Bill Haney Dismisses ‘Gossip’ Over Haney-Prograis PPV Numbers
Bill Haney has continued to hit back at reports that his son, Devin Haney’s fight with Regis Prograis, only sold 50,000 PPVs.
Team Haney have consistently denied that their fight produced such numbers, although the figures have yet to be released. A key factor in countering that narrative has been the fact the Chase Center arena sold out. It was Haney’s first fight in the ‘Bay Area’ since he turned professional in 2015.
The performance was impressive as he dominated Prograis to become the new WBC junior welterweight champion in his first fight at the weight class. The victory also allowed him to become a two-weight world champion. But the PPV numbers became an issue in light of a potential Gervonta Davis fight. Leonard Ellerbe and Bob Arum reacted to the news by confirming that the numbers were not as high as expected.
Arum On Haney
“The fact that it did so poorly is not really a reflection on Haney’s marketability. It’s just a fight that took place at the wrong time against fights that were free to air on other platforms like ESPN. On ESPN, we had a terrific, terrific featherweight championship [between WBO champion Robeisy Ramirez & Rafael Espinoza on the same night as Haney vs. Prograis on December 9th] match that was a huge upset [with Espinoza beating Robeisy] against it.“So the fact that it [Haney vs. Prograis] didn’t do well [on DAZN PPV] doesn’t mean that Haney isn’t a good pay-per-view draw, but it didn’t do well,” Arum said
Bill continued to deny that narrative, but he has fallen short of providing those numbers, which is still the case today.
Bill Haney Reacts
“So, how do we have so much engagement and so many people show up? The pay-per-view numbers ain’t right because they know y’all can’t go nowhere and find them, and that’s why they can say something like that. Then they say, ‘Well, Bill. You show them [the PPV numbers].’ Did you ask Canelo to show his? Did you ask Tank to show his? Who came on here and showed that? Once you say you heard it from a source, it becomes gossip because it’s not something that you’ve seen,” Haney stated
Compared with Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, their fight sold over 1.2 million PPVs. That will play a significant factor in negotiating a fight between either of them them. Haney recently expanded on how he would be willing to fight Davis if he got the same terms as what Garcia was given.
But that is unlikely to happen due to the following. Garcia’s massive social media following, over 10 million on Instagram, was a key component. This allowed Garcia to appeal to casual fans since he does have crossover appeal. The fight earned Garcia $30 million, but it reflected the commercial value he brought to the table. But that is what Haney was holding out for.
“Man listen give me the same deal he gave Ryan, and we’ve got a fight. Same offer Ryan Garcia got same offer I’ll take,” Haney said
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