Acclaimed trainer Robert Garcia and his fighter, Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, had a similar reaction as most hardcore boxing fans to the rumored 150k PPV buys that GGG did on his first shot at headlining such an event: disappointment.
In a recent interview with FightHype.com, Garcia said, “I said they would at least do 300…but 150? That’s bad.”
He went on to say, “At the gate, real boxing fans showed up…over 20,000 people showed up… GGG is really good at making the hardcore boxing fans show up.”
GGG was a victim in this instance of the high expectations he’s conditioned fans to have of his performances. The expectation that he would match, and/or exceed, the buy rate that established PPV stars that have been on the platform for years reach was flawed to begin with. The reality is, Golovkin faced an opponent in David Lemieux that casual fans didn’t know, and that hardcore fans didn’t believe had a chance to win. That was a recipe for disappointing numbers.
Despite Golden Boy Promotions’ assertion in the months and weeks leading up to the fight that fans were in for a Hagler-Hearns style clash for a middleweight title, fans simply didn’t buy the notion that Lemieux was anywhere at, or even near GGG’s skill level. And they were right. However, that didn’t stop over 20,000 fans from packing the Garden to watch him dominate. That number proves, despite the disappointing rumored PPV numbers, that GGG is indeed still a rising, if not already established, star in the sport.
As has been proven time and time again in boxing, it takes two to make a successful event (see the difference in numbers from Mayweather-Pacquiao to Mayweather-Berto). A successful PPV event is rarely, if ever, built solely on the headlining star. Once the level of competition willing to engage with GGG rises, the PPV numbers will as well.
