His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has revealed that he plans to lower PPV costs for his Riyadh Season events to a manageable number, which will help increase interest in boxing.
In the UK, Turki wants to lower the PPV costs to £20 and $20 worldwide. This move by Turki will begin with next month’s clash between light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on October 12th. The event will sell for £15 in the UK. In the U.S., that fight is already being shown to subscribers for free on ESPN+.
What’s unclear is if the PPV costs will be lowered for the Shakur Stevenson vs. Joe Cordina undercard fights, which have been cropped from the Beterbiev-Bivol main event for the October 12th card in Riyadh and will be sold on DAZN pay-per-view.
It will look bad if Shakur’s tune-up fight against bottom fringe contender Cordina is sold for $70+ on PPV. Promoter Eddie Hearn did a number on Shakur by choosing Cordina for PPV rather than feeding the runner to the wolves by matching him against Abdullah Mason, Raymond Muratalla, or William Zepeda.
U.S. fans have been upset about the undercard being cropped from the main event and placed on PPV. While British fans love the undercard fights, Americans see low-level fights from top to bottom, including the trainwreck clash between the boring, defensive-minded Shakur Stevenson and Joe Cordina, a fighter coming off a knockout last May.
Hardcore boxing fans see this fight as a sly trick to artificially raise Shakur’s rock-bottom popularity to increase interest in seeing him fight Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in 2025. Shakur’s stock has plummeted in his last two fights, and U.S. fans don’t want to watch his dull Mayweather-esque retro-level fights.
Expanding the Fanbase
“People [watch] illegally because the price is high. This is in the future and will not build boxing. If I give good fights with a good price, I will increase the fanbase,” said His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to the talksport Boxing YouTube channel.
This will be great for fans who watch the Riyadh Season events. However, it likely won’t change the cost structure for other boxing events put on by the major promoters in the U.S., who will likely continue to sell their cards for $70 to $90. It’s impossible to grow the sport with the high PPV costs and virtually all the interesting fights being stuck behind a paywall.
Shakur-Cordina undercard for DAZN PPV
– Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta
– Fabio Wardley vs. Frazer Clarke
– Jai Opetaia vs. Jack Massey
– Ben Whittaker vs. Liam Cameron
– Skye Nicholson vs. Raven Chapman
– Mohammad Alamel vs. Jesus Gonzalez
Those are domestic-level fights, and U.S boxing fans don’t want to see any of those low-level matches, nor the awful main event between Shakur and Cordina.
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