By Jose Olmos: Golden Boy Promotions sent out a press release today saying that the reports that are circulating about the final pay-per-view totals for the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin fight are premature for their September 16 fight on HBO pay-per-view.
The LA Times jumped the gun on Thursday by reporting that a source had told them that the Canelo-Golovkin fight had produced a total of 1.3 million buys on HBO PPV. However, Golden Boy says that number is not correct, as the totals for the Canelo vs. GGG fight are still being tabulated. Golden Boy expects the final PPV results to well above the 1.3 million figures that are currently being bounced around as the final projections for the Canelo vs. Golovkin mega-fight on HBO.
It’s not surprising that different sites are trying to jump ahead of the game in saying that they alone know the totals. It’s done all the time unfortunately. For the REAL PPV numbers for the Canelo vs. Gennady fight, it’s going to need to wait until HBO and/or Golden Boy releases them.
The Gennady GGG Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez fight is expected to bring in well over 1 million buys. Just how far over 1M buys the fight brings in is still hard to predict. Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya had predicted the fight would do over 2 million buys, which sounds like a number that is attainable given the amount of interest in the boxing world.
Here’s Golden Boy’s press release in part:
”While everyone at Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions appreciate the media’s recognition that the fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin was an enormous success, the figure that is being cited by some news outlets is simply inaccurate.”
1.3 million buys sounds like a small number for a fight as big as the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. Besides the PPV buys from HBO that need to be tabulated, there’s additional buys from these areas:
• Online sales
• Sony Play Station
• Sling TV
• RingTV
It takes time to tally up all the different revenue streams for the Canelo vs. GGG fight. The final numbers should be released shortly. It further increases the incentive for both fighters to put together a rematch between them for the good of boxing. Canelo and Golovkin don’t have anyone else for them to fight in the 160 lb. division that can bring in the kind of money that they can bring in facing each other.
”Not only are satellite operators and cable companies still in the process of compiling data, that number does not include online PPV sales through RingTV.com, Sony Play Station, and Sling TV which far exceeded any previous fight featuring Canelo or Golovkin,” said Golden Boy. ”The bottom line is that we expect the final numbers to be well north of current reports, and we will make a decision on reporting those numbers when we know they are accurate.”
What’s impossible to know is how many pay-per-view buys were lost from the combination of pirating of the Canelo-Golovkin fight on the Internet, as well as from Floyd Mayweather Jr. scheduling his mega-event fight against Conor McGregor 3 weeks in front of the fight on August 26. Whatever numbers the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight brings in, it’s quite possible that it would have brought in a staggering amount of additional buys if the pirating and the Mayweather-McGregor fight didn’t impact sales of the fight. Those things were out of the control of Golden Boy and GGG Promotions. PPV is a format that one day could become obsolete for boxing. Having the fights on regular television with sponsors supplying the big bucks, it would make PPV unnecessary. Boxing needs to become more of a mainstream sport before that’ll happen. The sports need better match-making by the promoters, and they need to do a better job of marketing their talented fighters.
It was an incredible fight between Canelo and Triple G. Both guys had their moments. Canelo, 27, started out strong in landing nice power shots to the head of Golovkin in rounds 1-3. Golovkin got back into the fight in round 4, and outworked Canelo with his nifty power jab in rounds 3-9. Canelo then came on strong in rounds 10-12 to pull out a 12 round draw. Golovkin fought like he was trying to protect a lead rather than win the fight in the last 3 rounds, and that’s the ultimate reason why he failed to get the victory. Had Golovkin fought with a sense of urgency in the championship rounds, he no doubt would have won the match. The judges scored it 118-110 for Canelo Alvarez, 115-113 for Triple G, and 114-114. Golovkin had the chance to win the fight if he had put in a little more effort in rounds 10, 11 and 12. Golovkin looked tired, and he didn’t seem to want it as much as Canelo did when the fight counted. Golovkin and his boxing fans aren’t happy with the results of the fight, but he only has himself to blame. Canelo pulled out the draw by fighting harder than Golovkin in those last 3 rounds.
Golovkin is a good fighter, but he’s had problems with his energy late in his last 2 fights now. Golovkin faded in the last 4 rounds of his March 18 fight with Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs on HBO PPV. Golovkin won a close 12 round unanimous decision, but it wasn’t a conclusive win. In the Jacobs fight, Golovkin started out slow in the first 3 rounds, but then he came on from round 4 to do well until the 9th. Jacobs took over the fight at that point. If not for the knockdown, Jacobs might have earned a draw out of the fight. Golovkin did the same thing against Canelo. Golovkin fought well in rounds 4-9, and then got tired in the last 3 rounds. Golovkin will need to fix his stamina if he wants to beat Canelo in the rematch.
Canelo says he wants the tiebreaker fight against Golovkin to take place in early 2018. Canelo and Golovkin’s management teams are meeting in the next 5 days to hammer out a deal for the rematch. Golden Boy wants the rematch as does Canelo. They don’t need to be dragged back to the bargaining table for the Canelo-Golovkin fight. This is a fight that they definitely want.
With the high PPV totals for the Canelo-Gennady, it’s understandable why it’s imperative for Golden Boy and GGG Promotions to put the rematch together. Canelo and Golovkin are 2 of the biggest names in boxing today. They’re easily the 2 biggest starts in the middleweight division right now. Now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has departed from the sport following his win over Conor McGregor, it leaves Golovkin and Canelo as 2 popular fighters that are stepping in to replace him. Canelo and Golovkin are doing a better job of providing excitement for the boxing fans in a way that Mayweather never could. Mayweather made it interesting for the fans in hyping his fights, but he was never a thrilling fighter to watch inside the ring compared to Canelo and Triple G. Those guys make boxing fun to watch. Canelo and Golovkin is such a great fight that it’s worth it if they face each other at least 3 times if not 4. As long as the fights are competitive, there’s no reason for them not to continue fighting each other for another 2 or more years.