Hennessy Sports has announced that the WBO world heavyweight championship title fight between Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury on Saturday September 23rd at the Manchester Arena will be shown exclusively live in the UK and Ireland via YouTube on a pay-per-view basis with further countries to be announced shortly. A portion of the undercard will also be streamed for free before the big fight. Prices are only £9.99 in the UK and €11.99 in the Republic of Ireland, a far cry from the $99 American fight fans shelled out for Mayweather-McGregor.
With 1.5 billion viewers globally, Hennessy Sports believes that partnering with YouTube (which is the world’s biggest provider of online video content) could prove to be a pivotal change in the sport’s landscape.
Through the years boxing has been delivered to fans via the traditional route of TV and after receiving numerous offers from TV broadcasters for the event, promoter Mick Hennessy, CEO of Hennessy Sports, has made the bold and visionary move to partner with YouTube.
Hennessy believes this will take Parker v Fury to a global audience; bring in younger viewers and attract a new generation of fans to the sport with the wide range of devices that the fight can be viewed on.
Hennessy said: “The Heavyweight Championship of the World is still the biggest prize in sport and can capture the imagination of the public like no other sport. For Fury v Parker, we decided to make this event innovative, forward thinking and really push out the boundaries. We’ve been talking to YouTube for months about bringing Boxing to a wider audience through their platform, and are delighted to have found a way to achieve this. The way TV viewing is consumed has altered rapidly in the last few years and we wanted to be at the forefront of that change in presenting this fight. As a company, Hennessy Sports, is proud to be playing such a pivotal role in transforming the way in which live boxing content is televised. This is the future of boxing. I’d like to thank our Board and Shareholders for their continued support in helping us to reach this milestone. Finally, I’d like to thank Peter and Hughie Fury for their great foresight in partnering with us on this exciting journey.”