When Errol Spence, Jr., retained his WBC and IBF welterweight championship belts on December 5th over Danny Garcia, he also made a financial statement in the era of COVID-19.
The December 5th event generated a live gate of $2,615,075 from 14,508 tickets sold. The Texas Department License and Regulation revealed the revenue from the final tax report.
Although 704 complimentary tickets were issued, the total fan attendance count was a healthy 15,212. However, fight night attendance announced was 16,102.
It is a manor statement in an era where mega fights aren’t being made quickly due to lack of full scale arena sales due to social distancing protocols.
The bout was the first for Spence (27-0, 21KOs) since his 12-round split decision win over Shawn Porter in their memorable Sept. 2019 welterweight title unification clash. The fight also headlined a Fox Sports PPV show, airing live from Staples Center in Los Angeles, which produced a live gate of $2,257,155 from 12,671 tickets sold and another 1,390 issued comps.
Davis-Santa Cruz was the first major U.S. televised card to take place with fans in attendance since the pandemic. The event produced a live gate of $1,466,475 from 7,891 tickets sold and another 747 issued comps.
The total for the evening was 9,024.
Spence-Garcia proved that boxing’s biggest draw sold less in the Lone Star State.
Canelo Alvarez’s 12-round blowout of Callum Smith on December 19th, live from The Alamodome in San Antonio, produced a live gate of $2,303,100 from 11,213 tickets sold, along with another 670 issued comps.
Spence’s return win was his third big attendance pull in his home state, all in less than three years.
His 1st round knockout of Carlos Ocampo was a sold-out crowd of 12,604 at Ford Center at The Star, the Cowboys’ training center in Frisco, Texas.
Spence also drew an announced crowd of 47,525 for his pre-COVID 12-round PPV shutout of unbeaten Mikey Garcia back in March 2019.
