Kenya among top three countries that watched fight illegally

Data from privacy firm Muso has revealed that more than 13 million people worldwide streamed the boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr illegally.

The top three countries were Nigeria (2.35 million), Kenya (998,027) and UK (921,994).

According to the company’s CEO Andy Chatterley, the fight attracted the largest unauthorized audience in recent years.

"We saw how popular the Fury v Wilder fight was across piracy networks," said Muso's chief executive and co-founder, Andy Chatterley.

"The Joshua v Ruiz fight has been the largest unauthorised audience that we've ever tracked across boxing and it's staggering to see that 93% of the audience watched via YouTube.

"The official pay-per-view audience figures have yet to be published, but this is a massive audience that's being ignored. This highly engaged audience offers up huge insight and perhaps, more importantly, significant commercial opportunity,” he said.

In the fight, Ruiz sprang one of the biggest shocks in the history of heavyweight boxing as he overcame Joshua with a seventh-round knockout at Madison Square Garden.

Ruiz came into the fight as an underdog and expressed his delight at making his dream come true.

“I just feel so good, man. This is what I have been dreaming about. This is what I have been working hard for.

“I can’t believe I just made my dreams come true,” he said after the fight.