Boxing
Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua 2 was most streamed event on DAZN in 2019
The upset nobody saw coming translated into a highly anticipated, must-see rematch to remember.
Fight fans saw it as such, as Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua 2 became the most streamed event on DAZN in 2019. The Dec. 7 bout had Joshua scoring a unanimous decision over Ruiz to take back his unified heavyweight crown. Joshua accomplishmed the feat in the rematch a little over six months after allowing the 15-1 underdog to shock the world with a seventh-round TKO of the British fighter.
The first three most streamed events on DAZN were rounded out by Tottenham vs. Liverpool (June 1) and Liverpool against Barcelona (May 7) as Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in UEFA Champions League soccer action. From there, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's 11th-round KO of Sergey Kovalev on Nov. 2 placed fourth and KSI vs. Logan Paul 2 a week later was fifth. Four more soccer games followed by Canelo's unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs (May 4) completed the Top 10.
Top 10 most-streamed events on DAZN in 2019
- 1. Ruiz vs. Joshua 2 (Dec. 7)
- 2. UEFA Champions League: Tottenham vs. Liverpool (June 1)
- 3. UEFA Champions League: Liverpool vs. Barcelona (May 7)
- 4. Canelo vs. Kovalev (Nov. 2)
- 5. KSI vs. Logan Paul 2 (Nov. 9)
- 6. UEFA Champions League: Tottenham vs. Bayern Munich (Oct. 1)
- 7. Serie A: Milan vs. Internazionale (Sept. 21)
- 8. UEFA Champions League: Ajax vs. Tottenham (May 8)
- 9. UEFA Champions League: Barcelona vs. Liverpool (May 1)
- 10. Canelo vs. Jacobs (May 4)
Still, it's easy to understand how Joshua-Ruiz 2 grabbed the top spot. The manner at which Ruiz disposed of Joshua in their first fight, with four knockdowns en route to the monumental upset, created massive anticipation for the rematch. During the promotion, fight fans were left wondering whether Joshua would prove the upset to be a fluke or if Ruiz would again impose his will on AJ.
When Dec. 7 rolled around, Joshua boxed beautifully behind the jab and never let Ruiz do damage inside. Ruiz didn't do himself any favors by tipping the scale 15 pounds overweight.
Joshua's strategy paved the way toward a unanimous decision retribution, as he took back his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO world heavyweight titles at the newly-constructed Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Altogether, DAZN enjoyed a record consumption of sports in 2019 with 507 million hours streamed. That marked a 98 percent increase from the 256 million hours streamed in 2018.
Soccer had the most consumption with 314.6 million hours streamed, followed by baseball (38.1 million hours), motorsports (37.9 million hours), American football (37.2 million hours) and boxing (22.6 million hours).
Consumption by device was led by cell phones (26 percent), set-top boxes/streaming sticks (23 percent), Smart TVs (21 percent), desktop (17 percent) and game consoles (13 percent).
