Comments Thread For: Ward vs. Brand Averages 742k Viewers on HBO

[HeroBando]

Then they should of forced him to fight that crap on BET like they did last year when HBO said no to that tune up fight. Having both Ward and Kovalev face terrible mismatches has only dulled the excitement for their upcoming PPV. Let Ward have a tune up fight on his own time and dime. Instead of hurting the HBO product. People who watched that boring fight might now say screw paying 60 bucks to watch him fight again on PPV. Even if HBO paid 300K that was too much for that trash. It took a fight date and some budget away from better fights HBO could of aired. Both Ward and Kovalev were coming off better performances and better ratings should of went directly into the PPV now they are limping into a PPV after poor performances and terrible ratings for fights that made no god damn sense.

It was the only way they were gonna get Ward to sign on. But yeah I agree, the ppv was never gonna do well but this buildup only turned away potential buyers. Still that's not on HBO,the promoters will take a bath

[CaneloMaidana]

They couldn't, Ward insisted on another tune-up. But supposedly HBO only paid about 300k for the Brand joke, the rest was Roc Nation.

Dominic Wade, you racist hypocrite.

[CaneloMaidana]

Only half as many as GGG vs Wade. Ouch, nobody cares about Ward.

What did Kovalev get? You know it was much less.

[HAY-B]

To get big numbers for their upcoming ppv hbo and the promoters should immediately blanket the airwaves hyping this fight. Look at it this way, a casual fan is just that. They need to be told this is the fight to see. The more people that know about it the more people will talk about it , which should translate into more sales. Selling a fight shouldn't just be on the fighters. The promoters need to do their part and promote! This is an easy fight to sell to the American audience. Russia vs america. Boxer vs puncher. American gold medalist vs. Killer. Hell you could equate it to a storyline from one of the Rocky movies. The numbers will be poor if HBO and the promoters don't create the necessary excitement to attract the casual fans.

[TheCell8]

People blaming the numbers on the Olympics are delusional...

This fight aired at 11:00 PM EST. Well after all the events that day were over. The only thing airing was replays.

He's just not as big of a name as people thought he was, plus he faced a total no name.

[BWC]

I don't know you can predict much about the commercial success or lack thereof of Ward-Kovalev based on the numbers for this fight. This was a total garbage mis-match and everyone knew it. Nothing to see here really..

[TAZ-G]

lol Kovalev vs Nadjib Mohammedi did 1,014,000 views

[bigdunny1]

Anybody remember the Hopkins-Allen, Dela Hoya-Sturm card prior to the Hopkins-Dela Hoya fight?

It's not just these fights were mismatches they drew terrible ratings and neither Ward or Kovalev is Oscar De La Hoya. He was the biggest PPV draw in boxing and they had 1 tuneup fight. Ward and Kovalev each already had a tune up early this year. Having a second tune up was pointless and likely pushed more fans away from the PPV. Hopkins fought on Oscar's undercard. So it was really just 1 card to promote a PPV 3 months later. We have now had 4 separate cards for this 1 PPV that will likely bomb.

[1hourRun]

lol Kovalev vs Nadjib Mohammedi did 1,014,000 views

I believe they had Pascal vs. Gonzalez on the undercard.

Only half as many as GGG vs Wade. Ouch, nobody cares about Ward.

I think Chocolatito fought Arroyo on the undercard...overall without the support of the undercard vs. Brand its a good number.

[bigdunny1]

It was the only way they were gonna get Ward to sign on. But yeah I agree, the ppv was never gonna do well but this buildup only turned away potential buyers. Still that's not on HBO,the promoters will take a bath

True if the PPV bombs it's roc nation and main events that take the loss NOT HBO. But it effected HBO because they wasted budget money and TV time on wack mismatches from Ward and Kovalev. Resources that could of been spent on better fights and hurt HBO's product in the process It's just bad business all around and if Ward was insisting on all these tune ups should of said do it on your own time and we will wait till you get those tune ups out the way and then sign you. Fighting Brand did nothing to prepare him for Kovalev anyway.

Heading into a PPV after the momentum of Kovalev KO of Pascal and Ward beating Barrera (more relevant, exciting fights that both did great ratings for HBO) or limping into a PPV after both had stinker fights that drew god awful ratings and likely turned off potential PPV buyers?