Wilder vs Fury PPV buys encouraging from early numbers

According to a report by Mike Coppinger at The RING, early pay-per-view buy estimates for the Dec. 1 fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury are looking good, with the fight tracking to surpass its break even goal.

Coppinger writes that the fight is “expected to surpass 300,000 buys,” with a break-even point of 250K. These numbers don’t include United Kingdom buys, or digital purchases of the pay-per-view.

No, these aren’t Mayweather, Pacquiao, or Canelo type numbers, but for two men who had never fought on U.S. pay-per-view before, it’s pretty strong, and also means the fighters stand to make extra from pay-per-view revenue, on top of their guaranteed purses.

It’s encouraging news for Showtime, who produced the PPV, and Premier Boxing Champions, plus for Wilder and Fury. If they do a rematch, there’s a good chance they can beat these numbers, as most people seemed to feel they got their money’s worth from the fight, even if they were upset by the outcome.

For Showtime and PBC, it’s probably helping them believe that, if the matchmaking is right, pay-per-view might not quite be on death’s door just yet in the boxing world. PBC and Showtime return to pay-per-view on Jan. 19, with Manny Pacquiao facing Adrien Broner in the main event from Las Vegas, and PBC has a FOX-produced pay-per-view set for March 16, when Errol Spence Jr takes on Mikey Garcia.