Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk has reportedly landed just inside the top ten most-watched boxing pay-per-views of all time.
According to ESPN, Fury vs Usyk generated upwards of $200million in PPV revenue from just over 1.5 million buys.
Those numbers slot the undisputed heavyweight clash somewhere between No.9 Floyd Mayweather vs Miguel Cotto (1.5m) and No.8 Mike Tyson vs Peter McNeeley (1.55m) in the all-time PPV charts.
The report goes on to add that the vast majority of the Fury vs Usyk buys came from the United Kingdom, while the event also made $40m (£31.3m) in sponsorship and another $3m-plus (£2.3m) in ticket sales.
It is also reported that the event cost in the region of $200m
Meanwhile, an estimated £95m worth of revenue was lost through illegal streams.
As per the Daily Mail, at least 20 million people illegally streamed the event instead of forking out the £24.99 UK fee.
Sky Sports, TNT Sports, and DAZN all bought the television rights in the United Kingdom but there were also 2,000 different streaming locations broadcasting the action illegally.
A DAZN spokesperson said of the findings: “Sports piracy is theft. DAZN invests a significant amount in combatting it, using technology to monitor the activity of users, and educating fans about the risks.
“It may seem a victimless crime, but most illegal feeds are provided by criminal networks or carry the risk of phishing and identity theft.
“Our advice is don’t risk the sport you care about, or your own data, by using illegal feeds.”
Usyk was crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years via split decision in their inaugural encounter.
They are now set to run it back on December 21 after Fury activated the two-way rematch clause in their contract.
It is presently unclear whether their second fight will be for all four major sanctioning body belts again as the IBF seems intent on stripping Usyk of their title unless he fights mandatory challenger, Daniel Dubois, next.
Usyk recently put in a request with the IBF to grant him an exception, which is currently under consideration at the time of writing.
“We’re waiting for a decision to be made,” said Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas on the IBF’s pending decision.
