Jake Paul Good PPV Numbers Bode Well For Boxing Future

One thing is apparent with Jake Paul continuing his boxing career- people are buying tickets and watching his pay per views. And, that bodes well for him financially to continue to box, if he wants.

We discussed how Paul’s most recent boxing outing, a decision win over former UFC champ Nate Diaz, did in early August on our latest “Big Fight Weekend Preview Podcast.” Hear Dan Rafael go over the numbers and what he thinks about the future by clicking play below,

As Dan wrote on Paul’s PPV numbers exclusively on his substack this week, the Diaz fight getting in the neighborhood of a half a million buys is very lucrative for all involved.

“Paul’s lopsided unanimous decision victory over former UFC star Nate Diaz, who made his professional boxing debut in their 10-round cruiserweight fight on Aug. 5 in the main event of a DAZN PPV event at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, generated approximately 450,000 buys, multiple sources with knowledge of the figures told Fight Freaks Unite.

That total reflects United States sales via all platforms, according to the sources. Based on 450,000 buys, the card, which cost $59.99, generated nearly $27 million in pay-per-view sales.

It is the third-biggest selling boxing pay-per-view of the year so far, surpassed only by two mega fights that took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas: the 136-pound catch weight blockbuster between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia on April 22, which did about 1.2 million buys at $84.99 and more than $100 million in domestic PPV revenue, and the Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford undisputed welterweight championship fight on July 29, which did 650,000 buys with a chance to reach 675,000. That fight was also priced at $84.99 and grossed more than $55 million in PPV sales.

The Paul-Diaz figure was likely helped by its wide distribution. Although it was a DAZN-branded event available on the streaming service, with the broadcast also available on pay-per-view on linear television and satellite services, it was also available on digital platforms such as PPV.com and ESPN+, that latter via a deal with Top Rank, which worked with Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions to bring his fight with Tommy Fury to ESPN+ PPV in February.

Paul-Fury did approximately 225,000 pay-per-view buys in the U.S., but was likely hampered by the late afternoon start time since the bout took place in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.”

As Dan referenced, Paul’s prime time bout from Texas more than doubled the PPV output of the Fury fight. It’s also obvious that Diaz, a former UFC huge draw for gates and PPV’s in that sport, being the opponent helped more than Fury. This, as the half brother of Tyson Fury doesn’t have much appeal to U.S. combat sports fans.

Still, it’s up for debate on whether if Paul continues to fight “non-boxers,” which seven of his eight boxing bouts have been, whether the appeal will be the same moving forward.

As we further discussed on the podcast, Paul might actually agree to an MMA fight with Diaz as part of his “Professional Fighter’s League” and that may be even more lucrative than a boxing rematch for the two. Paul could also join his older brother Logan, who has signed a lucrative pro wrestling contract with the WWE, and become a wrestler himself.

Still, Paul has repeatedly sold out U.S. venues from Cleveland to Tampa to Glendale, AZ and now, Dallas with him being the attraction on the card of fights and that gives him every reason to keep boxing, should he want to.