Fans react to surprising Devin Haney vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko pay-per-view buys

The lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko was one of the most highly-anticipated matchups of the year — but mainly for the hardcore boxing fan.

Haney just about edged Lomachenko to come away with the unanimous decision win and defend his lightweight titles. Despite how competitive the fight was, many observers felt the Ukrainian should have come out on top.

That includes team Lomachenko who have since appealed the result and asked for all the major boxing bodies to keep him as the mandatory challenger — something that led to a NSFW rant from Haney.

If things are heated now, it was also heated before the fight as Haney viciously shoved Lomachenko during their pre-fight face-off resulting in a large fine for the American.

But despite that and the immense amount of talent in the ring, the fight didn’t translate to many pay-per-view buys. According to boxing reporter Dan Rafael, it only did “about 150,000” in the United States.

Devin Haney vs Vasyl Lomachenko reportedly did “about 150,000” USA PPV buys. [According to @DanRafael1]

— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 25, 2023

It’s not a disaster — especially given the price point of $59.99 — but it’s still not great either as many expected it do better.

As one Twitter user pointed out, as talented as both Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko are, they don’t have the brash personality or knockouts required to really attract a mainstream audience or casual fans.

In contrast, Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia did more than 1.2 million buys with their pay-per-view costing $84.99. Davis has also regularly sold more than 150,000 buys when fighting non-Garcia opponents as well.

Here are some of the reactions to the reported pay-per-view buy numbers:

While Loma & Haney are fantastic technicians, the harsh reality is… the casual market pays little heed to the sweet science element. They need either a brash personality/KO’s to satisfy their ‘combat sports needs’. Haney & Shakur’s PPV numbers may well be handicapped, long term.

— Raf (elusive2.0) (@elusiveyoutube) May 25, 2023

Pretty low numbers specially if the rumored purses are true… thought they did more after haney said “ wait till the ppv numbers roll in “

— Tha Villain (@The7xSuspension) May 25, 2023

didnt even know the fight was happening until the day before

— Tristan (@TristanGHill) May 25, 2023

KSI did over 300k and people say no one watches influencer boxing

— Sonny Witt (@SonnyWitt104) May 25, 2023

Devin ain’t that guy pic.twitter.com/qEg7Q76Yz0

— HITMANHARJ ☬ (@hitmanharj) May 25, 2023

Not surprised by these numbers

Two fantastic fighters, but not necessarily mainstream superstars to be generating great PPV numbers

— Pat Healy (@Pat_Healy_PD) May 25, 2023

We know who’s a side now pic.twitter.com/k1OOhZPRx2

— Penguin (@PenguinVal_) May 25, 2023

and still got paid more than almost ever current champion on the ufc roster

— Twooba/Twoobs (@tano_commander) May 25, 2023

Damn.. with Loma too??

— Kevin (@K3v1n76o) May 25, 2023

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