On Saturday May 18th, the long-awaited heavyweight fight took place between two boxers who were still unbeaten to this day.
A large number of boxing stars and other celebrities made the trip. Notable among them were Ryan Garcia, who recently won his fight against Devin Haney, and Anthony Joshua, who is on a 3-fight winning streak, and who is now back on track after his poor performance against Olkesandr Usyk.
And the latter was there to see the performance of his rival, whom he failed to knock down after his first sudden defeat, unlike the Mexican boxer, against whom he managed to put things right in a rematch.
The big shock :
Many personalities and individuals were able to make the trip to watch the big clash, while others found it a little trickier to get to the venue, so they opted for live streaming in pay-per-view format.
But it would appear that the organizers are not happy with this format, which cost them an enormous amount of money.
As much as $100 million:
In fact, as is the case whenever a fight is scheduled for pay-per-view, pirates get their kicks by sharing free streaming links. And illegal links inevitably mean a lack of money.
According to a Yield Sec study shared by the Daily Mail, a total of 20 million fans watched the fight illegally. In detail, 45% in Europe and 25% in North America. The study goes a step further and puts a figure on the financial loss to the event, which is substantial. The estimate speaks of some $100 million less revenue.
This loss of earnings has a negative impact on revenues linked to the broadcasting of boxing, and to the pay-per-view technique whose boxers benefit from substantial revenues in connection with the latter.
Many people involved in the combat sports industry have already sounded the alarm about this illegal practice, which is detrimental to combat sports. In fact, Dana White had declared that he was waging a war on web piracy, and on any links to broadcast fights for free.
Unfortunately, history seems to repeat itself with every fight, and no solution seems to have been found on the horizon. Let’s hope that in the near future a secure solution can be found to this recurring problem.
