THE pay-per-view buys for Canelo Alvarez’s unsuccessful return to light-heayweight have been revealed.
Former pound-for-pound king Canelo suffered a unanimous decision defeat in his bid to dethrone WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol earlier this month.
But the Mexican’s attempt to become a two-time 175lb champion wasn’t as much of a box-office success as some of his previous fights.
According to boxing reporter Dan Rafael, the fight generated 520,000 buys in the United States – where it was being broadcast by DAZN.
Although over half a million fight fans purchased Canelo vs Bivol, that number paled in comparison to the pay-per-view buys for the future hall-of-famer’s showdown with Caleb Plant last November.
A whopping 800,000 people parted with their hard-earned cash to see Canelo unify the super-middleweight division.
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The disparity in pay-per-view buys isn’t a surprise given that slick striker Bivol is a relative unknown to casual boxing fans.
The reported numbers for Canelo’s failed bid to become a two-time 175lb champ come just days after Eddie Hearn hit out at rival promoter Leonard Ellerbe for claiming the fight was a PPV flop.
He told Pro Boxing Fans: “If I don’t know what I’m doing, why am I 100 times bigger than Leonard Ellerbe?
“Why are we the biggest global promotional company in the world bar none?
“And Leonard Ellerbe is not even relevant actually in the boxing industry.
“When you talk about the top promoters in the world, do you mention Leonard Ellerbe? Let’s be honest, not in a millions years.
“He then comes out and says, ‘Oh, Canelo Alvarez only done 300,000 [pay-per-view] buys.’
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“Double it and add more and that’s how many buys [it did] and if you want, speak to DAZN and they’ll confirm it as well.
“This guy is hilarious. He is so angry, he has lost his mind. I need to take him out for a nice cup of tea, Leonard Ellerbe.”
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