EDITOR’S LETTER
As the latest episode of The Joshua Show draws near, the issue of pay-per-view is again prevalent
The pay-per-view conundrum
IT’S been a long time since Eddie Hearn staged David Haye versus Audley Harrison, but his latest pay-per-view offering is certainly bringing back memories of his first. While Carlos Takam is a far sturdier challenger than Harrison, and Anthony Joshua is the true leader of the heavyweight division in a way that Haye was not, there’s a chance a similar shambles could occur in Cardiff on Saturday night.
Hearn and Sky Sports have produced some value-for-money PPV offerings since the Haye-harrison debacle, but they themselves will admit that some excellent undercards got them out of jail when the main event was criminally ill-equipped to justify the paid-for platform. Back when Frankie Gavin challenged Kell Brook atop a Sky Box Office bill in May 2015, Jorge Linares and Kevin Mitchell were just one pair of many who produced exceptional scraps among the supporting cast.
Last December, the predictably woeful efforts of Joshua challenger Eric Molina were largely forgiven due to two things: Wladimir Klitschko waiting at ringside to be unveiled as Joshua’s next rival, and bombastic duo Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora highlighting an action-packed undercard.
On Saturday, though, as late pullouts affect the whole spectacle, there is a serious lack of competitive-looking fights to support Joshua’s defence against substitute Takam. What it should highlight, in an ideal world at least, is why the headlining fight should always be can’t-miss stuff if you’re going to attach a price tag to it.
But what we don’t live in – as if anyone needs reminding – is an ideal world. For the Joshua-takam event to be downgraded at this late stage just isn’t feasible due to the business model Sky have had in place with “AJ” since he took on Whyte in a domestic grudge match two years ago. Furthermore, Saturday night is the just the latest in a long line of recent pay-per-views staged by broadcasters and promoters influenced by that lucrative model. If you’re going to argue that Joshua-takam is not worthy of the platform then surely Joseph Parker-hughie Fury, Chris Eubank Jnr-avni Yildirim and George Groves-jamie Cox were not even close.
What it has all become is rather short-sighted: A quick-fix type of attitude to a sport that will always need tender loving care, and policies that take advantage of hardcore fans’ desire to watch the sport they love. ITV’S decision to build Eubank Jnr as a pay-per-view star was astonishingly premature. Yes, it can be argued that the impending showdown with Groves is the envy of all networks and shows they knew what they were doing all along, but how many outside of the hardcore has seen him fight since they had to pay extra to do so? It all suggests it’s been a massive gamble, rather than the components of a long-term plan.
And Hearn, too, has been accused of short-term greed. In his position, though, it’s doubtful any promoter or businessperson would have done differently, but we are right to question the consequences of promising Joshua PPV purses before he had proved himself at world level. It set a precedent that will be difficult to break, and it’s easy to see why Hearn’s biggest critics have accused him of pandering only to himself and his fighters, rather than the fans who line their pockets. However, flip that logic and how many of the hundreds of thousands who will likely buy Saturday night’s show will shout and scream that they feel shortchanged? A minority, in all likelihood.
Joshua is a brand that even my mum would pay for, so is therefore something quite different to standard boxing fare. A big proportion of viewers will buy not because they expect to see a great fight, but because the sight of supersonicstar Joshua in action is, at this stage, all they desire. It’s clear, though, that the longsuffering hardcore fan is feeling a little short-changed at the moment, and rightly so given the recent spate of PPVS. But Hearn adding extra cost to an event that sold 75,000 tickets in a matter of hours is a business no-brainer. And Takam replacing the marginally more accomplished Kubrat Pulev at short notice [see pages 12-15] at least shows that Team Joshua are as committed to the heavyweight title as they are the riches they’re earning.
While Hearn and Sky may have created the trend for PPVS by making them profitable, we the punters have facilitated its growth by continuing to buy. If we don’t believe they’re value for money, then the only choice we’ve got is to stop paying. And after what happened between Haye and Harrison, nobody can claim we were not warned.