Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou sold very poorly, according to reports. Despite being one of the most highly anticipated events on the boxing calendar, one pay-per-view expert anticipates that the event did no more than 11,500 television cable order purchases over the weekend in the United States.
Dave Meltzer, a wrestling writer known for his reliability on PPV numbers, reported the figures via the Wrestling Observer newsletter and shared on X, formerly Twitter.
It is reported that 52,000 additional ESPN streams were registered for the fight, falling vastly below initial expectations.
Ngannou opened up as a 7 to 1 underdog in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night but exceeded all expectations by giving Fury one of the toughest fights of his career. The Gypsy King was floored in the third and wobbled in the eighth as he went all ten rounds with his novice foe.
When the event was announced it was slammed by critics, who gave Ngannou little more than a puncher’s chance in the crossover clash. The Cameroonian-French MMA star had never competed in a sanctioned boxing bout but showed solid boxing fundamentals as he went toe to toe with the WBC heavyweight champion.
Fury was eventually given the nod via a split decision but many felt Ngannou had done enough to get his hand raised. “He’s [Fury] been very lucky there. Let’s put it into perspective, very lucky indeed. I don’t agree with that, I think we all feel Ngannou won it,” said Richie Woodhall on commentary.
In a similar vein, Carl Frampton said: “I thought Ngannou won that fight. At times I could not believe what I was watching. Francis came into his first boxing match and was fighting the heavyweight champion of the world, how was he supposed to win? But in my eyes, he won. He boxed beautifully at times.”
Fury is now expected to face Oleksandr Usyk early next year for all four major sanctioning body belts in the Middle East. The undisputed bout was originally touted for December 23 but promoter Frank Warren has since come out and stated that it is now “unrealistic” to stage the fight in 2023.
Organisers are hoping to put on the event before Riyadh Season ends in March. Multiple reports suggest February is the most likely month.