By Dan Ambrose: Eddie Hearn predicts that Saturday’s trilogy between undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin will generate more than 1 million pay-per-view purchases on DAZN.
That’s a very ambitious number from Hearn, considering that Canelo’s last fight against Dmitry Bivol brought in just 500,000 buys.
One factor that could limit the amount of PPV buys that Canelo vs. Golovkin III is the cost of pay-per-view on DAZN. It will cost $85 for non-subscribers to order the fight and $65 for subscribers. That’s not cheap.
Hearn says what happens during today’s final press conference and Friday’s weigh-in will be “key moments” leading up to Saturday’s fight between Canelo and Golovkin III.
If so, it would be in Hearn’s best interest to remind Golovkin to lose his interpreter because he loses his charisma and arguably appears bored and unfriendly when his words are delivered through a second person.
Golovkin lives in Los Angeles and speaks English quite well. In a way, he is easier to understand than his interpreter, who has a thick accent. Even with Golovkin’s broken English, he is much more entertaining to listen to than when he uses an interpreter.
Another factor that could keep the PPV numbers well below Hearn’s estimate of 1 million buys is that Canelo is coming off a loss to Dmitry Bivol last May. Bivol took Canelo to school, exposing him as a one-dimensional fighter with appallingly poor stamina.
“Yes, no subscription,” Eddie Hearn told iFL TV about the pay-per-view price for American fans of Canelo vs. Golovkin III: $85 without subscription and $65 for the trilogy on Saturday.
“I’m not sure it would be cheaper. It was actually $89.99 or $99.99,” Hearn said of the Canelo-Golovkin II pay-per-view price in 2018. “I’m not sure about that. [the fight being cheaper four years ago].
“It was five years ago, six years ago. This one is going to do big numbers. Don’t forget that Canelo vs. Bivol made over 500,000 pay-per-view purchases on DAZN. This will make upwards towards a million purchases. [for Canelo vs. GGG].
“I think the first one did 1.1 or 1.2, and the second one did 1.1. I think it starts between 800,000 and a million. We’ll see what happens at the press conference and the weigh-in because those are the key moments that lead up to the pay-per-view,” Hearn said.
