The WBO Parker vs Fury heavyweight title fight later this month has come in for some flack from a bookie known for controversy.

The fight will take place next week on September 23rd at the Manchester Arena and will be promoted by Hennessy Sports.

It will be the first time a heavyweight title fight (or any fight of note for that matter) in professional boxing will be shown as a YouTube pay per view event.

Available in the US, UK and other markets.

It’s a move that’s angered some hardcore boxing fans but from this writer’s perspective, I think it’s a positive thing that new platforms are being tried in a sport like boxing.

A dinosaur drive sport which traditionally is about as innovative as an empty plastic box.

YouTube has billions of users available to it, too. So it will be interesting to see what kind of numbers and reach the event does.

A certain Paddy Power bookmakers doesn’t think it will do much, though:

If Arsenal lose tonight and then against Chelsea then you could probably stick Arsenal Fan TV on PPV. Do more buys than Parker v Fury.

— Paddy Power (@paddypower) September 14, 2017

Time will tell what it does do but at least they are trying new things – which takes bottle.

As a fight itself it pits two undefeated, young heavyweights against one another for a world title no less. It’s definitely a compelling fight from a purely boxing perspective: