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.

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.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

The second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament featuring the U.S. National Team highlights a busy lineup of live TV sports events scheduled the first full weekend of December.

The USMST – fresh off its November 29 win over Iran to advance to the World Cup’s round of 16 – will battle the Netherlands Saturday morning on Fox, with the Spanish-language feed on Telemundo and streaming service Peacock. The other World Cup game on Saturday features Argentina against Australia, also on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock.

On Sunday, FS1, Telemundo and Peacock will offer the England-Senegal and France-Poland World Cup games.

In the boxing ring, ESPN Plus will stream live the heavyweight championship fight between titleholder Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora in the third match between the two fighters. Fury, who knocked out Dillian Whyte in his last fight this past April, has won the first two bouts against Chisora. Also on Saturday, DAZN will stream the third bout between Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. The two boxers split the two previous fights. 

In the Octagon, ESPN Saturday will televise a UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event  welterweight bout between Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland.

College football's Championship weekend Saturday schedule offers several big games featuring top 10-ranked teams, including top-ranked Georgia against No. 14 LSU in the SEC Championship game on CBS, second-ranked Michigan against Purdue in the Big Ten Championship on Fox, third-ranked TCU battling 10th ranked Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship game on ABC and No. 9 Clemson versus No.23 North Carolina in the ACC Championship game on ABC. 

Week 13 of  the NFL season starts with Sunday afternoon regional game coverage on Fox and CBS, followed by NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast pitting the Indianapolis Colts against the Dallas Cowboys.

On the links, NBC will air weekend final round coverage of the PGA Hero World Challenge golf tournament.■  

This weekend’s list of live TV sports events begins in the boxing ring as Fox Sports distributes a Saturday night pay-per-view boxing card featuring former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

Wilder, whose last three PPV fights against heavyweight champion Tyson Fury combined drew more than 1.7 million pay-per-view buys, will fight division contender Robert Helenius as part of the PPV boxing event offered via In Demand and PPV.com. Also on Saturday, ESPN will distribute the lightweight championship rematch bout between titleholder Devin Haney and George Kambosos Jr.

In addition, ESPN Plus will stream a Saturday afternoon main event bout between women’s middleweight champion Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall. 

On the baseball diamond, the division series playoff round continues on Saturday with TBS airing game four of the NLDS Atlanta Braves-Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers-San Diego Padres series. Both series were tied one game apiece heading into Friday’s action. 

FS1 will air game three of the ALDS series between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians, with the Yankees holding a 1-0 game lead prior to Friday’s game, as well as the Houston Astros-Seattle Mariners series, with Houston holding a two games to none lead in the best-of-five series.  

College football launches its seventh week of regular-season action starting with top-ranked Georgia against Vanderbilt on the SEC Network, third-ranked Alabama against No. 6 Tennessee on CBS, fourth-ranked Clemson traveling to face Florida State on ABC and fifth-ranked Michigan battling tenth-ranked Penn State on Fox. Also on tap for Saturday is No. 7 USC-Utah (Fox), No. 8 Oklahoma State-TCU (ABC) and No. 9 Ole Miss-Auburn (ESPN).

NBC on Saturday will air the Xfinity Alsco Uniforms 302 playoffs race and Sunday’s NASCAR Cup South Point 400 playoffs race. 

NBC on Sunday will air its Sunday Night Football game telecast featuring the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles and their NFC East division rival Dallas Cowboys.■ 

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. ■ 

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 finish 2021 with a fury as it distributes a Dec. 18 pay-per-view boxing card featuring social media sensation Jake Paul and British reality star Tommy Fury. 

The sanctioned, eight-round cruiserweight fight will be the undefeated Paul’s fifth professional fight overall and second PPV fight on Showtime this year, after his Aug. 29 bout against former mixed martial arts champion Tyron Woodley. Fury, the star of the British dating game show Love Island, is the brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. 

The fight also marks Showtime’s third scheduled PPV fight over the next two months, which also includes the Nov. 6 Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant super middleweight fight and the Dec. 5 Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero lightweight bout.

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.”

The lineup of live TV sports events happening this week starts in the squared ring Saturday night as ESPN and Fox Sports distribute via pay-per-view the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight championship fight.

The event marks the third fight between the two heavyweight champions, with Fury defeating Wilder in their second fight in 2020 and both boxers fighting to a draw in 2018. 

Action from Major League Baseball’s Divisional playoffs continue on Saturday with TBS airing game two of the Atlanta Hawks-Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers-San Francisco Giants series. MLB Network on Sunday will carry Game 3 of the Tampa Bay Rays- Boston Red Sox series, while FS1 will carry Game 3 of the Houston Astros-Chicago White Sox matchup.

NBC on Sunday will provide coverage of the NASCAR Cup Bank of America Roval 400 race while ESPN will air the Formula One Turkish Grand Prix race. 

The NFL will continue its week five schedule with Sunday afternoon regional games on Fox and CBS and a NBC Sunday Night Football matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.

Week six of the college football season kicks off Saturday with seven of the top 10 teams in action on national television. Top-ranked Alabama looks to continue its undefeated season against Texas A&M on CBS, while No. 2 Georgia faces No. 18 Auburn, also on CBS. No.3 Iowa takes on No. 4 Penn State in a major Big Ten Conference matchup on Fox, while No. 6 Oklahoma battles No. 21 Texas on ABC. Other games include no. 7 Ohio State-Maryland (Fox), No. 9 Michigan-Nebraska (ABC) and No. 10 BYU-Boise State (ABC). 

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.

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

The July 24 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight championship pay-per-view boxing match has been postponed after people in Fury's camp tested positive for COVID-19, according to ESPN.

The fight — the third between the two boxers — will most likely be moved to October, said ESPN. The two fighters fought to a draw in their 2018 bout, while Fury scored a technical knockout over Wilder in 2020.

Also Read: PPV Boxing's Summer Bonanza

Fury had planned to unify the heavyweight division with a summer fight against Anthony Joshua,  but an arbitrator in May ruled that a rematch clause in the contract for the second fight forced Fury to meet Wilder in his next fight.

As the TV sports world continues to recover from the pandemic, few sports are in a position to experience a greater renaissance than boxing -- particularly on the pay-per-view event platform.

The addition this week of the July 24 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder trilogy fight to an already stacked summer PPV boxing schedule creates a dream lineup that could generate significant revenue for the PPV industry.

The PPV boxing industry was poised to have a strong 2020 after the second Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury heavyweight championship fight in February of that year drew a reported 1.2 million PPV buys -- the first fight to break the industry standard mark since 2018. With potential fights being lined up featuring the top draws in the sport including Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez -- as well as up and coming PPV draws such as Gervonta Davis and Errol Spence Jr. -- the category in 2020 was well positioned to generate significant revenue. 

Also Read: Tyson Fury Defeats Deontay Wilder in Big Heavyweight PPV Fight

Then COVID-19 hit and nearly all of the proposed big PPV events fell by the wayside. Showtime and Fox Sports jump started the category in late 2020 with PPV fight cards headlined by champions Jermall Charlo, Davis and Spence that averaged around a reported 220,000 buys across three fights. But it was a November exhibition fight between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. that proved that boxing could still deliver significant PPV purchases and revenue.  

That event, distributed by social media company Triller and featuring musical performances alongside traditional fights, drew more than 1.6 million PPV buys -- finishing among the top 10 biggest PPV events ever -- and set the category in motion to create in 2021 one of the more impressive stretches of PPV fights in recent memory. 

The June 6 Showtime-distributed exhibition fight between all-time PPV revenue champion Floyd Mayweather and YouTube sensation Logan Paul is one of three PPV fights scheduled over the next three months that have a puncher’s chance of hitting the 1 million PPV buy mark. 

The Wilder-Fury trilogy fight as well as the Aug. 21 Pacquiao-Spence Jr. welterweight unification fight -- Spence is arguably among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and Pacquiao is the second-biggest PPV revenue draw ever behind Mayweather -- could provide the industry its first year of three or more 1 million PPV buy events since 2017 when Mayweather-Conor McGregor, Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin II all surpassed the mark.   

Also Read: Manny Pacquiao-Errol Spence PPV Fight Set for August

Also on the summer PPV boxing schedule is Triller’s June 19 Teófimo López-George Kambosos Jr. lightweight championship PPV event and Showtime’s June 27 Mario Barrios-Gervonta Davis junior welterweight title PPV fight.

And that’s all before the fall when iconic fighters Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield and Tyson potentially return to the ring in PPV exhibition fights.

"2020 was incredible for PPV - we didn’t think we could top it but we’re on our way," said In Demand SVP programming and marketing Mark Boccardi. “2021 is shaping up to be a great year for PPV with a heavyweight title at stake, the return of Floyd Mayweather, possibly Manny Pacquiao’s last fight which will be against superstar Errol Spence, crossover social media fights, and still more to come.”

Even as the country begins to open up this summer and show signs of returning back to some sense of normalcy, the PPV boxing category is set to keep millions of fight fans glued to their TV screens over the next few months

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

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

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

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

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

ESPN on March 23 will telecast a replay of the Feb. 22 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder pay-per-view boxing match, the network said Sunday.

The fight, in which Fury defeated Wilder via a seventh-round TKO, will air as part of the four-fight PPV event card co-distributed by ESPN and Fox Sports.

Related: Fury Defeats Wilder in Big PPV Fight

The four-fight special will be preceded by the Dec. 2018 Fury-Wilder I bout, which ended in a draw. The entire Wilder-Fury II PPV broadcast will also become available for replay to all ESPN+ subscribers beginning March 23, said the network.

A third Fury-Wilder fight is expected to take place either later this year or in early 2021.

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

Wilder-Fury II will be part of ESPN’s week of library programming, including a replay of its 2016 30 for 30 documentary O.J.:Made in America from March 24-March 26. Streaming service ESPN+ will continue to offer classic fights from the Top Rank library, including Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier III, Ali-George Foreman, Joe Louis-Billy Conn, Mike Tyson-Larry Holmes, Jack Dempsey-Gene Tunney, Max Baer-James J. Braddock, and Ali-Sonny Liston I & II.

Fox Sports and ESPN will again team up to co-promote a third Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder pay-per-view fight which will take place later this year, according to Fox Sports executives. 

The announcement comes two weeks after the two popular heavyweight boxers fought for a second time in what turned out to be one of the biggest PPV heavyweight fights in decades. A reported 800,000 to 850,000 PPV viewers watched Fury defeat Wilder via a seventh round TKO. The fighters’ 2018 inaugural fight ended in a controversial draw.

RELATED: Tyson Fury Defeats Deontay Wilder in Big PPV Heavyweight Fight

Fox Sports would not disclose a date for the third bout, which was set after Wilder -- as the loser of the second fight -- exercised a rematch clause in the Feb. 22 fight contract.

I recently talked to Fox Sports executive VP and head of programming and scheduling Bill Wanger about the performance of Fury-Wilder II as well as prospects for the third fight. An edited version of the interview appears below.

Will there be a third Fury-Wilder III fight and if so, when would it take place?

The rematch clause has been triggered. The parties involved are still discussing the date.

Do you think Fury’s dominating performance in the fight hurts the PPV appeal for a third fight?

No, we think the third fight will be just as popular. There will be some time between the second and the third fight, but it just wasn’t Deontay’s night. We expect there to be a different fight.

Can you confirm the reported 800,000 to 850,000 PPV buy figures for Wilder-Fury II?

We’re not going to get into the numbers. We view the success of the event based on the great promotion we had. We had a great partnership with ESPN and [boxing promoters] PBC and Top Rank, and that’s how we judge a successful event. From our perspective the outcome didn’t work out in terms of Deontay losing, but hats off to Tyson Fury -- he fought a great fight and there will be a trilogy fight.

A third Fury-Wilder fight would bring together Fox Sports and ESPN as co-promoters. Will the industry see the same promotional commitment for the third fight from the two TV sports powerhouses?

The thing that made [Wilder-Fury II] feel big and have a lot of gravitas was the combined talent effort between Fox and ESPN. We thought it worked well and served the viewers quite nicely.

Did the massive promotion for Wilder-Fury II put boxing back on the TV sports map in terms of the sport’s awareness and excitement among sports fans?

I think so. You had two of the biggest sports companies out there talking about, analyzing and promoting this fight for months, along with spots in the Super Bowl [and] the College Football Playoffs Championship game. You had the fighters on [Fox broadcasting’s music competition series] The Masked Singer. I think it elevated boxing to another level with the cooperation that we had with ESPN in the promotion. At the end of the day it's good for the sport and great for the long-term health of the sport.

Is Fox Sports looking to distribute any other PPV boxing matches in the interim?

There’s nothing to talk about right now. We have a bunch of fight cards coming up and dates that will be filled, but no PPV boxing events that we can talk about right now. 

World champion boxer Tyson Fury established himself as the king of the heavyweight division with his dominating win over Deontay Wilder Saturday night, but it's still unclear if the much-anticipated fight will finish as the pay-per-view  buy champion in the heavyweight division.

The undefeated Fury defeated Wilder in the seventh round after Wilder’s corner threw in the towel. Fury battered the previously undefeated Wilder for most of the fight in winning the World Boxing Council heavyweight title.

While PPV buys were not available at press time, industry executives believed going into the fight that the event could generate at least 1 million PPV buys. The fight -- a rematch of the 2018 bout between the two fighters that ended in a controversial draw -- was backed by an unprecedented marketing campaign created by co-promoters ESPN and Fox Sports that featured promotional spots in both the January College Football Playoff Championship game and this month’s Super Bowl.

RELATED: ESPN, Fox Sports Give Wilder-Fury a One-Two Punch 

Showtime distributed Fury-Wilder 1, which generated a reported 325,000 PPV buys. 

Prior to the fight, Top Rank Inc. promoter Bob Arum in published reports predicted Wilder-Fury II could generate 2 million PPV buys in what was described as the biggest PPV heavyweight fight since the 2002 Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson fight. That fight, in which Lewis stopped Tyson in the eighth round, generated 2.7 million PPV buys -- a record for a heavyweight boxing match.

Fury-Wilder II reportedly drew $17 million from live tickets sales, surpassing the 1999 Lewis-Evander Holyfield II as the biggest gate ever for a heavyweight championship fight, according to published reports.  

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.

Showtime’s live telecast Saturday night of heavyweight champion Deyontay Wilder’s thrilling first round knockout of Dominic Breazeale kicked off what looks to be a summer of  intriguing TV fights featuring several of boxing’s biggest stars that could lead to huge pay-per-view fights later in the year.

Boxing’s other heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will look to defend his portion of the title on June 1 against Andy Ruiz Jr. on the DAZN sports streaming service. If the undefeated Joshua wins, the hope among boxing fans and industry observers is that Joshua will meet Wilder in a mega heavyweight unification bout later this year or early 2020.

The wildcard in the heavyweight division is Tyson Fury, who this past December fought Wilder to an action-packed draw, which drew a reported 325,000 pay-per-view buys. Fury will fight June 15 against Tom Schwartz on ESPN+, the first of a multi-fight deal between the “Gypsy King” and ESPN.

Related: The PPV Event Category Ends With a Flury

The three heavyweight champions could generate some big money fights for the PPV category if they agree to fight each other in the ring.

Also in June, former middleweight champion Genaddy Golovkin will look to position himself for a third fight against current middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez with a June 8 bout against Steve Rolls. Golovkin and Alvarez fought to a draw in their first fight in 2017, with Golovkin losing a close decision to Alvarez this past September.

Alvarez on May 5 outpointed former middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs on DAZN to retain his titles.

In July, 40-year old Manny Pacquiao -- fresh off a dominating win against Adrien Broner this past February on Showtime PPV -- will put his welterweight championship on the line against undefeated Keith Thurman via Fox Sports PPV. The winner of the fight could be in a position to fight welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., who himself is coming off a dominating March performance against Mikey Garcia in Fox Sports’ inaugural PPV event. 

Industry observers hope a hot summer of live boxing telecasts featuring the top stars of the sport could lead to a lucrative fall for the PPV boxing category. 

Showtime on May 18 will telecast heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s bout against Dominic Breazeale.

The fight, for Wilder’s WBC title belt, will the champion’s second fight following his January PPV bout against Tyson Fury, which ended in a draw. That fight drew a reported 325,000 PPV buys.

RELATED: The PPV Event Category Ends Year With a Fury

“It was critical for Deontay, for the sport and his fans, that this fight be available not on pay-per-view, but on Showtime,” said Stephen Espinoza, Showtime president of sports & event programming in a statement. “Showtime is where this fight belongs. We’re the home of the biggest fights and best talents, month in and month out. This is where a heavyweight title fight belongs.”

Halfway through 2018, many industry observers had written off the pay-per-view event category as a dinosaur whose best day were behind it and would soon be replaced by an emerging digital streaming platform that was going to outbid the industry for the biggest  sports events and properties.

Fast forward to the end of December, and the old school distribution platform looks to have picked itself up off the mat and positioned itself to fight again in 2019. 

Showtime’s Dec. 1 Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury PPV heavyweight championship fight ended a run of big events that kept the category relevant to sports fans.

In fact, the strong performances of four, fourth quarter pay-per-view events have shown that consumers are still more than willing to dish out big dollars to watch marquee events on their big TV screens despite the launch of several new, low-cost subscription sports streaming services like DAZN and ESPN+ that offer marquee sports events.

The PPV event category didn’t have a major PPV event until September’s Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin middleweight championship fight, but the rematch bout between the two warriors reportedly drew 1 million buys, the gold standard for the category.

Alvarez weeks later would sign an exclusive 11-fight deal with upstart sports streaming service DAZN, but his most recent PPV fights proved that there was life beyond PPV boxing revenue champions Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

In October, the UFC would set PPV records with its UFC 229, which pitted arguably the mixed martial arts outfit’s biggest draw, Conor McGregor, against champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fight inside the ring – Khabib defeated McGregor – along with a post-fight melee helped the event draw a reported UFC record 2.4 million PPV buys. Next year looks promising with the UFC’s new media partner ESPN now both selling and promoting the mixed martial arts outfit’s PPV events going forward.

November welcomed golf to the PPV event category with the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson match. The event reportedly drew in the neighborhood of 1 million PPV viewers. (Most PPV distributors refunded the event’s $19.99 fee to subscribers after a technical glitch forced sports streaming service Bleacher Report Live to offer the event free to its subscribers.)

The reported 325,000 buys for the action-packed Wilder-Fury fight -- which ended in a draw -- helped the category set the tone for what it hopes will be a robust lineup of fights in 2019. Already two boxing shows are on the docket: Showtime’s Jan. 19 Pacquiao-Adrien Broner fight and Fox Sports’ March 16 Mikey Garcia –Errol Spence Jr. championship fight.

Further, industry executives say new content companies are exploring several non-ring PPV events that could further expand the category’s reach in the new year.

Showtime Thursday released a first-look video of its All Access: Wilder vs. Fury Epilogue docu-series revolving around last Saturday's heavyweight championship fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. 

The episode -- which debuts Dec. 8 after the network's replay of the action-packed Wilder-Fury pay-per-view boxing match, which ended in a 12-round draw -- documents the final moments before the two fighters stepped into the ring, according to Showtime officials.

Showtime this Saturday will air a replay of the Dec. 1 Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury heavyweight pay-per-view boxing match.

The fight, in which World Boxing Council champion Wilder and former heavyweight champion Fury fought to an entertaining draw, was the first Showtime-distributed PPV event of 2019. PPV buys for the event were not available at press time.

Showtime will jump back into the PPV ring in January with the Jan. 19 Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner welterweight championship fight. 

Showtime will conclude its 2018 boxing schedule Dec. 1 with its first pay-per-view event of the year, the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury heavyweight championship fight. Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza details the upcoming fight and the network’s overall commitment to boxing. Espinoza also addresses potential emerging competition from new, OTT streaming services. An edited version of our conversation appears below.

Why did Showtime decide to offer the Wilder-Fury fight via PPV after not distributing a PPV event all year?

When you get to the heavyweight championship of the world, that's something where pay-per-view is a consideration. Given the financial parameters, the decision was made, but other factors played in as well. There's a great deal of casual fan interest in the heavyweight division, and sports fans who don't usually follow boxing will get drawn in by a big heavyweight fight. These two fighters, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, have two of the biggest personalities in the sport. There's always a little bit of risk when you are launching a fighter -- or in this case two fighters -- on pay per view for the first time, but we are much more comfortable given these fighters’ personalities. They are two of the most charismatic and likable fighters in the sport, and they can generate a tremendous amount of media just by themselves.

The Tyson-Flury fight caps what has been a busy year for Showtime with regards to boxing. Has 2018 been as successful as you expected from a business standpoint?

We were thrilled with how this year is gone, especially given that we knew we would be facing a new challenge with the retirement of Floyd Mayweather after the McGregor fight. We knew we needed to lean on some new stars to drive the Showtime business and potentially launch back into pay-per-view. Overall, we had a tremendously strong year, with more events and more world championship fights than any other outlet by far. Up to and including the December 1 pay-per-view event, we will have done more than 70 live fights across nearly 30 separate, distinct events, which includes linear TV as well as some of the fights that we made available via streaming on social platforms. So regardless of how you slice and dice it whether it's quality of fights or volume of fights across a variety of platforms, we've been very happy with the product this year.

How would you define the state of boxing on television?

We've seen one notable departure [HBO recently announced it will not offer live boxing events after 2018] and some some new entries from new networks getting into the sport or getting back into the business. Competition remains very, very strong in the sports media business, and the fact that there are multiple, new entrants into boxing shows that this sport is very healthy and presents a very valuable opportunity for distributors. The streaming players have generated a lot of attention, but from our perspective it really isn't particularly about the method of delivery. We've been delivering our boxing content and all of our content via streaming for several years, whether it's through our [Showtime] OTT direct-to-consumer product we launched in 2015, or via the live feed as part of our authenticated product, which dates back to 2010. So the delivery of high level boxing content via streaming is something we've been doing for several years -- what is key is high-quality content, and for boxing fans we know we have been delivering the highest quality content of any U.S. outlet.

Has Showtime’s boxing telecasts translated into increased viewership and subscribers?

When we asked our subscribers how important Showtime Championship Boxing is in their decision to continue subscribing to premium TV, 29 percent of respondents said it's very important and 54 percent considered it important or very important. So any time you have half of the audience saying that something is either important or very important, what it says to us is that boxing remains a valuable commodity for our network. It attracts subscribers; it drives business, and we know we're delivering it well. So we are bullish about the sport of boxing; we've been in it for over 30 years and we're not leaving anytime soon.