Top Rank reports that the undisputed light heavyweight championship fight between champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will be shown live on ESPN+ on October 12th from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This fight is non-PPV, which is an excellent deal for the fans because it’s the best matchup on the card.
The weird part is the undercard will be on PPV, priced at $14.99 on a different network. WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson vs. Joe Cordina will headline the pay-per-view portion of the undercard, which is strange because these aren’t fighters that fans would want to pay to see.
Even at the bargain basement price for Shakur-Cordina, along with the undercard rabble, fans will not purchase this card in high numbers.
Shakur-Cordina $14.99 PPV card
– Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta
– Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke
– Jai Opetaia Jack Massey
– Ben Whittaker vs. Liam Cameron
– Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman
– Mohammed Alamel vs. Jose Gonzalez
The British boxing public is fine with this undercard, viewing it as an excellent one, but Americans see it as not appealing to their tastes, especially for PPV purposes. If we tossed all those lackluster fights away and just put one great match on PPV, it would go over better with the U.S. crowd.
Stevenson’s PPV Presence Questioned
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) doesn’t belong on PPV, even on an undercard. He’s turned in consecutive horrible performances against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos, and his popularity is at an all-time low.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn signed Shakur, believing he could turn him into a global star. The move showed how out of touch Hearn is with the U.S public. Hearn is like a rube, repeatedly picking fools’ gold, thinking it’s the real 24k stuff. Shakur is just one of many examples of Hearn showing his unsophistication.
If Shakur could become a star, Top Rank would have never let him leave in a million years. The only fighters they let leave are the ones missing the key spark of talent, and Shakur ain’t got it.
“The epic matchup has been a long time coming, and I can’t wait until these two legends of the ring meet,” said promoter Bob Arum. “I am thrilled that American fans can view the fight on ESPN+, a tremendous platform that consistently shows the biggest and best bouts.”
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