Gervonta “Tank” Davis drew a pay-per-view attendance of 325,000-350,000 for his June 15 bout against Frank Martin at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Those are good numbers considering Tank’s opponent, “The Ghost” Martin (18-1, 12 KOs), is a relatively unknown fighter among general boxing fans.
For star Tank Davis, the buyout numbers are progress, but they're still far short of the 1.2 million viewers he saw in his fight against Ryan Garcia in April 2023. That fight was a special case because Tank was fighting an opponent with a huge social media following and wasn't able to draw fans on his own like he did against Martin.
Canelo Alvarez still holds the PPV title
As strong as Tank's fight against Martin was in terms of PPV numbers, Canelo Alvarez still holds the top spot in PPV and remains the face of boxing for now. The May 4 bout between the undisputed super middleweight champion and lesser known Jaime Munguia drew a reported 500,000 fans.
These figures show that Canelo is popular even when fighting unknown fighters, drawing bigger crowds than Tank Davis. Munguia is well known among American boxing aficionados but not among the general public.
That means he didn't do much for Canelo in drawing 500,000 people to their fight on May 4th. Canelo did it all by himself. Canelo is still the most marketable fighter in the sport and that's not going to change unless Tank Davis' popularity skyrockets. The only way he'll grow in popularity is if he improves the quality of his opponents.
The importance of PPV numbers in boxing
PPV numbers are a measure of a fighter's stardom. They measure a fighter's marketability and how much money they make from a fight. Tank's PPV for Martin was good, but it didn't come close to the $500,000 that Canelo made.
Tank will need to make some changes, beef up his opponents and be more active on social media if he is to catch up with Canelo.
