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A Mind-Blowing Amount Of People Used Illegal Streams To Watch Wilder Vs. Fury Rematch

A Mind-Blowing Amount Of People Used Illegal Streams To Watch Wilder Vs. Fury Rematch

A huge number of people watched the heavyweight bout illegally.

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar

The blockbuster rematch between Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury was reportedly illegally streamed by up to '10 to 20 million' people.

A whopping '10 to 20 million' people illegally streamed Wilder vs. Fury II with Sports Illustrated claiming the fight was subject to "extraordinarily high theft".

The online piracy majorly affected the pay-per-view, with the heavyweight contest garnering a reported 750,000 to 850,000 buys in America.

It ended up being 25 per cent lower than the breakeven point of 1.1 million.

Image: PA
Image: PA
Image: PA
Image: PA

The PPV cost $79.99 (£62) for American boxing fans who ultimately turned to illegal streams to watch the action from Las Vegas.

Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn, who puts on Sky Sports Box Office shows, believes people who reply on illegal streams are taking money away from the fighters.

"One of the problems is, there is so many illegal streams now when the price becomes unbearable to the customer," he explained.

"One thing I'll tell you about illegal streams is people think that it's clever, it's illegal by the way, that's why it's called an illegal stream, but people think it's clever... you're taking money out of the fighters' pockets.

Image: PA
Image: PA

"On pay per views the money goes to the fighters. Don't think it's affecting me, because it's not. It might be a tiny bit but not what it's affecting the fighter.

"The thing about illegal streams is if you're price point is £19.99, with the undercard you've got to give value for five or six hours for the night. You've got to sell to the customer an experience where you sit down, you can watch world championship boxing, great young fighters, 50-50 fights, and then build to the main event."

Fury vs. Wilder III, which is slated for July 18, will also be on PPV.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Tyson Fury, Boxing News, Anthony Joshua, Boxing, Eddie Hearn, Fight News, Deontay Wilder