Rolly Slams Haney’s PPV Sales, Urges For More Excitement In Boxing
Rolando Romero has hit out at Devin Haney’s PPV numbers for his fight against Regis Prograis.
Reports indicated that the fight did 50,000 PPV buys. The number was considerably low, given the expectations that emerged beforehand. Haney fought in the Bay Area for the first time since he turned pro in 2015. ‘The Dream’ aimed to become a two-division champion, and he picked up the WBC belt at 140. Despite selling out the Chase Center, the PPV numbers were considerably less.
Leonard Ellerbe and Bob Arum expressed their views on it, which resulted in Haney firing back at Arum. The Top Rank promoter did state that there were several factors for this, given that Haney’s fight was near Christmas. The US PPV price of $75 also did not make it viable. In addition, there were other fights on the same night, which would have split the audience. Although Arum defended Haney’s star power by saying the numbers did not impact his brand, Devin was not pleased.
Haney Vs. Arum
“Very, very disappointing. But again, you put a fight on first of all in December, PPV. Now what are people concerned about in December? Saving up their money so they can spend it on Christmas presents. And so the fact 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. We had a terrific, terrific featherweight championship match that was a huge upset against it. So the fact it didn’t do well doesn’t mean that Devin Haney’s not a PPV draw. But it didn’t do well,” Arum said
“I didn’t see the interview, but Bob [Arum] never has nothing nice to say about me, so it’s not a surprise after I beat his fighter [Vasily Lomachenko]. I haven’t gotten the pay-per-view numbers. I’m still waiting on the PPV numbers because I get paid on PPV. I don’t have the numbers yet, but shortly,” Haney stated
Rolly On Haney
Now Romero is the latest person to express his dissatisfaction. The WBA champion at 140 is known for producing entertaining fights, even if he is not the most skilled. Romero has headlined a huge PPV, as shown with the Gervonta Davis fight.
Despite getting stopped, Romero was in the fight before being caught by Davis as he was coming in. Since his world title, however, he has been linked with facing Ryan Garcia. That fight has gotten the attention of the boxing community, as Romero had one eye on it. But that was not before he had a few words over Haney.
“He probably did less. Prograis wasn’t really helping either. That specific person isn’t a very entertaining fighter. He doesn’t even try to be in the spotlight in his team, which, honestly, the fighter should be in the spotlight. But, like I said, PPVs. You’ve got to give fans something they want to watch,” Rolly stated
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