Saturday’s Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia pay-per-view boxing match is expected to draw the biggest audience so far in a year that could feature a number of mega-events for the category.
In Demand and its digital service PPV.com will distribute the Showtime-produced event, which retails for a suggested $84.95 and pits the undefeated lightweight champion and emerging PPV draw Davis against the highly-touted, undefeated lightweight contender Garcia.
Both Davis and Garcia have loyal fan bases and huge social media followings that will boost the match’s overall PPV appeal, industry observers said. “Both fighters bring their own unique audiences,” In Demand senior VP of programming and marketing Mark Boccardi said. “You have traditional boxing fans who tend to skew older that will be attracted by the matchup, but it also appeals to a massive, younger demographic because of the huge social media followings of the two fighters.”
Davis has been a fixture on PPV, having fought his last five bouts on the platform. His January 7 PPV event against contender Hector Garcia drew a reported 200,000 buys. Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said the Davis-Garcia fight could firmly establish Davis as among the top PPV boxing draws in the category.
“What [Davis] has shown both in terms of his pay-per-view drawing power and in the [live gate] arena is that people respond to his events,” he said. “He does very respectable pay-per-view numbers every time he goes out.”
While Espinoza would not predict how many buys Davis-Garcia would generate, the industry is optimistic that the fight will approach the industry standard of 1 million PPV buy mark, which has not been surpassed since 2021, according to published reports.
“Looking at the enthusiasm that Davis-Garcia has generated, the outpouring of the support, all the anecdotal metrics including social media traffic and initial ticket sales, this could be the biggest pay-per-view that we've seen in quite a while,” Espinoza said.
With three 2023 PPV boxing events already in the can and several other major fights in the works featuring such marquee PPV boxing stars as Canelo Alvarez, Errol Spence, Terence Crawford and Tyson Fury, Boccardi says that the category is primed for a big year.
“PPV is in the DNA of fight sports, so I think the concept of paying to watch the highest level programming in fight sports is going to continue,” he said. “The PPV category is strong and will be for the foreseeable future.”
