As reports swirl about disappointing sales, DAZN fired back by releasing the Canelo vs GGG 3 Pay Per View numbers.
Last Saturday, Canelo Alvarez dominated and ultimately outboxed Gennadiy Golovkin to end their argument once and for all.
In the process, the Mexican superstar defended his WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF belts at the T-Mobile Arena.
Canelo’s victory in Las Vegas brought one of the most fiercely contested sports rivalries to an end. The first two bouts were competitive. However, the third was nowhere near the standard of the September 2017 and 2018 versions.
Defending his undisputed super middleweight titles, Canelo announced himself back following a devastating loss to WBA light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol last May.
Golovkin, on the other hand, refused to retire despite looking every day of his forty years.
What are the PPV numbers for Canelo vs GGG 3?
With the dust settled, rumors the trilogy fight bombed and earned far less than needed to break even began to circulate.
A combined purse payout of $65 million left DAZN PPV needing a massive surge in sales to break even.
Releasing a statement to World Boxing News, DAZN said: “DAZN Group has confirmed the Canelo vs. GGG III fight night saw a global audience in the millions.
“More than 1.06 million buys generated worldwide, including PPV and DAZN subscriptions,” they stated.
United States PPV sales
The key word there was “worldwide” as it’s a well-known fact that the United States market only counts buys in their country by right.
Therefore, DAZN can make the fight look a considerable success despite an eye-watering $84.95 US price.
In other regions, like the UK, Canelo vs GGG 3 could be purchased for as little as $13 if you had a subscription at around $9 per month.
Looking at things from that point of view, anything less than 750,000 sales in the US is certainly not going to be enough.
DAZN continued: “The event – in partnership with Matchroom Boxing, Canelo Promotions, and GGG Promotions – marks DAZN’s biggest fight yet in 2022.
“That’s both globally as well as in the United States. It also claims the title of the number three biggest boxing event globally on DAZN since its inception.
Number two event
“Canelo vs GGG 3 is also the number two biggest boxing event in the United States since its 2018 launch.
“Moreover, DAZN was once again the most downloaded sports app in the world. In addition to being the highest-grossing app of any category in the United States,” they added.
All those statistics don’t hide the fact that Canelo vs GGG 3 needed over one million sales in the United States alone to make any significant profit from their layout.
Nonetheless, DAZN seems happy that the fight sold outside the US and away from the far more lucrative market of single-home buys.
“DAZN saw tremendous growth across its commercial premise partners, including +71% across bars, restaurants, casinos, and cinemas compared to Canelo’s last fight against Dmitry Bivol in May.
“This included fans all across the nation coming together to watch live in 680+ cinemas in the United States alone.
“Engagement records were set on social media as well. This includes TikTok fight night content, which was the highest-performing of any DAZN boxing event with 7.9 million views.”
Pay Per View card
The Pay Per View live stream undercard saw Jesse Rodriguez defeat Israel Gonzalez. Ali Akhmedov beat Gabriel Rosado.
Austin Williams fended off tough Briton Kieron Conway as the American remained undefeated in their ten-rounder. In the end, Williams took a unanimous decision.
The talented Marc Castro recorded his sixth knockout from eight wins with a stunning knockout of Kevin Montiel Mendoza.
Aaron Aponte and Fernando Molina remained undefeated after fighting a split-draw through eight rounds.
Aponte is now 6-0-1. Molina is 8-0-1.
Super middleweight Diego Pacheco pushed to 16-0 with a fifth-round stoppage of Enrique Collazo just before the Pay Per View got underway.
Anthony Herrera kicked off the action in the opener with a five-round technical decision win over Delvin McKinley.
Schedule
Other major upcoming events on DAZN’s global boxing schedule include ‘Born Rivals’ Eubank Jr. vs. Benn on October 8.
Katie Taylor returns to the ring on October 29, and Bivol vs. Ramirez occurs on November 5.
Judge for yourself if any of those can match the success of Canelo vs GGG 3 – if you can call it a success.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil Jay has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews, Instagram, and Twitter @worldboxingnews.
