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Yormark predicts big PPV numbers for Ward-Kovalev

Photo by: Tom Hogan
Fighters Network
08
Nov

No one is disputing the magnitude of the match-up between unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward on Nov. 19. Ward-Kovalev could decide the top pound-for-pound boxer in the sport for some.

But there is a bit of a collective eye-roll among fans that Ward-Kovaelv is on HBO PPV instead of regular HBO. Kovalev isn’t exactly a known commodity among mainstream sports fans and Ward, with his recent inactivity, also is fighting an uphill battle in that department. But those involved in the promotion remain hopeful fans will turn out.

Roc Nation exec Michael Yormark said on Tuesday he would be upset if the PPV isn’t the best of 2016. He also ventured slightly into the land of hyperbole by calling the fight possibly the biggest of the past decade. Hey, Yormark is a boxing promoter so it’s his job to magnify and augment.

“We’re very optimistic about the pay-per-view numbers,” Yormark said on a conference call. “We’ve got two great fighters. This is a 50-50 fight, the biggest fight of the year and arguably on paper the biggest fight of the last decade. So we would be very disappointed if it wasn’t the biggest pay-per-view fight of 2016.” For that to happen, it would have to do north of 600,000 buys, surpassing Canelo Alvarez’s bout with Amir Khan in May.



 

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