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.

This weekend’s TV sports lineup steps into the squared ring as ESPN Plus distributes its first major pay-per-view boxing event exclusively. Saturday's Terence Crawford-Shawn Porter welterweight championship fight will steam on the digital service only for a suggested retail price of $69.99. ESPN2 will feature live fights from the undercard of the PPV event. 

ESPN Plus will also feature a live UFC Fight Night event featuring a women’s bantamweight main event bout between Ketlen Vieira and Miesha Tate.  

Week 12 of the college football season finds all NCAA top 10-ranked teams in action on Saturday. Top ranked Georgia battles Charleston Southern on ESPN Plus, while second-ranked Alabama hosts No. 21 Arkansas on CBS. ABC televises games featuring third-ranked Oregon against No. 23 Utah and fourth-ranked Ohio State versus seventh-ranked Michigan State.

The remaining schedule includes No. 5 Cincinnati-SMU (ESPN), No. 6 Michigan-Maryland (Big Ten Network), No. 8 Notre Dame-Georgia Tech (NBC), No. 9 Oklahoma State-Texas Tech (Fox) and No 10 Wake Forest-Clemson (ESPN). 

NBCU -- fresh off its new six-year carriage deal with the English Premier League -- will offer live game coverage from the league Saturday on NBCSN, USA Network and NBC, as well as NBCSN on Sunday. ABC and ESPN will air live MLS action Sunday afternoon. 

Weekend 11 of the NFL season begins with regional action on Fox and CBS, and ends with NBC’s Sunday Night Football contest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Los Angeles Chargers. 

Golf Channel and NBC will offer live weekend coverage of the LGPA Tour Championship, while ESPN will offer Sunday morning coverage of the Formula One Qatar Grand Prix auto race. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are your PPV performance expectations for Spence-Porter?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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