Boxing fans have been left outraged after learning they will have to fork out £26.95 to watch Tyson Fury's voluntary defence against Derek Chisora.
WBC champion Fury will defend his crown in a clash with heavyweight gatekeeper Chisora at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 3, in a U-turn from his previous plans to retire. There has been heavy criticism of the fight with Chisora having already lost to the champion twice in 2011 and 2014.
And in another damaging blow to fans, BT Sport has announced fans will be required to pay a UK record £26.95 to purchase the clash on pay-per-view via the BT Sport Box Office channel. Fans have reacted in an angry way on social media, with one writing: "I’m usually one to support fights and buy pay-per-view, but come on, that much for what you’re getting is terrible."
Another agreed: "Wouldn’t have paid a penny let alone that price." Another fan added: "Feels like you’re fleecing fans for as much as possible. How is that price point valid. It should have been £9.95 at the very most. Boxing has become about making money from the fans and not about the sport or the competition."
One fan went against the general reception and was pleasantly surprised, writing: "I was expecting £30 so not bad. Fury is the biggest and best fighter on the planet so people will pay that price to watch him fight. Boxing is a business and Tyson Fury is huge business. Expect at least 800k buys at that price easy." However a fan was quick to shoot his theory down, commenting: "Does less than 5k PPV buys. Talking nonsense there."
A fan moved to blame the champion, adding: "And Tyson Fury said he wanted EVERYONE to be able to watch Fury-Joshua for free... Fury has gone from elite, fan favourite to embarrassing waste of time in a few months. Shake my head." A final fan concluded: "£26.95 for a fight we’ve seen twice already and will be the same for the result in the third fight. I’m good."
What do you make of the pay-per-view price for Tyson Fury v Derek Chisora? Let us know in the comments section below
Fury has already been heavily questioned over his decision to take this fight, with his promoter Frank Warren suggesting that it was the only fight available when consulting the WBC rankings. And the 34-year-old has leapt to his opponent's defence claiming he could provide a bolder challenge than the general consensus.
He told True Geordie: “It’s history making. I’ll be the first heavyweight champion in history to complete two trilogies. You take the top 15 heavyweights, there are a few foreigners in there who nobody knows about. They might have undefeated records, but when I fight those foreigners nobody’s interested anyway. You’re better off with somebody who you know is a household name, who people can relate to and can support and sing ‘Oh, Derek Chisora’."
