Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia could be set to break a long-standing record with their highly anticipated super-lightweight world title fight on Saturday night.
The controversial Garcia has been actively promoting the bout on social media in the build-up, with some fans and fighters alike taking issue with his behaviour. He has managed to once again draw interest in a fight where he is a sizeable underdog, after previously getting massive eyes on his 2023 bout with Gervonta Davis.
Haney is no stranger to headlining on pay-per-view in his own right, but has yet to have a big hit in his main events with Regis Prograis and Vasily Lomachenko. Meanwhile, Garcia and Davis reportedly earned an eye-water 1.2million PPV buys, putting revenue for their fight in the upper eight figures.
Ryan Garcia’s social media antics cause concern – but also bring interest ahead of fight
Part of the storyline around this fight is Garcia’s increasingly bizarre X and Instagram posts as the bout edges closer. He has shared comical training footage, spread outrageous conspiracy theories and engaged regularly with fans on X Spaces.
Haney, on the other hand, has remained relatively quiet in the build-up. Until an intense first fight week face-off on Tuesday where he pushed Garcia atop the Empire State Building, he had allowed Garcia to take the promotional reigns.
But it is unclear if Garcia’s worrying behaviour will translate to pay-per-view buys for their fight on Saturday night. He has maintained massive social media engagement, but many fans believe he has no chance to beat his old amateur rival.
Devin Haney vs Ryan Garcia ticket sales struggling as fight approaches
Despite massive international interest in the fight, it appears that getting fans into the Barclays Center may prove difficult for promoter Oscar De La Hoya. There are still hundreds of tickets for sale across many tiers of the arena.
The Barclays Center at full boxing capacity can hold 16,000 fans, but they have yet to shift that number. There are also a number of resale options available, meaning it is unclear how many fans will actually be in attendance on Saturday night.
Despite this, De la Hoya insists that the event will be sold out come fight night. Cheapest tickets are just under $200 before fees, while ringside seats can cost over $7,400.
Devin Haney vs Ryan Garcia could become top 10 PPV of all time and overtake Mike Tyson
However, De La Hoya has said that initial numbers for pay-per-view on the event are such that he believes the fight may be a top 10 all-time seller. That would require 1.65million buys at minimum to overtake Mike Tyson’s comeback bout with Roy Jones Jr in November of 2020.
“This fight is going to be crazy successful because Ryan Garcia knows how to push everybody’s buttons,” De La Hoya explained on The MMA Hour. “No doubt [it will sell out]… One of the biggest, top ten, pay-per-views of all time.
“This is huge, it’s really big, it’s successful already. I think Ryan is a master artist when it comes to promoting, promoting himself, getting under people’s skin and promoting fights. He’s figures it out, he has the talent.”