Top Rank reports that the undisputed light heavyweight title fight between champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will air live on ESPN+ on October 12 from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This fight is not a PPV, which is a great deal for fans because it is the best option on the card.
The weird part is that the undercard will be on PPV, with a $14.99 on a different network. WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson vs. Joe Cordina will headline the pay-per-view undercard, which is ironic because these aren’t fighters fans want to pay to see.
Even at the low price point of Shakur-Cordina, and the chaos of the undercards, fans will not buy this card at high prices.
Shakur-Cordina PPV card $14.99
– Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Kamil Szeremeta
– Fabio Wardley vs. Fraser Clarke
– Jai Opetaia Jack Massey
– Ben Whittaker vs. Liam Cameron
– Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman
– Mohammed Alamel vs. Jose Gonzalez
The British boxing community is fine with this undercard, viewing it as very good, but Americans see it as not appealing to their tastes, especially for PPV purposes. If we can throw away all those bad fights and put one great match on PPV, it would be better for the US crowd.
Stevenson’s PPV Attendance Questioned
Shakur (22-0, 10 KOs) doesn’t belong on the PPV, even on the undercard. He turned in terrible back-to-back matches against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos, and his popularity plummeted.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn signed Shakur, believing he could make him a world star. This move showed that Hearn is out of touch with the US public. Hearn is like a rube, picking up fools gold over and over again, thinking it’s the real 24k stuff. Shakur is one of many examples of Hearn showing his instability.
If Shakur was going to be a star, Top Rank wouldn’t let him go in a million years. The only fighters who let go are the ones who miss a vital spark of talent, and Shakur didn’t.
“The legendary match has been a long time coming, and I can’t wait for these two legends of the ring to meet,” said promoter Bob Arum. “I’m thrilled that American fans can watch the fight on ESPN+, a great platform that shows the biggest and best moments.”
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