Canelo Alvarez vs Jaime Munguia will cost boxing fans $89.99 to watch on Amazon Prime Video and DAZN PPV.
The two Mexicans face off on Cinco De Mayo Weekend on May 4, as Alvarez defends his Undisputed Super Middleweight Title. The fight has received a mixed response. While Munguia is an undefeated Mexican, it was not the first choice for boxing fans. Canelo has been accused of ducking David Benavidez, the current WBC Interim Super Middleweight Champion.
The Mexican Monster will likely face Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC Interim Light Heavyweight fans. To pacify boxing fans, the PPV price for Canelo-Munguia could have been lowered. But the $89.99 figure is more than the Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia fight and Errol Spence Jr. vs Terence Crawford fight. The latter two fights cost $84.99 each.
Price Increases
The news comes after DAZN also decided to raise their prices by 50 percent for UK customers.
DAZN entered boxing in 2018, hoping to end PPV. The aim was to give boxing fans a streaming service without the need to spend big on PPVs. Eddie Hearn infamously said that ‘PPV was dead.’ But today, PPV continues to be the main way of watching boxing fights. DAZN has also decided to adopt PPV on top of their monthly and yearly subscriptions.
US customers currently pay $224.99 annually. UK fans will see their costs rise from £99.99 to £114.99. The monthly fee will increase from £9.99 to £14.99. The US and UK prices are without the PPV cost. The changes will occur two days before Tyson Fury fights Oleksandr Usyk on May 18 for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. Since that fight is on DAZN, fans are in a tough position considering whether to stay with the network. Joseph Markowski, DAZN’s former North America Chief Executive, addressed their model previously prior to him leaving the company last month.
Reaction
“We run a global business and we are leaning on a lot of data and a lot of experience from a lot of global markets. I’ve led a couple of price rises in the US and they’ve been successful and have made business sense for us. We acknowledged of course that there would be criticism like there always is. But this is a calculated decision based on data and a lot of strategic planning. We are confident with it… But I’ve said before, when we launched pay-per-view, that we wouldn’t use it every second week like some of our competitors do in the US in particular and I think we’re standing by that promise,” Markowski stated
While that may be the case, DAZN is increasing its appeal. It has become the home of boxing in Saudi Arabia, with DAZN showing the bouts on a global scale. Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk and Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol will be shown on the platform. Those are two undisputed fights that will whet the appetite of boxing fans. But will it be enough to keep the fans happy?
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