PPV OVERLOADED, BENAVIDEZ-PLANT, BEST MATCH OF 2023, MORE… || FIGHTHYPE.COM

Hello fighting fans and welcome to another Thursday gathered around my inflated sack, waiting for your weekly squishy, ​​salty truth. This week we have questions/comments regarding boxing’s PPV overload, best matches of 2023, etc..

Overload PPV

Hi Magno.

As always, best wishes to you and your family.

If all the wars are announced or the rumors come true, there will be at least 4 to 6 PPVs from March to May. This is awesome!! Benavidez vs Plant, Fury vs Usyk, Ryan vs Garcia (IF big in this one), Spence vs Thurman, Canelo vs TBA, Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury. This doesn’t make business sense or the promoters are getting a profit from other revenues that the fighters don’t get, such as when they sell rights to Latin America and other parts of the world or when they add PPV purchases, especially when bars and pubs buy PPVs, bar and pub owners not only pay the usual $79.99 price they pay based on location capacity. The fighter’s managers have to figure that out. Or maybe they simply want fighters to realize that they won’t make a lot of money on PPV and will have to accept less money when competing more often on a regular schedule or on ESPN. I don’t care about DAZN, I don’t know what those people are doing there. Again, I hate the fee wall, but in the US it’s the way it is and I don’t see that changing with the current so-called boxing executives. What do you think?

– Benjamin from Puerto Rico

Hey Benjamin.

Pay-per-view overload is even worse. There’s also the Adrien Broner BLK Prime PPV and the recently announced Floyd Mayweather exhibit, also on the 25th. However, I’ve heard that Spence-Thurman could be moved back. However, Deontay Wilder versus Andy Ruiz could also be added to the PPV schedule soon, and there has been talk of a May date. Oh yeah, and Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko looks like it’s booked for May too and they want to turn it into an ESPN PPV event. Is crazy.

Obviously, some of these events will be big losers. Fight fans can’t select tabs for all of these shows. My guess is that Broner’s pay-per-view and Paul-Fury’s show are going to be big losers and that ESPN/Top Rated might not even be trying to sell Fury-Usyk as pay-for per view in the US, opting instead to make it an ESPN+ attraction while trading on its PPV value internationally. Unfortunately, I also found Plant-Benavidez (a really good, engaging match) to be a victim of this overbooking.

If Canelo finishes the match against John Ryder in the UK as planned, that pay view will also fail in the US, due to Canelo’s poor B-side as well as an afternoon start time in the US.

The only big winner will be Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia, who, during the fight week, will generate incredible marketing momentum (IF the match happens). I think Haney-Lomachenko can also do surprisingly well.

As for the “why” behind there are so many PPV programs. Well, the reality is that the only way for the organizers to satisfy the boxers’ wallet needs is to motivate them to bet on themselves through PPV revenue sharing. The shows themselves aren’t too expensive to produce if the main event names are willing to forgo guaranteed main event payments to reduce revenue.

Boxing promoters and companies are essentially using the Go Fund Me tactic with fans to eliminate some of the monetary risk involved in hosting these shows. The business is in dire straits right now, even as exotics like BLK Prime enter the market, poised to operate at a loss. Pay-per-view may be a necessity right now, but it’s certainly not good for the sport in the long run. Boxing as a whole must work together and come up with strategies to make better fights that are not only more accessible but also more affordable for the fans.

Benavidez-Plant, The War Excited Me

Hello Paul.

Is there a specific/signed war that interests you very much?

I am. Benavidez vs Plant is one of the fights that I love to watch because it combines offensive and defensive boxers. I remember two fights like this that I really enjoyed, Paulie Malignaggi versus Juan Diaz (1), it was non-stop action clashing with Diaz’s offensive mass versus smooth Malignaggi.

The other is Winky Wright vs Jermain Taylor. I’ve never appreciated Taylor so much, but his volume has Winky digging deep to give us an interesting fight.

I guess this will be a good fight as long as it lasts. I believe Plant will make Benavidez bad for 3-4 rounds until all the punches Benavidez throws start to work. What do you think? Should we give Plant more credit?

p.s. On your latest article, Steve Kim regrets not running that podcast with Mario Lopez anymore. Sadly, I’m a fan

Best wishes to you and your family.

– Miguel

Hey Miguel.

Well, knowing that Kim is no longer doing that podcast made my day a little brighter. Trust me, this guy’s bad karma in meddling in other people’s gigs is well worth it. Joke him and his cancer-causing bad energy. The less he is, the better.

Anyway…

I like Plant-Benavidez for the same reasons as you. And yes, I think Plant doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves for the skill and ability he has. I think in this fight we’ll find out if Benavidez is a “real player” when it comes to his pressure fighting style. Let’s call a spade a spade, the kid wasn’t in it against a very high level of overall opposition and he certainly wasn’t facing anyone who could hit the box as well as Plant. If Plant’s added strength under the supervision of new trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards makes sense, Benavidez will be in for an even tougher evening. However, if everything goes according to recent form, my results are not much different from yours. Benavidez won’t be like the offensive generator he’s used to, but his activism will leave him with a tough decision to make.

The first half of this year had a couple of interesting matches that got me involved. Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia must be too attractive. Naoya Inoue Stephen Fulton could become a classic. I also like Tyson Fury Oleksandr Usyk, Deontay Wilder-Andy Ruiz, Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko and the rumored Danny Garcia-Sebastian Fundora. All are super-attractive clashes of style and temperament.

Except for some boxing-like failures, this year is shaping up to be a good year.

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