Deontay Wilder Quick KO Had Disappointing PPV Numbers

The Deontay Wilder-Robert Helenius fight generated approximately 75,000 pay-per-view buys in the United States, multiple sources with knowledge of the event told Fight Freaks Unite.

The figure includes buys across all platforms, be it linear pay-per-view on cable television and satellite services as well as digital platforms such as PPV. com and FITE. tv.

In a WBC semifinal heavyweight title elimination fight, Wilder landed his calling-card devastating right hand for a one-punch first-round knockout of Helenius on Oct. 15 in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions Fox Sports pay-per-view card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

At a suggested retail price of $74.99, the pay-per-view generated more than $5.6 million in domestic television revenue, although much of that money goes to the platforms that carried the event.

The total, according to one of the sources, was a disappointment but not totally shocking given that Helenius was a big underdog and not that well known, as well as the fact, that the pay-per-view faced stiff competition from the undisputed lightweight championship rematch between Devin Haney and George Kambosos Jr. that was available on ESPN and as well as major college football games.

Former longtime WBC heavyweight titleholder Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs), 36, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, returned from a one-year layoff following an 11th-round knockout loss to champion Tyson Fury in their trilogy fight that was the consensus 2021 fight of the year. He was coming off of two knockout losses in a row to Fury.

Helenius (31-4, 20 KOs), 38, of Finland, had not fought since a sixth-round knockout victory over Adam Kownacki in their rematch on the Fury-Wilder III undercard, so he and Wilder were coming off a year layoff.

Wilder Only Did Slightly Better Than Ruiz

Wilder-Helenius edged past the previous PBC Fox Sports PPV card on Sep. 4 — the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend — at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles, where former unified heavyweight titlist Andy Ruiz Jr. scored two knockdowns against two-time world title challenger Luis Ortiz to win a close unanimous decision in the other WBC semifinal title eliminator.

That pay-per-view, also priced at $74.99, generated about 65,000 domestic pay-per-view buys, a source with knowledge of the total told Fight Freaks Unite last month.

With Wilder and Ruiz both winning their respective title elimination bouts, the WBC is expected to order them to meet in a final eliminator for the right to become Fury’s mandatory challenger at the sanctioning organization’s 60th annual convention, which will take place from Nov. 6 to Nov. 11 in Acapulco, Mexico.