Despite the massive promotion and advertising campaign for Golovkin’s first foray in the pay-per-view (PPV) market, less than a quarter of what is considered a satisfactory PPV buys for a highly-promoted event bought or watched the fight on PPV.
Unofficial reports indicate the Golovkin-Lemieux fight did a little over 150,000 units, which is low compared to the initial numbers that Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather made during their first PPV fights which reached over 300,000 buys.
Boxing observers were surprised at the low PPV numbers knowing Golovkin’s sudden rise to stardom as a result of the massive promotions launch by HBO to prepare Golovkin for bigger PPV events.
But an HBO official and Golovkin’s promoter say the PPV take is satisfactory considering that it was Golovkin’s first fight on PPV.
While Golovkin has the potential of becoming a PPV attraction because of his entertaining style — as opposed to Mayweather’s boring style — it would take him a few more major title fights before he can reach the level of Mayweather and Pacquiao in terms of their ability to sell their fights on PPV.
Golovkin could still make a breakthrough in the PPV market if Miguel Cotto wins over Canelo Alvarez in their upcoming fight — and if their promoters agree to the terms of the fight.
A Cotto-Golovkin match could be more salable than the Alvarez-Golovkin fight because Cotto has been a longtime PPV attraction.
Still, it cannot be denied that boxing will continue to flourish with Mayweather and Pacquiao providing the needed revenues for boxing stakeholders at least for another year while Golovkin and some potential PPV stars are getting ready to take over their place in the sport.
