Saturday night's undisputed junior featherweight, All Japanese "mega-fight" saw Naoya Inoue not only win big over Junto Nakatani in the ring, but the bout has broken revenue records for the crowd at the Tokyo Dome and the pay per view in Japan.
As impressive as he's been in the ring over the past decade, Naoya "The Monster" Inoue is surging just as much as a commercial success. This included his Saturday night "mega-fight" decision win over countryman Junto Nakatani at the Tokyo Dome.
"The Monster," now 33-0, 27 KOS, delivered another great performance in defending his undisputed 122 lb. titles and the fans payed massively to be there live and watch on different Japanese PPV outlets.
Insider Dan Rafael reported on our most recent "Fight Freaks Unite Podcast" that the bout made an historic $32 million (U.S. dollars) on the "live gate" or tickets and revenue at the Tokyo Dome.
Hear us discussing it here:
Further, as Talksport in England and Yahoo Japan reported Tuesday,
The minimum price breakdown Saturday night for entry was $70 (U.S.) but the much more lucrative ringside seats (by the thousands) were priced at $2,100 (U.S.)
Here's more from Talksport,
"According to Yahoo Japan, the undisputed super bantamweight title fight surpassed the 5 billion yen (£23.5m) grossed by the 2022 kickboxing grudge match between Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru Segawa....
Japanese on-demand streaming service Lemino sold PPVs for 6,050 yen (£28.25) for advance purchases and 7,150 yen (£33.48) for same-day purchases.
ESPN Knockout's Julius Julianis reports that by Thursday, Lemino had already shifted 500,000 buys.
The boxing insider estimates that by Saturday, that number will have climbed to 800,000.
By adding in the broadcasting rights fees, merchandise sales and ticket prices for the live viewings held in 116 cinemas in Japan, Inoue-Nakatani is expected to be worth around 10 billion yen (£47m)."
To clarify that money in U.S. dollars, if the PPV through Lemino did 800,000 or more buys, that would have represented a minimum of $32 million and probably closer to $34 or $35 million.
Plus, the bout being shown in 116 cinemas Saturday night in Japan, if it was priced similarly to the in home PPV, was easily an additional $4-5 million or more in revenue.
All tolled- the bout had to have easily garnered north of $65 million in revenue.
There are various reports that Inoue, who is the most financially successful boxer in Japanese history, was guaranteed at least $14 million with the likelihood that he made easily in access of $20 million for the fight.
Nakatani, as an unbeaten, three division world champ, was reportedly guaranteed over $7 million with the chance to make more than $10 million, by far his largest payday.
So, all parties involved had to be thrilled with the profitability of the mega-bout and it only leads to speculation that they might fight a rematch in the near future.
Also, Inoue could get massive money for a battle in Japan with surging U.S., multi-division world champ Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez. That bout would also have massive PPV appeal in the United States.