Davis-Garcia a home run for Showtime PPV and at the live gate
Mega fight produces 1.2M buys, 5th-biggest gate in Nevada history
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Gervonta “Tank” Davis’ seventh-round knockout of Ryan Garcia in their mega fight on Saturday night was a rousing success at the box office and gate.
The Showtime PPV fight, a nontitle bout at a catch weight of 136 pounds between two of boxing’s most popular unbeaten stars, generated approximately 1.2 million pay-per-view buys in the United States, multiple sources with knowledge of the figures told Fight Freaks Unite on Wednesday. That figure includes all pay-per-view platforms, including linear television, Showtime’s app, DAZN and others.
It is a massive number in today’s pay-per-view era and the biggest boxing PPV since the middleweight championship rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin generated 1.1 million buys in September 2018 in the final HBO PPV event.
Retired icons Mike Tyson and Roy Jones did about 1.6 million buys for their November 2020 meeting at the height of the coronavirus pandemic but that was an exhibition match, not an official fight.
With an $84.99 suggested retail price, Davis-Garcia generated more than $100 million in pay-per-view revenue in the United States.
“Although I can't formally confirm the final numbers at this point, it is clear that Gervonta versus Ryan delivered a memorable knockout in the ring and at the box office and reinforces Showtime as the No. 1 network in boxing,” Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said in a statement given to Fight Freaks Unite. “We knew this event was going to be special and that it had the potential to connect with an audience beyond the hardcore boxing fan. Tank and Ryan proved that when you match the best against the best, the sports world will turn out in support. Congrats to both men and to our partners at Premier Boxing Champions and everyone involved who made this event such a success.”
Davis-Garcia also joined elite company with one of the biggest gates in boxing history. The fight, which had an announced crowd of 20,842, sold approximately $22.8 million in tickets, which ranged in face value from $200 to $5,000, to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The total allowed the fight to crack the top five biggest gates in the history of Nevada, which is home to Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world.
Davis-Garcia sold 18,252 tickets and there another 2,000-plus people viewing from suites at the arena. There were 73 unsold tickets.
The only other Nevada gates to exceed Davis-Garcia are Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao (2015), which set the all-time record for any fight ever at $72,198,500; Mayweather-Conor McGregor ($55,414,865.79 in 2017); Alvarez-Golovkin I ($27,059,850 in 2017) and Alvarez-Golovkin II ($24,473,500 in 2018).
Davis (29-0, 27 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Baltimore, who was headlining his sixth consecutive Showtime PPV card, dropped Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs), 24, of Los Angeles, who was in his first pay-per-view main event, with a clean counter left hand to the chin in the second round. In the seventh round, Davis knocked him out with a left to the ribcage at 1 minute, 44 seconds. Davis led on all three scorecards at the time of the knockout, 59-56, 59-55 and 58-56.
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Only downside here is that it reinforces for promoters, networks, etc. that they can get away with putting on shitty undercards and still make money as long as the main event is compelling.
And good on Ryan Garcia he made this fight happen would not take no for an answer