I'm not a hater of matchroom, Eddie or AJ in fact I'm a big fan, I enjoy what they bring to boxing. What does annoy me though is all these stadium fights. For me klitschko was a stadium fight, but takam and parker? Come on man! I get the demand for tickets and so on but its diluting for me what a stadium fight should be. Froch groves 2 and AJ klit in recent times... I would never ever go to a stadium fight even with a free ticket unless its in the mega seats inner circle (which will never happen) you get no view and end up watching the fight on a screen. The only thing you get is the atmosphere but as a fan I love the sport and if I'm there I wanna see the action. Eddie is milking the life out of stadium bouts, go to US and put on a show there and step it up, stop milking the British fans and take a risk... TV or arena over stadiums every day
Fair enough if the demand is there which it clearly is. But I agree - no way would I spend wodgers of cash to go to a stadium where i'd probably have to watch it on the big screen anyway - then spend hours getting home. Rather go to my mates house , get lagered and curried up then shout at the TV for a few hours. The O2 does have a great atmosphere for boxing (or any event really). Football stadiums are just too big for boxing in my view. Would like to go to Vegas for boxing one day although I suspect it might be a let down.
O2 is great but you can't blame them doing stadium fights when they sell. They would be mad to sell 16k tickets when they can sell 70k instead.
That’s a lie. I’ve been to the Millenium and Wembley to watch AJ and Froch-Groves 2. I’ve had unbelievable seats for £300. Especially the last AJ fight. But as said above why would they sell 16/17k when they sell 70+ out in minutes. If there was 150k seater arena they would sell that out too. He’s a phenomenon and the demand to see him is huge.
It's all about supply and demand. If you was Eddie then you would do exactly the same thing so you can't really complain. I've been to stadium fights and the atmosphere is unbelievable. Yes you don't see as much but I normally watch it all again when I get home. If that isn't for you then fair enough but there is enough people who do like it so stadium fights are here to stay. Also if Eddie started taking these fights to Vegas then everyone would complain that they are not getting the chance to see them over here so he can't win.
I went to the Takam fight we had “floor seats” about 20 rows from the front and it was a crock of **** really. The atmosphere was great during the main fight but now I have experienced that I wouldn’t go again. Your right last stadium fight I would go to unless I could get very close to the ring I would actually rather watch it on a big screen in an pub with beers
Absolute Garbage 1. Froch v Groves - I was in the stand on the half way line, Lower Tier, 15 row back and simply still too far away for a decent view compared to any seat in an Arena. 2. I was on the pitch for the Klitschko v Haye fight in Hamburg and Haye v Chisora at Upton Park with seats very close to the Inner Square and also viewed from further back for Brook v Spence at Bramall Lane. Dreadful view of the fight simply because the seats on the pitch are on floor level. The cants in the inner square frequently stand up (many on top of their seats) and people behind see nothing, particularly when any decent action is underway. Arenas are designed for sports with small areas of activity such as Basketball and Boxing where stadiums are designed for large areas of activity such as football or rugby. There is no sport played in an area smaller than a Boxing Ring so Football Stadiums are not fit for purpose when watching Boxing for nearly all spectators. If you have to watch on a screen then there is no point being there. Eh Day has zero interest in the customer experience as his objective is simply to part fools with their money. I will never be back to a football stadium to watch boxing.
If there is demand then it shall be supplied. I'm not into stadium fights, personally. Unless you're very close that is. Partially because I have terrible eyesight and partially because most of the crowd are wankers (me included).
For a fighter as popular as Joshua there are 2 business models that Hearn could use. The current one where he sells tickets for between £40-£2000 and sells 80-90K or he can sell out the Millennium and charge £300-£8000 per ticket to make the same money. Fact is the first model will mean more people can see the fight and is at a more affordable price for people. The 2nd model would ensure it becomes a middle to upper class sport and you'll have what is happening in America and the sport is killed at the grass roots level over time.
I agree stadium fights are not ideal for boxing if you actually care about watching the fight. People should never go to a stadium fight expecting a good or decent view unless they've paid to be ringside. Stadium fights are more about having a night out with your mates, go for a meal, watch a fight, go to a bar til your kicked out, maybe head to a casino. It's an event where you are there to share the atmosphere more than anything and then watch the fight the next day on replay. Fact is many people in the UK go to major sporting events for the latter reason. People go to Wimbledon and just sit on the hill and never get onto a major court or even one of the lesser courts. It's just as much about the experience as it is actually watching the sport on display.
well stadium fights are for the rich and the casual fans that only watch the big fights and fighters like froch and AJ bring the causals in 10 folds so might as well bleed them dry, i like going to the smaller venues like the york hall but Eddie Hearn has ruined that as well by over selling the venue 3x over so had to pay money to watch someones back of their head
I’ve been to loads of amateurs shows but never a big stadium fight. We went to a concert at the o2 before xmas, I worked out what seats I would need to be in to be able to actually watch the fights and see punches landing, got home went online and looked at tickets for the haye/Bellew fight, seats in the same area were £300!!! And that seemed quite far away to me. I’ll stick to watching it in HD at home on the Telly thanks