In light of the Tyson Fury vs Derek Chisora trilogy bout being priced at £26.95 for UK boxing fans, we have decided to take a look back through the history books and compile a list of the ten most expensive UK PPV prices in boxing history.
This list includes some mammoths fights with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Floyd Mayweather and Tyson Fury. They are just some of the names included in this list.
Top 10 Most Expensive Boxing Pay-Per-Views In The UK
Without further ado, here are the ten most expensive boxing pay-per-view prices that UK fight fans have had to pay. We will begin at number 10 and count all the way down to the most expensive ever at number one.
10. Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor – £19.95
Kicking off our list the mammoth match-up between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor. The fight took place on the 26th August 2017 at the T-Mobile Arena is Las Vegas, in what ended up being Mayweather’s official swan song.
‘Money’ retired from professional boxing after the fight with a prefect record of 50-0. For McGregor, he played his part too as he started well in the early rounds, before beginning to gas out as the fight progress.
The fight ended up doing one million PPV buys, and was priced at £19.95 for UK fight fans on Sky Sports Box Office. The event solid itself, with one of the greatest boxers of all time facing up against the most popular MMA fighter in history and the face of the UFC.
£19.95 was a standard price point at this time for UK fight fans, but it did rise to £24.95 after midnight, with the fight taking place at 4am or so GMT. A truly compelling fight to kick off this list.
9. Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko – £19.95
In at number nine is the huge heavyweight showdown from Wembley Stadium between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko. This fight cost UK boxing fans £19.95 to buy at the pay-per-view on Sky Sports Box Office.
The fight exceeded Mayweather vs Pacquiao for the domestic PPV record, with 1.532 million buys in the UK. The fight happened on April 29th at Wembley Stadium in front of 90,000 fans, with ‘AJ’ winning via 11th round stoppage in an absolutely incredible fight for the ages in the heavyweight division.
Again at the time this was the standard price of a pay-per-view boxing fight for UK fans. Now of course, basically no fights cost this, with the minimum price set at roughly £25 nowadays, as well as the increase in boxing live streaming sites.
8. Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao – £19.95
The second time Floyd Mayweather has appeared on this list as his fight with Manny Pacquiao on 2nd May 2015 cost UK boxing fans £19.95 to purchase. The fight took place in the early hours of the morning (GMT) as the bout took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas.
At the time, this was arguably one of the biggest fights in boxing history, and still is. It was billed the ‘Fight of the Century’ with both men having been rumoured to fight each other on several occasions across the previous decade.
The fight did over 4.6 million pay-per-view buys in total across the world, with a portion of this coming from the UK PPV market through Sky Sports Box Office. At the time, it’s fair to say it was worth the price. Everyone wanted to see the fight, and had no problem forking out 20 quid for it.
7. Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 3 – £24.95
In at number seven and the first appearance on the list for ‘The Gypsy King’, was his trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder on 9th October 2021. This fight cost UK boxing fans £24.95 on BT Sport Box Office.
After two fights already and the second being so conclusive, not many boxing fans were overly fussed at seeing Fury vs Wilder 3. This was shown in the PPV buys, with only around 300,000 buys coming from UK shores and around 600,000 in the United States.
This is the first fight on this list that was priced at £5 higher than the other three you have already read about. £24.95 is what the majority of today’s fights cost UK fight fans wishing to watch the boxing on a pay-per-view platform.
Both Sky Sports and BT Sport have box office channels and are using them far more regularly for huge fights like this one. In the end, the fight delivered something quite spectacular. Fury won via knockout in the 11th round, with both men on the canvas at least twice prior to that too!
6. Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev – £24.95
Another Anthony Joshua fight features o the list of the most expensive PPV boxing events in the UK. This time it was his heavyweight clash with IBF mandatory challenger, Kubrat Pulev. The fight cost £24.95 for UK fights fans on Sky Sports Box Office.
Overall, the fight did roughly 700,000 pay-per-view buys in the UK, which is still an extortionate amount for a fight that 99% of people thought Joshua would win easily, which he did in the end.
Fans were outraged at the time at the PPV price of £24.95, as they had been told that this price was only a one off for Joshua’s previous fight with Any Ruiz Jr in their rematch. However, the price stayed the same and is the benchmark for a PPV fight now.
£24.95 is the minimum you are likely to pay as a UK boxing fan right now if you wish to watch a fight of this magnitude. Of course, some fights have risen even higher in price this year.
5. Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk – £24.95
Kicking off our top five most expensive PPV boxing events is of course the first fight between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. The fight went down on 12th December 2020 at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The bout cost UK boxing fans £24.95 to buy on Sky Sports Box Office.
As we have previously alluded to, this is the standard price nowadays for the boxing pay-per-view in the UK. This was an absolutely huge fight and gigantic event, so it came as no surprise to fight fans that they would have to pay almost £25 for the viewing pleasure.
The fight did really well at the pay-per-view gate, with over 1.232 million buys. At the time, it could be argued that this was the best heavyweight in the world against the third best heavyweight in the world, who had ruled supreme down at cruiserweight and was stepping up to face the big boys in the kingpin division.
Again, UK boxing fans were quick to buy this fight and support ‘AJ’, due to the magnitude of the event and how good a fight it was. It was a 50/50 on paper and turned out to be a great fight, with the Ukrainian edging the Brit out on the judges scorecards after 12 rounds.
4. Andy Ruiz Jr vs Anthony Joshua 2 – £24.95
In at number four and the fourth time Anthony Joshua has featured on this list is of course his rematch bout with Any Ruiz Jr back in December 2019. The fight was the most expensive UK PPV in history at the time, being the first fight to cost boxing fans £24.95.
Again, this fight was absolutely massive at the time. ‘AJ’ had just lost his unbeaten record as Ruiz knocked him out in their first fight back in June at Madison Square Garden, New York. The fight was available to UK boxing fans on Sky Sports Box Office.
Despite being the most expensive UK pay-per-view boxing event in history at the time, this fight did incredibly well in terms of buys. Over 1.2 million people paid £24.95 to watch this fight on UK shores, and it certainly didn’t disappoint as Joshua regained his three world title belts and beat his Mexican/American foe via unanimous decision.
3. Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 2 – £24.95
Kicking off the top 3 is the rematch bout between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. This fight was the first fight on BT Sport Boxing Office to cost fans £24.95, but it certainly didn’t disappoint with Fury obliterating Wilder and becoming the WBC World Heavyweight Champion.
The fight was being talked about all around the world. The fact the first fight was so contentious, with the viral moment of Fury seemingly rising from the dead in the 12th round was perhaps part of the reason why this rematch did so well in terms of UK pay-per-views.
The fight ended with Fury conclusively stopping the ‘Bronze Bomber’ in Round 7 after beating him from pillar to post for the first six rounds. Fury sent the MGM Grand Garden Arena into raptures as he became a two-time heavyweight champion of the world.
The fight is reported to have done somewhere between 800,000 and 850,000 pay-per-view buys.
2. Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua 2 – £26.95
In at number two is the highly anticipated heavyweight rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. The fight cost UK boxing fans £26.95 to purchase, if they wanted to watch this mammoth fight from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sky Sports Box Office.
The fight happened just over three months ago on 20th August, and set the record as the most expensive PPV fight in UK boxing history. It still holds the record for being the most expensive fight ever, with the number one fight on this list having not actually happened yet.
The fight is reported to have done upward of 1.249 million PPV buys, which is around 17,000 more than the first fight between the pair. The result ended up being the same of course with Usyk winning on points, but there was a huge buzz around the fight, which was clearly reflected in the PPV buys.
As of today, this is still the most expensive fight UK boxing fans have ever had to fork out money for. However, as we mentioned, that won’t be for long as our number one fight is set to happen in just 10 days time. Usyk vs Joshua 2 and our number one fight will soon be tied as the most expensive UK PPV’s in boxing history.
1. Tyson Fury vs Derek Chisora 3 – £26.95
In at number one and in a tie with Usyk vs Joshua 2 is of course the upcoming trilogy fight between Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora. The fight is set to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with UK fight fans expected to pay £26.95 if they want to watch the bout from the comfort of their own home.
The price point for this fight has caused outrage amongst UK fight fans, who simply aren’t willing to put their hand in their pocket to pay for this fight. It will be interesting to see the PPV numbers after the fight, but boxing fans aren’t expecting it to break any records, that is for sure.
One reason for this could be that Derek Chisora has lost 12 times and isn’t regarded as a top heavyweight. Of course, another reason is that ‘The Gypsy King’ has comprehensively beaten ‘Del Boy’ on two occasions previously.
Yes, you are paying to watch Tyson Fury in action. He is currently the best heavyweight on the planet, so that is the draw here, hence the £26.95 price. However, the fight itself on paper isn’t remotely competitive. It will be interesting to see if this fight does anywhere close to even 500,000 UK PPV buys. Here at SportsLens UK, we have our doubts.
It Costs To Be A Boxing Fan In The UK!
We hope you found this list of the ten most expensive boxing PPV fights of all time in the UK very informative and interesting.
Nowadays, a lot of sports betting apps offer customers the chance to live stream fights and other sporting events. Not only that, but these betting apps are keen to offer you a host of free bets too. Overall though, in the UK the boxing PPV model via the likes of Sky Sports and BT Sport Box Office is the main way that fight fans access huge fights.
Anthony Joshua featured five times on this list, showing how much of a star he is in the UK. Tyson Fury featured three times, with Floyd Mayweather also featuring on two occasions. It’s fair to say that UK fight fans have been forced to fork out some cash if they want to watch a big fight!
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