By: Sean Crose
Sometimes an article requires a preamble. This is one of those articles. The truth is, Boxing Insider cannot confirm what the pay-per-view numbers are for the third Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin pay-per-view card. The reality is probably that few people can do it. Since we’re not sure who those people are, or if they’d even provide the direct numbers instead of a PR twist, we remain neutral regarding yesterday’s Twitter attack involving journalist Dan Rafael, promoter Eddie Hearn, promoter Leonard Ellerbe and streaming service DAZN.
All we can say is that Rafael reported pay-per-view buys for Canleo-Golovkin 3 at around 500,000 mid to high. Hearn, who promoted the fight, objected, as apparently did DAZN, which announced a “worldwide” number of more than a million. Somehow, Ellerbe and Hearn began to go back and forth, leaving the rest of the world to reflect. Or not. However, the whole thing was unpleasant enough that Hearn discussed it in detail with iFL TV today.
According to Hearn, Rafael “basically got numbers from rivals and people with agendas and decided to post them. He’s not working with a big outlet right now, so he can really say what he wants. He rolled with it and never asked anyone for a comment. He just rolled with it. And obviously people are not going to tell you the truth, you see the reaction of him on social media”. Hearn added that “probably at the time he (Rafael) reported the numbers, probably the competition numbers weren’t there anyway.”
Hearn went on to indicate that DAZN felt compelled to set the record straight. “That’s why DAZN wanted to come out last night and say that over a million people bought the fight,” Hearn said. “And then he (Rafael) comes out and says yes, but about 50% of them were in the United States. Shit. What about 80% of them in America? For the record, if Rafael is right, the number of Canelo-Golokvin 3 purchases isn’t particularly impressive. Hearn, however, has his own opinion on things. “Look,” he told iFL TV, “the numbers were probably a little lower than DAZN anticipated. In fact, I think they are very solid.”
Ultimately, Hearn seemed more frustrated with Rafael in the video than he was with the number of people who bought the Canelo-Golokvin 3. “Being a reporter and not asking the other side for comment,” he said, “and just to roll with numbers. I feel like that was irresponsible.”
