Lewis-Tyson Is a Hit With Pay-Per-View
The Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson fight was a knockout in more ways than one. The pay-per-view telecast of Lewis’ eight-round knockout victory Saturday night drew 1.8 million buys--the second highest ever--and generated a record $103 million, according to figures released Tuesday by HBO and Showtime.
HBO and Showtime, which combined to televise the fight, had projected approximately 1 million pay-per-view buys.
The record number of buys for a fight is 1.99 million for the 1997 Evander Holyfield-Tyson bout in which Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield’s ear.
That fight, which cost $49.95 as opposed to $54.95 for Saturday’s fight, generated $100 million.
The buys for Tyson-Lewis consisted of 1.2 million from cable systems and 600,000 from satellite homes throughout the 50 states.
Not since the 1999 fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad has a pay-per-view fight generated more than 1 million buys.
The Lewis-Tyson fight will be replayed on HBO Saturday night at 9:45. Announcing will be HBO’s team of Fran Charles, George Foreman and Larry Merchant.
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