NEW YORK ? For those wondering why the Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux fight is on pay-per-view, Golovkin?s promoter explained that it wouldn?t have happened at this time otherwise.
HBO Sports didn?t have enough money remaining in its boxing budget for the remainder of 2015 to air the middleweight title unification fight live on the premium cable network, thus HBO Pay-Per-View was the only alternative if making the Golovkin-Lemieux match this year was a priority.
?That?s the only way we could make it work financially,? said Tom Loeffler, president of K2 Promotions, which represents Golovkin. ?HBO has given [Golovkin] great support. He has fought on HBO eight times before, but to make the finances work, to convince Lemieux to take the fight, it had to be on pay-per-view. And we have to give The Garden a lot of credit because they put together a very strong offer to have Gennady come back here to New York. So without their financial support and the support of the pay-per-view, it wouldn?t have been able to take place.?
The four-fight telecast headlined by Kazakhstan?s Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs), the IBO/WBA/interim WBC middleweight title-holder, and Montreal?s Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs), the IBF middleweight champion, will cost $49.95 in SD and $59.95 in HD, and will mark Golovkin?s debut as the ?A? side of a pay-per-view event. As to whether Golovkin?s future fights will be broadcast by HBO, with which he has an exclusive contract, or via HBO Pay-Per-View, Loeffler said it, ?depends on the opponent.?
Loeffler added, ?But if it?s a big fight like this, then there?s no reason why it wouldn?t be on pay-per-view.?
