I remember reading a comment on here a number of years ago... There was alot of talk about British boxing being booming and the UK being the new home of boxing. One poster commented saying that the UK was not yet the home of boxing as it was mainly for UK fighters and it would take non UK fighters to be able to fight in the UK and to build a name for themselves in the UK market, fighting in the UK and potentially becoming PPV stars as they have in the US for the UK to become the home of Boxing. I got thinking about this again reading the post about the PPV numbers for Usyk/Bellew - Now Bellew is a big name in the UK so i am sure he played more than his fair share in making that fight a successful PPV but I for one was really happy to see Usyk fighting here and hope he can build a base here. There is talk of Lomachenko also looking at the UK as a market and coming over here... Question is do you see this happening more? and who do you see crossing over could a Bivol build here for example?
I really hope so mate. There have been limited examples in the past - Winky Wright & Sergio Martinez had little stints of fighting over here in their early / mid careers, so it is possible. There's such a good opportunity now though - with the popularity of stadium fights, it's an easy sell to foreign boxers. Chances to box in front of 60-100K people are limited elsewhere, but quite easy here. Usyk would be a great starting point and I can certainly see him having a few over here. Hearn could easily get a few CW / HWs to feed to him.
Great thread mate, I can easily see Usyk doing well over here. I saw him in London and he was getting swamped with people asking for photos and that and tbh he seemed like a cool guy. He is a great fighter too beating Bellew the way he did also got people talking. I remember seeing Zolani Tete fight for the first time against Butler. Man i still remember that fight like it was yesterday. I was in awe of Tete as ive never seen him fight before and the way he finished that fight was beautiful. Honestly imo he took Butlers soul that night, he aint been the same since. I know i wasnt the only one who became a fan of his that night so whenever i see him fighting over here im sure to get tickets for it. He is doing alright for himself over here. And of course we cant forget my man Isaac Dogboe...legend in the making!!
Judging by the reaction he gets on social media from Brits, Anthony Sims Jr could be built well over here i think.
I actually got a ban for saying this. Nationalistic trolling apparently even though im from the UK! haha.
Its a difficult sell to the British public. They like a dog in the fight and having a match between 2 foreign fighters is a nightmare sell over here. They would have to be at least 1 big star like Canelo for it to do well or like Usyk they would have to beat a popular UK fighter, even then i dont see Usyk as a PPV star over here on his own. Id love to see a time when this changes and top foreign fighters come here early on and establish themselves but i just don't see it.
This is what Golovkin should have done after Brook. Should have signed with Matchroom and based himself here.
It’s a tough one really. Golovkin vs Canelo would sell out here and do well on PPV but how well would Golovkin Mitorsyan have done? Lomachenko vs Crolla will do well at the arena not too sure on PPV but Loma vs Marriaga would flop. So I think it needs to be an elite fighter vs a Brit eg Bellew v Usyk, Brook v Golovkin or it needs to be a mega fight to do well here.
Friendly reminder that boxing is still a niche sport here in the UK followed on an ongoing basis by a small % of the public. I think we can become a bit biased on here amongst other "dedicated" followers. In other words, it's nowhere near enough mainstream popular to have foreign fighters as household names cheered by Brits. Apparently, Ohara Davies made quite the impactful statement re Salas a few days back, most of the responses by the Cardiff fans on my Facebook, Ohara who? In fairness to Hearn, for all this swindling regarding Joshua, he has done a great job in getting it back from a moribund state if Warren had continued being the main driving force. I remember MMA fans sneering at boxing becoming redundant soon, Hearn has breathed life into it but it's still very much at a nascent stage IMO.
I actually have to disagree if I am honest... more and more over the last few years I have noticed more of my friends/colleagues whoever have been discussing boxing. Discussing upcoming fights... (mainly involving matchroom fighters I will concede) But it seems to be becoming more and more in the public consciousness. It’s not football but I actually think it’s up there nowadays with rugby, cricket etc. Far from niche I would say. It obviously spikes throughout the year when big fights come around but that’s just the nature of boxing but I’ll often hear colleagues talking about names I never thought they would know or boxing “news” like at the moment the Joshua /wilder/fury love triangle.