Lewis-Grant Packs a PPV Punch

Cable World, May 8, 2000 by Mike Reynolds

The final entries are still being tallied, but it looks as if Lennox Lewis' successful defense of his heavyweight crown against Michael Grant generated 380,000 viewers and $17 million in pay-per-view revenues.

Mark Taffet, SVP of Time Warner Sports said, "Our best estimate at this stage is about 380,000 buys" for the April 29 fight. The fight card, which carried a suggested retail tab of $44.95, generated $17 million, a total that was driven by strong results from several distributors.

"The Lewis/Grant event was enhanced by the performance of EchoStar, DirecTV, Cablevision and the digital cable systems from In Demand," he said. "We will place an increased emphasis on digital cable because this is clearly a source of continued revenue growth for the pay-per-view business."

He said TVKO was pleased with Lewis' performance in the ring, which included four knockdowns in his two-round demolition of Grant. "Lennox left no doubt as to who is the heavyweight champion of the world. He is a powerful and dominant puncher," said Taffet. Was TVKO as happy with the performance in the homes? Taffet said, "Given the competitive nature of the sports calendar with the NBA playoffs and Major League Baseball, as well as the relatively low exposure of Michael Grant, the event performed within our level of expectations."

Taffet gave the thumbs up to promotional support for the bout by cable and satellite distributors and the fight's publicity level.

Next up for TVKO: the June 17 Oscar De La Hoya/Shane Mosely bout from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. TVKO has high hopes for the contest between boxing's "Golden Boy" and Mosely. "We expect De La Hoya/Mosely to be among the highest grossing non-heavyweight fights of all time," Taffet predicted.