By Chris Williams: Eddie Hearn insists that Gervonta Davis isn’t the new ‘Face of Boxing’ following his hugely successful fight against Ryan Garcia, which brought in over 1.2 million PPV buys in the U.S.
Hearn stubbornly insists that Canelo Alvarez is still the ‘Face of Boxing’ due to him raking in loads of cash for his fights on DAZN pay-per-view and being #5 on Forbes’s highest-paid athlete’s list.
You can’t blame Hearn for not wanting to acknowledge that Gervonta, the new kid on the block, has taken over as the Face of Boxing because Canelo is the British promoter’s guy.
The cold reality is Canelo hasn’t hit the 1 million PPV mark since his second fight with Gennadiy Golovkin in 2018, and the reason why is obvious.
Canelo is NOT providing the fights that the fans want to see by fighting the guys they want to see him battle, like David Benavidez.
For whatever reason, Canelo stopped facing the opposition that fans wanted to see him fight after his rematch with Golovkin five years ago in 2018.
Consequently, Canelo’s PPV numbers have steadily declined because he’s no longer fighting guys the people want him to fight. This weekend’s fight for Canelo is a perfect example of that.
Instead of him fighting Benavidez, he’s facing British guy John Ryder, who NO one in the U.S. has been demanding him to fight. This is just more cherry-picking from Canelo like he’s been steadily doing for the last five years.
Gervonta Davis’ PPV buys:
- Ryan Garcia – 1.2 million
- Hector Garcia – 200K
- Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero – 275K
- Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz – 100K
- Mario Barrios – 200K
- Leo Santa Cruz – 100K
“What did Tank Davis do in his previous pay-per-views? 60,000, 70,000, 100,000, 150,000. He fights in one of the biggest fights in boxing against one of the biggest names in boxing in Ryan Garcia, and collectively, they did really well,” said Eddie Hearn to Secondsout.
“The bottom line is dollars in the bank. That’s when you’re talking about the ‘Face of Boxing, that’s when you’re talking about the biggest star in boxing, and that’s Canelo Alvarez time and time again.
“All these other guys coming through, Tank. We need them to come through. They’re tremendous fighters but trust me. This guy [Canelo] is on another level. Tank is a massive star, but this guy has consistently over the years is unbelievable.
“Please stop talking about the next this and the next that. Canelo has done it consistently. He’s making three or four times [more] than anyone on that pound-for-pound list, maybe away from Anthony Joshua, who isn’t even on the pound-for-pound list at the moment. This guy [Canelo] is the face of boxing,” said Hearn.
