Cotto vs. Kirkland on HBO PPV prices

By Boxing News - 01/05/2017 - Comments

Image: Cotto vs. Kirkland on HBO PPV prices

By Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto’s fight against James Kirkland (32-2, 28 KOs) next month on February 25 on HBO pay-per-view will be going for $49.95 on regular PPV to $59.95 for HD, according to RingTV for boxing fans interested in purchasing the fight. That’s a lot of money for a fight that shapes up to be a mismatch.

I think a lot of people would prefer to see the fight for free if at all. For me, when I heard that Cotto was fighting Kirkland, I assumed that it was a fight on free television, because it’s such a mismatch on paper. When I heard that it’s being televised on HBO PPV, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe the boldness of that move.

I don’t think that’s right word. I see it as a foolhardy move, and one doomed for failure. I think the boxing public sees as a fight that’s not PPV worthy. The fans are the deciders. Of course, we don’t know what the break even number is for this PPV event. Perhaps it’s a low number. I’d be surprised if the Cotto-Kirkland fight does even 25,000 buys. I think it’s perceived as such a mismatch that won’t draw at all without beefing up the undercard in a major way. It might help if they did a long press tour to try and sell the fight. That’s not going to happen though.

The co-feature fight is WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux defending his title against Moises Flores. Rigondeaux is not a PPV type of fighter. Cotto’s promoters at Roc Nation Sports will probably need to add more than Rigondeaux vs. Flores if they want to attract viewers into purchasing the fight in high numbers. Rigondeaux-Flores is a good fight, but fans usually don’t purchase PPV cards in high numbers to see fighters from the 122lb division go at it.

Cotto is said to have a large guaranteed purse from Roc Nation for his fight against Kirkland.
This is seen as a controversial move by Cotto and his promoters at Roc Nation Sports to have his fight against the 32-year-old Kirkland be shown on HBO PPV. It’s basically seen as a tune-up fight for the 36-year-old Cotto, and not viewed as a competitive one. It’s not that Kirkland didn’t used to be a quality fighter in the past. It’s just that it’s been eight years since Kirkland was seen as a relevant fighter by boxing fans. Kirkland never got his once promising career back on track after two-year layoff from 2009 to 2011.

Roc Nation Sports executive Michael Yormark said this to RingTV.com about his belief that the Cotto-Kirkland fight IS PPV worthy:

“He’s a pay-per-view fighter,” said Yormack. “Some of the media came out and made some initial stories (saying) this doesn’t belong on pay-per-view. I don’t believe that. Miguel belongs on pay-per-view. He’s a pay-per-view fighter.”

Cotto is a PPV fighter, but his fight against Kirkland is not viewed as a pay-per-view worthy fight in the minds of fans. One of the reasons for that is the fact that Kirkland was knocked out in the 3rd round in his last fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez in 2015. Another reason is Kirkland hasn’t fought since that loss, which is now almost two years ago. A third reason is that Kirkland has fought only two times in four years. When you fight only 2 times in 4 years, it is a red flag in the eyes of fans that you’re probably not going to do well.

Kirkland is not someone that is seen enough by the boxing fans for them to want to purchase a fight between him and Cotto in high numbers. Will it be action-packed fight? Of course it will. Kirkland only fights one way, but he’s very rusty, and he has a history of getting knocked out. Besides Canelo knocking Kirkland out, Nobuhiro Ishida knocked him out in the 1st round in 2011. That’s two early knockout losses for Kirkland.

Only Cotto and Roc Nation knows why Kirkland was selected for this fight. Out of all the possible opponents you could choose for Cotto’s opponent, Kirkland is the oddest. It doesn’t make any sense at all for a fight against him to be shown on HBO PPV. I think it’s potentially a real dud on PPV. You have to hope that this fight doesn’t hurt future PPV sales in the boxing industry, because it would be bad if fans became turned off from paying to see boxing because they feel that they were given a bad product with the Cotto-Kirkland fight. There are fights that are perfect for PPV like Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez, and then there are fights that don’t belong. I think a lot of fans believe that the Cotto-Kirkland fight shouldn’t be on HBO PPV.

“It’s going to be great entertainment,” said Yormack. “So yeah, it belongs on pay-per-view, and for anyone who doesn’t think it does belong, listen — I don’t want to hear that.”
Cotto-Kirkland will be a good fight if Kirkland doesn’t fold up in three rounds like he did against Canelo, but I think the fans have a long memory and haven’t forgotten how badly Kirkland looked against Canelo. The fans that don’t remember that fight are probably ones that either doesn’t know who Kirkland is or they remember him as a guy that disappeared in 2009. Back then, Kirkland’s fights were frequently televised. But by 2011, he wasn’t seen a lot by the fans.

With Cotto getting a rematch against Canelo in December of this year, it’s understandable why he wouldn’t want to take any chances of fighting someone good before that fight, because if he gets beaten, he could lose the chance for the rematch. Honestly, Golden Boy would likely still match Canelo against Cotto even if he were to lose to Kirkland. I think it would result in far fewer buys. The only way that I can understand Cotto fighting someone as flawed as Kirkland is to avoid any chances of getting beaten before his final cash out fight against Canelo.