The Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia PPV numbers are in

Gervonta Davis' seventh-round knockout over Ryan Garcia has reportedly sold over 1.2 million PPV buys.

When first announced, Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) and Ryan Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) was debated among boxing fans and pundits if it genuinely qualified as a super fight. Well, the naysayers have been proven wrong. The Davis vs. Garvia PPV has reportedly generated over 1.2 million buys over various platforms, such as DAZN, Showtime PPV, and PPV.com.

Both Davis and Garcia are some of the most well-known boxers in today’s era. Their fight generated interest from both hardcore and casual boxing fans. It was one of the few fights in the sport that garnered mainstream attention proving that matchups and who you fight are of the utmost importance. The success of Davis vs. Garcia should incentivize more big-name fighters to face one another.

Davis’ seventh-round stoppage over Garcia is his highest-selling PPV by a wide margin. Previous PPVs that he headlined fell in the range of 200,000 and 250,000 buys against the likes of Leo Santa Cruz, Mario Barrios, Isaac Cruz, Rolly Romero, and Hector Luis Garcia. At 1.2 million, Davis vs. Garcia is the first boxing PPV that has sold over a million since the second bout between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin in September 2018.

However, some boxing exhibition matches, such as the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul events, reached or passed that million buy threshold.

Arguably just as impressive with Davis vs. Garcia being held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, it also reached the top five boxing gates in Nevada history with a $22.8 million gate. The match between the then two-undefeated lightweights falls just behind the two Canelo vs. Golovkin bouts of 2017 and 2018. Mayweather still reigns on top as his bouts with Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor still hold the live gate records for the state.

Before the Garcia fight, Davis showed that he was a draw as a live attraction as his most recent bouts sold-out venues in various markets. Fights in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Washington D.C. all drew large crowds for the Baltimore native. The match with Garcia reportedly held 20,842 in attendance at the T-Mobile Arena.

The combination of Davis’ ability to sell tickets and Garcia’s social media marketability, along with selling the match as a grudge match between two undefeated fighters, was a recipe for success.

Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia generated 1.2 million PPV buys across multiple platforms in the United States

After the victory over Garcia, Davis stated emphatically that he was the new face of boxing. While that distinction is certainly up for debate, with numerous anticipated bouts at his disposal with the likes of Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko, and more at lightweight, the crown for the face of boxing could belong to Davis sooner than later.

Davis vs. Garcia, if nothing else, was a barometer for the health of the state of boxing. Despite there being no titles on the line and a somewhat perfunctory catchweight, the fight showed that if fighters are willing to take a risk and step into the ring, boxing still has a place in today’s sports world. And at its best, it is more than just a niche sport.