Anthony Joshua’s shock loss to Andy Ruiz Jr attracted almost 500k PPV buys, way short of his 1.5million UK record
ANTHONY JOSHUA’S shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr on his US debut was just short of 500,000 pay-per-view buys, promoter Eddie Hearn revealed.
Joshua, 29, travelled to New York to defend his unified titles against 19st underdog Ruiz, also 29, and suffered a disastrous Stateside bow.
However, promoter Hearn told AJ’s first US fight, in the early hours of June 2 back home, was just shy of half a million PPV sells - way short of AJ's UK record of 1.5million.
Hearn said: “Good, solid. I mean not obviously the numbers you’d get at 10 o'clock.
“Not quite (500,000 buys) but not far off.”
AJ was set to face Jarrell Miller until the New Yorker failed three drug tests and allowed 25-1 outsider Ruiz to claim the heavyweight golden ticket, and titles.
Ruiz was not given a prayer before he stopped Joshua in seven rounds, with the Mexican-American labelled a “fat slob”.
This led to fans not boycotting the fight, and subsequently waking up to the news of the great heavyweight upset.
But other fans, 13million to be precise, illegally streamed the event, causing boxing chiefs to lose out on an estimated £20m.
With an estimated 500,000 UK PPV's sold, at a rate of £19.95, the heavyweight title fight generated £9.9m through Sky Box Office - while sports streaming service DAZN were the US broadcasters.
As Hearn revealed Joshua’s US debut sold between the 400k - 500k mark - it means the fight does not rank in the top 10 UK PPV’s.
Joshua does, however, hold the record for most UK PPV’s sold - with his unification showdown against Wladimir Klitschko doing 1,532,000 buys.
The Brit superstar also features twice more in the top ten thanks to the success of his title defence against Carlos Takam in October 2017 and unification bout with Joseph Parker five months later.
David Haye features three times on the list with his 2011 fight against Klitschko doing 1.143m buys while his first Tony Bellew clash came in at 890,000 and the rematch last year at 775,000.
Frank Bruno’s rematch defeat against Mike Tyson in 1996 sold 600,000 PPV’s while Lennox Lewis’ 2002 win over Iron Mike sold 750,000.
PPV king Floyd Mayweather holds the top two global records of all time, selling 4.6m in 2015 for his hotly-anticipated showdown with Manny Pacquiao and 4.4m against UFC star Conor McGregor.
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The two historic fights were also a success in the UK, with Pacman selling 876,000 PPV’s and McGregor just short with 874,000.
But the former pound-for-pound king's greatest PPV clash in the UK was against Brit hero Ricky Hatton in 2007.
Hatton’s round 10 KO defeat sold 1,150,000 back home.
