Inc. will distribute the Terence Crawford-Amir Khan welterweight championship pay-per-view boxing match, their first co-promoted PPV boxing event since the two companies reached an exclusive, seven-year distribution deal.

The fight, which has a suggested retail price of $69.95, is getting a major marketing boost from ESPN’s sister company Marvel Entertainment. Earlier this week ESPN released a 30-second spot that ties in the PPV fight with Marvel's blockbuster film Avengers: End Game, which premieres next Thursday (April 25).

ESPN vice president of programming and acquisitions Matt Kenny recently spoke to me about the significance of the Crawford-Khan PPV event for ESPN and Top Rank as well as the fight’s big Avengers promotional tie-in.

Why do you feel pay-per-view is the right distribution platform for the Crawford-Khan fight?

When you think of the best pound for pound boxers in boxing, Terence Crawford is right at the top of that list. We’re couldn’t be more pleased about our partnership with Top Rank, and as we looked at the [boxing] landscape we thought this would be an appropriate time to do our first pay-per-view together. We felt that Terence and Amir would be the perfect main event for our first foray under this new deal.

The PPV category recently lost a number of marquee fighters to upstart sports streaming services. Is the platform still a viable outlet for big PPV boxing events?

Absolutely. We’ve heard feedback from distributors that boxing is still very much a strong performer in the pay-per-view space. At the end of the day, people are interested in big events, and PPV boxing has historically fallen into that category. We feel really confident heading into this weekend that Crawford and Khan are not only going to put on a great main event, but the undercard is stacked as well. We really think boxing fans are going to get alot of bang for their buck this weekend.

Is ESPN and Top Rank doing anything outside of traditional PPV marketing tactics for this fight?

WE could not be more proud of how ESPN and the Walt Disney Company have embraced this event and put forth a promotion that the industry hasn’t seen before. I think really the biggest example that we could point to is a co-promotion spot that just hit social media that features Crawford and Khan in a co-promotional piece with the theatrical release of Avengers: End Game next week. When you think about that, Avengers End Game is arguably going to be the largest theatrical release in movie history, and for us to be able to leverage that intellectual property to create an even bigger event feel for Crawford-Khan is something that none of the streaming services or our competitors can do.

Will ESPN and Top Rank look to distribute more pay-per-view boxing events this year?

We’re going to be incredibly opportunistic … I think that’s the best way to describe it. We are interested in putting on the best fights for boxing fans and want to be part of the [PPV] conversation, so we’re open for business and interested in putting the best fights forward. We’re really in the early stages of our long term deal (with Top Rank), and to have had [lightweight champion] Vasyl Lomachenko on ESPN+ last Friday and Crawford on pay-per-view this Saturday, we think we’re really helping to elevate boxing as a whole and to establish ESPN’s leadership position in the space. 

For the first eight months of the year pay-per-view boxing  was off the sports industry's radar, but the events of this past weekend may have put the category back in the TV sports ring.

Saturday’s Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin pay-per-view boxing match lived up to its pre-fight hype and delivered an exciting, action-packed event for boxing fans. Alvarez won a close, majority decision over Golovkin in the rematch of the fighters’ November 2017 bout, which ended in a controversial draw.

Alvarez-Golovkin II provided a needed punch to the category, which hadn’t offered a marquee PPV fight card all year to starved boxing fans. The fighters were scheduled to square off this past May, but the fight was postponed after Alvarez failed two tests for performance-enhancing drugs.

It’s still too early to determine how many PPV buys the Alvarez-Golovkin II bout drew, but those who dished out at least $74.99 to watch the fight arguably got their money’s worth.

Going into the weekend the Alvarez-Golovkin fight was considered to be the most lucrative PPV event the sport could deliver in 2018, but social media posts Saturday from PPV boxing's revenue champions Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao about a potential rematch fight had the industry buzzing.

[embed]https://twitter.com/mannypacquiao/status/1040956990090969090[/embed]

While both fighters are well past their primes – and their much-anticipated 2015 fight produced a lackluster performance in the ring – a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch still could go a long way in offsetting what has been a disappointing financial year for the category. 

Mayweather-Pacquiao drew an industry record 4.6 million PPV buys. Cable, satellite and telco distributors would be overjoyed if a rematch between the 41-year old Mayweather and the 39-year old Pacquiao could generate business close to the PPV performance of their first encounter.

Pay-per-view boxing legend Manny Pacquiao will once again step in the ring Saturday night for a fight that boxing fans will have to dish out a fee to watch.  

Yet instead of paying upwards of $50 on PPV to watch Pacquiao go for his 60th career win against hard-hitting Lucas Matthysse, fight fans will only have to pay digital streaming sports service ESPN+'s $4.99 monthly fee to catch the fisticuffs.

Pacquiao is the second most lucrative fighter in PPV boxing history, and his 2015 fight with all-time PPV boxing champion Floyd Mayweather remains the most-purchased PPV event of all time with 4.6 million buys. Even at 39 years old and well past his prime, Pacquiao's fight with Matthysse could have done decent PPV business, especially since the category hasn’t had a major fight through the first seven months of the year.

Yet the Malaysian-based fight—part of a full day of live boxing content that will air on ESPN and the ESPN app prior to the main event – will instead mark the highest-profile boxing match to stream live on the upstart digital service, which launched in March to much fanfare. 

ESPN’s multi-year, multi-media deal with boxing promotion company Top Rank Inc. reached last year will provide the subscription service with several marquee boxing matches to offer in the near future, including last month's Terence Crawford-Horn welterweight title fight. 

Pacquiao's last fight -- a 12-round loss to Jeff Horn in 2017 -- aired on ESPN and drew more than 3 million viewers, according to published reports.

“Saturday’s boxing lineup gives us the ability to own the night with boxing fans, and the Manny Pacquiao-Lucas Matthysse match is a perfect example of the world-class caliber of events we envisioned for ESPN+,” said Burke Magnus, executive vice president of programming and scheduling. “The match also provides us with an incredible opportunity to generate compelling storytelling across all our platforms.”

With new digital sports services like ESPN+, Turner’s Bleacher Report Live and combat sports-themed service DAZN seeking to secure rights to live boxing content along with traditional premium cable services Showtime and HBO, it’s not that far-fetched to question whether the PPV fight business is on the ropes.

The scheduled Sept. 15 Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin rematch will be the first major PPV event to be offered to fight fans in 2018 (the bout was initially scheduled for May 5 but was cancelled after Alvarez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs).

The last major PPV boxing match was Alvarez-Golovkin I last November, which drew approximately 1.3 million PPV buys, according to industry sources. That fight, combined with the 4.3 million buys generated by the August 2017 Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor PPV fight, made 2017 one of the more successful years in PPV history.

While the PPV boxing category is closely watching the increasing competition from digital sports services, executives say the category remains very viable. PPV boxing historically has been cyclical, and executives say the category is in a downturn right now.

“The PPV industry is only as good as the fighters it can draw, and right now there’s no doubt that there’s a lull with respect to fighters that can carry a PPV event,” said In Demand senior vice president of programming and business development Mark Boccardi. He also said the industry has been spoiled in recent years by the likes of Mayweather, Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez, who often fought multiple times a year on PPV.

“Even though there are some great fighters in the sport, right now there are fewer PPV draws than we’ve had over the past few years,” Boccardi added. “We’re confident that the  big PPV's will remain tentpoles for the industry in boxing and in MMA.”

Meanwhile, HBO is still bullish on boxing and PPV. The network is confident that fight fans will ante up $74.99 in September for Alvarez-Golovkin despite the lack of marquee PPV boxing events this year.

“I actually think boxing is in great shape when you look at the people who all of the sudden want to be involved in boxing in a big way,” HBO pay-per-view vice president Tony Walker said. 

Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather stopped UFC mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor in the 10th round Saturday night in an entertaining boxing event that is expected to finish as the most lucrative pay-per-view fight ever.

Mayweather started slowly against a better-than-expected McGregor -- who was fighting in his first professional boxing match -- but picked up the pace midpoint in the fight and began landing heavy blows against a tiring McGregor, eventually leading to the 10th round TKO. Mayweather, who moved his record to 50-0 with the win, said after the event that the fight would be his last. 

As for McGregor's future, UFC president Dana White in a post-fight interview wouldn't speculate on whether the current UFC lightweight champion would return to octagon or the boxing ring. "We weren't talking fighting tonight," White said of a discussion he had with McGregor after the fight. "Conor McGregor went in there tonight and hit [Mayweather] with some big shots ... it was a great showing."  

The Mayweather-McGregor bout was reportedly delayed due to scattered PPV outages as some distributors had trouble keeping up with PPV purchases. The UFC.Tv website reportedly crashed hours prior to the main event, according to USA Today, but fight organizers told Multichannel News that all distributors were "on track" for the main event. 

The fight is expected to break the record 4.5 million PPV buys and $450 million in PPV revenue set by the 2015 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight.

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