Back in February, we witnessed two modern-day gladiators go to war—Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev in The Last Crescendo. Fans were hooked, eager to see who would walk away as the undisputed king. While many expected Beterbiev to reign supreme once again, Bivol had other plans, proving why he deserved those belts. The fight had it all—power, skill, and two of the biggest names in boxing.
But while the action inside the ring delivered, something outside of it didn’t go as planned. The new owner of The Ring magazine had high hopes for this stacked pay-per-view event. In an effort to maximize sales, he lowered the PPV price, believing it would guarantee massive revenue. It went horribly wrong. Let’s break down what happened.
Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev II fails to hit 500K PPV mark
Earlier today, Ring Magazine shared a post on Instagram announcing that “THE LAST CRESCENDO GENERATED 340,000 PPV BUYS.” The fight itself, headlined by Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol II, delivered all the action fans could ask for. But outside the ring? The numbers suggest that Alalshikh’s bold pricing strategy didn’t bring the massive boost he had hoped for.
In an effort to shake up the boxing pay-per-view model, HE Alalshikh took to X before the February 22nd fight to announce that the stacked seven-fight card would be available for no more than $25.99 in the U.S.—at least $50 cheaper than the usual PPV price tag. In the UK, it was capped at £19.99, the standard rate for most boxing events.
His goal? Make boxing more accessible and combat the growing piracy problem that has pushed the sport into niche territory in the U.S. “We want the fans [to] be happy and enjoy it,” His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wrote on X. For many fight fans, this was a welcome change. Just months earlier, DAZN charged U.S. subscribers $19.99 for a British-heavy undercard under the first Beterbiev-Bivol showdown, sparking backlash. That October fight, which Beterbiev narrowly won, was at least free for ESPN+ subscribers thanks to a deal between Top Rank, DAZN, and HE Alalshikh.
But even with a cheaper PPV price and a stacked card, The Last Crescendo still only pulled 340,000 buys. So, what went wrong? Was it the timing? The matchups? Or has piracy hurt boxing more than anyone expected? However, if you didn’t know, the undercards couldn’t generate much revenue either.
Ray Jackson mocks low PPV sales for stacked undercard
Despite featuring some absolute top notch clashes—like Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole for the WBO interim heavyweight belt, Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel for the WBC interim title, and Shakur Stevenson defending his WBC lightweight belt against Josh Padley—it looks like the Riyadh Season fight card was a complete flop on PPV in the U.S.
According to the Brunch Boxing report last month, the massive event only pulled in 45,000 PPV buys in the States—a shockingly low number for a card of this magnitude. To put that into perspective, Gervonta “Tank” Davis vs. Frank Martin—a fight that didn’t have nearly as stacked an undercard—did over 300,000 buys, most of them coming from the U.S.
Report: The Last Crescendo US PPV Buys
The Riyadh Season event, headlined by the undisputed light heavyweight rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol has reportedly done an estimated 45,000 PPV buys in the United States.
The event generated $1.17M in PPV… pic.twitter.com/pHKXHBUIF6
— Brunch Boxing (@BrunchBoxing) March 6, 2025
Fans were quick to react, with Ray Jackson posting, “The biggest fight card ever ONLY sold 45K PPVs u boxing fans don’t even support the cheap ppvs SMDH,” resharing Brunch Boxing’s post. And honestly? This isn’t great news for the Saudis.
While making money isn’t necessarily their main goal—Saudi Arabia has consistently been pouring money into combat sports to establish itself as a global sports tourism hub—these numbers raise some serious questions. If the American audience—the biggest in combat sports—didn’t tune in, was it because of poor marketing? One thing’s for sure—fans didn’t see this coming.
The post Turki Alalshikh’s Ambitious Plan Fails as Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol PPV Numbers Shared appeared first on EssentiallySports.