Reflections – PPV… is it worth the money?
PPV… I don’t buy them. I have a close friend who constantly points out that someone who writes about boxing should be watching all the big events. I demur and think it’s not necessary if you are not on a steep deadline for copy.
In fact, the only time that I’ve ever paid for a pay-per-view was the circus fight between Floyd Mayweather and Connor McGregor. I did so because I was suckered into it. Was it worth it? Not really.
So, Fabio Wardley versus Joseph Parker. Another fight I didn’t pay for. Available for £25, and even with the 20% discount being offered in the last 24 hours, it was never an amount leaving my bank account to head to DAZN’s.
Mike Ridout of DAZN came on to IFL TV to explain why it was a pay-per-view, but also, more importantly, what happens with the pay-per-view money.
Surprisingly, as I was listening to it, I was amazed to discover that the pay-per-view money went straight to the fighters. It didn’t go to the promoters, to the broadcasters, or to anybody else, but straight into the pockets of the fighters.
That gave me a little bit of comfort, as I thought, well, if I was going to pay anything, I’d want it to go to the men in the middle of the ring. I wouldn’t want it to go to a broadcaster or anybody else, though £25 is still a bit steep.
Now, I am well aware that you’re not just paying for the headline event. I know that the pay-per-views are sold on the headline, but last night in the Wardley-Parker fight, there was an undercard. Remember when the Jake Paul/ Mike Tyson fight was enhanced by Katie Taylor taking on Amanda Serrano? People pointed to how great it was that a fight on the undercard showed what true boxing fans cherished whilst we could shake her heads and avoid watching the headline.
But the Wardley-Parker fight had fights on the undercard that many commentators called, poor.
But every single person who stepped into that ring did so on the back of a training camp and sacrifice and putting their life on the line. They should be admired, not criticised.
It brought to mind some of the things that have been said recently about how the Riyadh season is beginning to suck away British fights that could have been headlines.
But here we had a very decent headliner – which it very much proved to be.
Of the undercard I really enjoyed Hassan Ishaq second professional fight with Jake Pollard which was entertaining and possibly worth entrance fee.
We also got Mitchell Smith dispatching Arnie Dawson to take the WBO European lightweight title fairly comfortably, and Danny Quartermaine came in and lost to Royston Barney-Smith, who took a huge step up, as well as the IBF and WBO European super featherweight titles.
Then Ezra Taylor managed, as we had thought he might, to beat Steed Woodall, who was a late replacement.
Describing these contests as poor was a bit disrespectful, but nothing in comparison to the genuine world title fight which was a co-main event.
Parker and Wardley were fighting for and interim world heavyweight title. What even is an interim world title?
The co-main event was a genuine world title fight.
It was between Juergen Uldedaj and Rolly Lambert Fogum. Fought over 12 rounds for the vacant IBO cruiserweight title. The Albanian, Uldedaj, won in what was a really entertaining fight.
We should have been more interested in that than the heavyweight fight, not because I was disinterested in the heavyweight fight, despite Donald McRae in the Guardian having said that this was the only consequential heavyweight fight going to happen between now and 2026 and that was poor.
It was an interesting scrap between Parker and Wardley. I’ve watched it back because the fight becomes available the following day. Over the week there have been plenty who have had their say – and the building of Wardley has been interesting. The narrative of Rocky or Cinderella with gloves on, is compelling.
On the night, I listened to the fight on the BBC. And if BBC hadn’t been available, I would have listened on Talk Sport. I quite like Talk Sport’s watch along online commentary, on YouTube.
It’s a fascinating way of communicating with your audience.
Often on the TV or streaming, what you get is somebody not describing the action, but giving opinions. I would mark out some of the commentators as being worse than others. One of the commentators I particularly enjoy listening to is Andy Clark. Clark does a lot of work for the IBA and the amateurs and has gone and watched a lot of emerging boxers, both in the UK and in Europe.
On the radio, when you’re listening to the audio, the commentator cannot afford to just give opinions when he is attempting to describe the action because you have no visual.
It might just be old-fashioned, because that’s the way that I started listening to boxing.
It wasn’t watching it.
It was listening to it.
And I’ve just held on to that.
And so, by the time the highlight reel came out the following morning, I had already listened to what had actually happened, round by round, keeping up to date by refreshing my page for both the BBC and for The Guardian and, when it’s Sky, for Sky.
But the annoying thing, and I’m a DAZN subscriber, is that yet another event on DAZN is either at two in the morning, not their fault, it’s America, or it’s a pay-per-view when it’s in the UK.
DAZN didn’t start on that basis, and I know that things and times change.
But I’d love to go back to the point where we were once again getting a subscription with all of the fights in it.
More articles by Donald C Stewart