The Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev 2 card was christened the ‘The Fight Card of the Century’. Held under the aegis of the Saudis and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, the card was pretty good. The Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch, for the undisputed light heavyweight crown, of course, is probably the best fight- from a purely sporting standpoint- that could be made in the entire sport.
Not to mention, it had some other absolute bangers, such as Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole for the former’s interim WBO heavyweight belt. Knockout artist Zhilei Zhang and Agit Kabayel fought for the interim WBC heavyweight belt, and Shakur Stevenson put up his WBC lightweight belt against Josh Padley on the Riyadh Season card, among other great matchups.
However, it seems the card was an utter failure on PPV in the USA, according to a recent report. A report from Brunch Boxing seems to suggest that the massive card did just 45k PPV buys in the States, which is almost nothing for a card of that magnitude. To put that into perspective, the Gervonta Davis vs. a largely unknown Frank Martin card last year, which did not have an undercard as stacked as the Bivol-Beterbiev 2, managed to do over 300k PPV buys, most of them in the States.
The biggest fight card ever ONLY sold 45K PPVs u boxing fans don’t even support the cheap ppvs SMDH https://t.co/w7oSgikjoh
— Ray Jackson (@RayJack97010720) March 6, 2025
“The biggest fight card ever ONLY sold 45K PPVs u boxing fans don’t even support the cheap ppvs SMDH,” quipped an internet commentator Ray Jackson, resharing Brunch Boxing’s post. And this, of course, is not very good news for the Saudis, who financed the card. Although the numbers are unconfirmed for now, they do paint a grim picture for the future of boxing in Saudi Arabia. While making money is not the main objective for the Saudis, who want more than anything else, to make the Kingdom a sports tourism hub, the fact that the American audience—by far the biggest in the entire combat sports world—chose not to tune in does say something about perhaps the marketing job the Saudis did for the fight. And fans, of course, were left in disbelief.
Fans react to Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev 2’s underwhelming PPV performance
Of course, this news has fans worried about big American fights being held in Saudi Arabia. At the moment, both Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney are signed to ‘Riyadh Season’ and will be facing other opponents in their next fight in NYC. But if both American stars win their fights, their rematch would be next in Riyadh, according to HE Turki Alalshikh. But one fan pointed out that the Bivol-Beterbiev card has some warning signs for the Haney-Garcia rematch: “This is exactly why the Haney vs Garcia rematch makes no sense to have over in Saudi Arabia. They leaving a lot of money on the table.”
Another fan felt that the reason Bivol-Beterbiev 2 did so terribly on PPV in the US is because of the horrible time it was on in the States: “The card started in the morning lol,people got s**t too do during the day.” This indeed is a valid point as many Riyadh events, despite being good fights, saw dismal pay-per-view buys.
Another fan speculated that since the card did not feature an American in the main event (both Beterbiev and Bivol are Russian), the American fans were predictably not as interested in it: “When you don’t have an American headlining you will get this response. Americans in general care little for overseas fighters.”
One fan felt that since HE Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season have access to almost unlimited amounts of wealth from the Saudi government, they will not be losing much sleep over the low PPV numbers: “If turki doesn’t cared nobody cared. He has unlimited wealth. ”
Another fan was pretty taken aback upon finding out that the card did less than 50k PPV buys in the United States, despite the quality of the card, echoing the sentiment of almost all boxing fans when they found out the actual numbers: “I’m shocked.” What do you think about the low PPV numbers for the Bivol-Beterbiev 2 card?
The post Embarrassment for Dmitry Bivol & Artur Beterbiev as Fight Card Earns Disappointing Numbers From Boxing Fans appeared first on EssentiallySports.
