Official figures released for the recent Sky Sports Box Office Pay-Per-View events have once again confirmed the UK market is drying up. Ongoing attempts to save plummeting figures from events involving Vasyl Lomachenko and Dillian Whyte since the summer have seemingly failed. Sky bought out the rights to broadcast the World Boxing Super Series Final between Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis. But despite a Fight of the Year contender, sales were poor. In what was seen as a startling panic buy, the purchase of a YouTube fight which on the whole had nothing to do with the sport, also bombed. Final BARB ratified sales of just 216,000 for the Los Angeles show are not good. But which may not be too much of a concern as the YouTubers were primarily snapped up to secure American subscriptions to DAZN. Comparing the last four months’ British figures with the last Anthony Joshua bout, it’s clear the former heavyweight champion is now carrying the whole UK PPV market on his back. A price hike for Ruiz 2 in Saudi Arabia to £24.95 is the clearest indication yet. TV bosses could now be cashing out on the platform altogether. As WBN previously reported, Whyte vs Oscar Rivas sold just 289,000. Bringing P4P star Lomachenko over to battle Luke Campbell last August did even worse on 205k. Taylor vs Prograis on Sky Sports Box Office drafted in just 176,000. This is the lowest since Kell Brook fought Frankie Gavin in May 2015. It all means without Andy Ruiz Jr. vs Joshua on June 1st is the only firm success of 2019. But with just over half a million itself, Ruiz vs Joshua was still a world away from Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin just nine months prior. The Povetkin win saw over 1.1m pay the £20 asking price.
