By Robert Addams: DAZN hs revealed that the rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua wound up as their #1 most-streamed event in 2019. Superstar Canelo Alvarez wound in the #4 and #10 spots with his two fights in 2019 against Sergey Kovalev and Daniel Jacobs.
Canelo failed to take the top spot on DAZN for 2019
With Canelo’s huge $365 million contract with DAZN for 11 fights, it’s somewhat disappointing that neither of his 2 fights in 2019 made it to the top 3 on the list. But in Canelo’s defense, he didn’t have much to work with. Jacobs and Kovalev aren’t huge stars in the U.S. Although they have their respective fan bases, both fighters are on the downside of their careers, and not big names.
For Canelo to grab the top spot on DAZN’s list for 2020, he’ll need to upgrade his opposition by facing someone that boxing fans want to see him fight. That would be Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, or Jermell Charlo.
From the looks of it, Canelo WON’T be fighting any of those fighters in 2020. He’s expected to fight British super middleweights Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith in 2020. Those fights will bring in good ratings in the UK, but probably not in the U.S.
Joshua vs. Ruiz 1 didn’t make DAZN’s top 10 list
The first fight between Joshua and Ruiz Jr. from last June didn’t make DAZN’s top 10 list. One reason for that is that few casual boxing fans had heard of Ruiz Jr. (33-2, 22 KOs) when he was picked out by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn to replace Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller as Joshua’s opponent on June 1.
It was only after the chubby 268-lb Ruiz Jr. stopped Joshua in the 7th round that boxing fans got excited about seeing the two fight.
Surprisingly, the Youtube celebrity rematch between NON-boxers KSI and Logan Paul came in at #5 on DAZN’s most-streamed events in 2019. As far as the other top 10 most streamed events for DAZN last year, it soccer stuff.
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#RuizJoshua2 was the most streamed event on DAZN in 2019! 💻
Here’s to an even bigger 2020… 🤝 pic.twitter.com/fOZqLK41lQ— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) January 7, 2020
YouTube celebrities fights could take over DAZN ratings
Pleased with the ratings of the KSI vs. Paul 2 fight, Matchroom has already scheduled another fight between Youtube celebrities. Later this month on January 30th, Youtubers AnEsonGib and Jake Paul will be fighting on a Matchroom card on DAZN. The two will be making their professional boxing debut in the co-feature bout on the Demetrius Andrade vs. Luke Keeler card LIVE on DAZN at the Meridian at Island Gardens in Miami, Florida.
It won’t be surprising in the near future for the Youtube celebrity matches routinely bring in better ratings on DAZN for boxing matches than the professional boxers do.
There are some boxing fans who are unhappy that Gib and Paul are the chief support for the Andrade vs. Keeler fight, given that neither fighter has fought before. But this is more ratings, and taking advantage of the HUGE amount of followers that Jake Paul and AnEsonGib both have on Youtube.
Paul has 19.7 million subscribers with 6.3 billion views, according to Wikipedia. AnEsonGib’s Youtube channel has over 2 million subscribers. Andrade and Keeler can’t compete with that.
U.S fans are going to need to get used to seeing YouTubers on fight cards on DAZN moving forward, because this is something that’s not going to go away. While the hardcore boxing fans might not care to see Youtube celebrities go at it, the casual fans love this stuff. There’s massive potential for growth with the Youtube matches, as they celebrities have such huge fan bases. It matters little that these guys are professional boxers. What counts is there huge fan bases that bring with them.
