Tone, there comes a time in life when you have to look forward, instead of looking back. It's quite obvious what's happening. You just have to open your eyes and your mind. Never mind Fury, Wilder or Whyte boxing in America. Look at Hearn and everything he's doing out there including taking AJ out of the UK.
There is obviously considerably more money to make in an American market than in a UK market. They both have roughly the same levels of disposable income, are broadly as interested in sport as the other, but one is six times the size. That's a no-brainer. The question is what will generate money in an American market? Historically, this has been American and Mexican boxers. Is there any evidence that this is changing? I don't personally see it. You need to go all the way down to Pacquaio v Cotto in the list of all-time PPV sales to find a fight in the States that didn't feature a guy from one of those two countries. Indeed, that's the only fight in American history to do a million buys which didn't feature an American or Mexican headliner. Now, can I understand why Hearn is doing so much in America? Of course. He's got the biggest heavyweight in the world to market. He's got a big interest in a company which just so happens to be showing the biggest PPV guy in the sport at the moment. But does that mean heavyweight boxing is gone from the UK? Probably not. We'll see what's next, but for me, people are getting excited about deals before any fights have been announced, tickets have been sold or PPV's bought. For all the talk of big money business still needs to make sense.
So, can we all agree that Whyte is worth more than 5 million now? I bet he will make a lot more than that if he fights Fury on ESPN
It's risk and reward, he is currently fighting on ppv in UK no doubt earning £2-3m a fight. If he fights Joshua and is destroyed Sky wont have him headlining another ppv anytime soon so his pay would go down maybe 90% or so compared to current levels. By not fighting Joshua now he can if he chooses carry on getting these 2-3m payday knowing Joshua is still there to fight.
Depends on what sort of business that it does. This is why I think there's a little jumping of the gun here. It's all well and good saying ESPN are going to throw mega money at Fury and Whyte. But is there any evidence whatsoever that this will make any business sense? These companies aren't in the business of chucking money away, and if the suggestion from some is that Whyte earns more than 5m and Fury somewhere in the region of 15m if they fought each other, how is this money generated? Open question; what sort of business do you think Fury Whyte does in America at this moment in time?
Whyte hasn't actually signed with Top Rank yet has he? I'm sure Eddie Hearn won't want to lose his only other PPV fighter outside of Joshua, so maybe he'll try and make Whyte a counter offer worth even more to try and keep him.
Like with the Fury deal, I’m going to wait to see what fight gets made for Whyte by Arum/ESPN and the location etc before making a real judgement. However, it’s not a good look for Matchroom or indeed British boxing. Especially when Eddie was stood next to Dillian on Saturday night and said that’s he’s fighting at the 02 in July.
Hearn must be seething deep down if true. His only other arguable PPV fighter is Callum Smith, and he's only PPV with the correct dance partner. The only one being CEJ, and hes tied down to PBC for his next 3 fights. I think Matchroom have genuinely dropped a clanger here and took their eye off the ball in the British market. His July show has suddenly gone. Unless he sticks Chisora Parker as PPV with a 'stacked undercard'. Might even clutch at straws with a Kell Brook chucked in with someone. Bet Sky are livid. That's what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket though. They was lucky Bellew beat a shot David Haye, cause he was never PPV in a million years. Suddenly got overhyped because he beat a Haye looking for one last paycheck.
Any fight between AJ, Fury, Wilder & Whyte will probably be in America now. What worries me is that Sky/Matchroom/FW etc might see this as justification for a ppv price increase to keep these fights in the UK.
There’s a lot more money in the US as well...had relatively average heavyweights getting million dollar pay days in non-title bouts back in the 90s...
Would not surprise me. Sky and BT need to start paying big right fees to their boxing departments for big ppvs so costs dont go up anymore for the customers and we can see the big fights here.
