It’s time for a review of PPV

By Boxing News - 03/24/2011 - Comments

By Tom David Druary: As 2011 is underway with some good (if not great yet) fights being made these fights need to be marketed in the right way in order to maximize there impact to the general public and potential future fight fans at the same time hardcore fight fans must be catered for and respected.

A poor Pay-per-view (PPV) fight can have negative effects on the boxing fraternity in the long term I say this with the David Haye vs. Audley Harrison farce in mind. I find it disturbing that PPV has become based on the public appearance of one star fighter rather than the quality of match he features in. The equation seems to be star fighter Vs anyone = PPV and that in my view is a lack of regard for the paying punter.

Boxing networks that have PPV fights should be looking to give the paying punter value for money every time as the world is in financial recession and people are increasingly choosy about how and where they spend there money.

There needs to be a rethink by the main boxing networks. Fighters have usually huge paydays on the back of a PPV fight, PPV paydays should be treated as a privilege and not a given, for instance, Khan Vs McCloskey is a valid fight, but is it a PPV event? Not in my opinion. With no disrespect meant to McCloskey, a good fighter that has earned his world ranking, very few people outside Belfast are chomping at the bit to see him challenge Khan. To me it should be a regular Sky sports fight. It is time for boxing to invest in its future audience not abuse its present fan base. All in all something needs to be done with PPV to secure a healthy future for Boxing.



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