Let’s get ready to rumble.
A Pennsylvania promotions company is suing The Cozy Corner Sports Bar in Queens for allegedly poaching the $80 a pop pay-per-view telecast of a hot boxing card headlined by Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder III, according to a Brooklyn federal complaint.
The Oct. 9, 2021 “Once And For All” trilogy fight, which “The Gypsy King” won by 11th-round knockout over Wilder, was widely regarded as the best bout of the year and one of the greatest heavyweight fights of all-time, according to boxing experts.
The back-and-forth bout reportedly generated around 600,000 pay-per-view buys in the U.S. and around 300,000 buys overseas.
The sports bar in St. Albans “intentionally pirated” the pay-per-view in order to “entice patrons to the establishment to spend money while viewing the program,” the Oct. 9 filing states.
Joe Hand Promotions is seeking unspecified damages, the suit said.
The Bucks County Company company holds exclusive rights to distribute pay-per-view (PPV) sporting events, such as boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) matches, to commercial establishments like bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.
“You need commercial licensing to show certain pay-per-view events,” a Joe Hand employee told The Post. “They committed piracy.”
The cost the bar should have paid depended on fire code occupancy, the employee noted.
The Cozy Corner Sports Bar and Samantha Ellis, the bar’s agent, could not be reached for comment.