Is Cotto-Canelo still worth $59.99 asking price on HBO PPV?

By Boxing News - 11/17/2015 - Comments

1-cotto-canelo-nyc (4)By Chris Williams: Now that Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) no longer has the WBC middleweight title in his possession due to the World Boxing Council stripping him of the title earlier today, you have to ask yourself whether his fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) is worth the $59.99 asking price for it on HBO pay-per-view on Saturday night. I’m just saying.

For a lot of people, $59.99 is a lot of money. If Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya were willing to make it a complimentary fight for the boxing fans to see it for free on regular HBO, I think they’d be internally grateful. I can’t see De La Hoya making this move, of course. But beyond that, I think a drop in the asking price for the fight is in order now that Cotto no longer has the WBC middleweight title in his possession.

If you’re going to buy a new car and you find out that it doesn’t have a feature that was originally advertised, then you’re going to expect a drop in price with the dealer, aren’t you? It’s the same thing with the Cotto vs. Canelo fight.

If Cotto’s WBC title is no longer in his possession for the fight, then it’s not a true title fight to me. Yes, Canelo has the chance to win the vacant WBC title if he beats Cotto, but it’s only a one-way situation. Cotto can’t win the WBC title back because he’s been stripped. So because of that, I think a drop in price in PPV would be good for the fans.

Instead of the Cotto vs. Canelo fight going for the original $59.99, I think it should be in the $29.99 range due to Cotto’s WBC title not being with him. You have to remember that the card already took a big hit with the loss of super middleweight Andre Ward, who had to pull out of the card due to an injury.

Roc Nation Sports added former WBA/WBC super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Drian Francisco to the card last week in a non-title fight, but that’s not a big fight. It’s a great athlete in Rigondeaux facing a journeyman level fighter in Francisco. It won’t likely be competitive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_gduRtMGY4

For me, I see the Cotto-Canelo fight as no longer being worth the $59.99 asking price with the changes that have occurred in the past couple of weeks. Cotto’s WBC title not being in his possession any longer was the last straw for me. I think I’m going to wait a week to watch the fight on regular HBO and save my money unless it’s offered to me as part of a complimentary deal. That’s a lot of cash that I could use to buy food this month.

I’d rather wait to see it for free unless De La Hoya can add another interesting fight by Saturday. I wouldn’t mind seeing David Lemieux added to the card in a fight against someone like Dominic Wade or Antoine Douglas. That would make it worthwhile for me to way to pay the whole $59.99 asking price on HBO PPV. But with Cotto no longer having the WBC title, and with Ward not being on the card, things have changed too much with the card for me to want to pay the whole price. If they want to slash the price to half at $29.99, I’m good with that. I’ll sign up for that in a second.

YouTube video



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