Canelo Alvarez versus Terence Crawford has been billed as one of the biggest fights this century.
It could very well live up to that lofty mark from a viewership standpoint.
Max Kellerman, one of Netflix’s color commentators for their fight and a longtime commentator for HBO, believes
Alvarez-Crawford will have a chance to be one of the biggest championship fights the sport has put together in recent memory, comparing it to Muhammad Ali’s rematch with Leon Spinks in September 1978.
“Because of Netflix, this will be the most watched championship fight in almost 50 years,” Kellerman said. “Muhammad Ali fought Leon Spinks in the rematch in ‘78, and they did 90 million TV sets. Ninety million, and since then, what has even come close? The biggest fights have all been on pay-per-view, and they do two million buys, three, four million buys. If five people per buy watch [a fight], that’s 20 million people. This is going to do multiples of that.”
The backing of Netflix will certainly set the stage for Alvarez-Crawford to break records when they fight Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The Jake Paul-Mike Tyson card Nov. 15 drew 108 million live viewers globally and 65 million concurrent viewers, according to Netflix.
Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) and
Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) fighting on a streaming service, as opposed to pay-per-view, could mark a significant shift in boxing’s business model.
Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Alvarez, boxing’s biggest stars of the 21st century, had their biggest fights all take place on pay-per-view.
Mayweather-Pacquiao remains the most-watched fight on pay-per-view, drawing 4.6 million buys in May 2015. Mayweather-Alvarez drew 2.2 million buys in September 2013.
Alvarez-Crawford is a battle between four-division champions and two-time undisputed champions. With Netflix at the forefront, they will compete on a stage befitting a fight of this magnitude as they near the ends of their Hall-of-Fame careers.