Hopefully Frampton doesn't tie himself to anyone and goes on all the shows. By fair the best pundit. Has he been on sky before? Is the beef with Eddie squashed?
Only made more later on after stsying on Sky and beating Masternek, IIunga Mukabu and Flores and getting the Haye fight. Masternek lost a couple of fights prior to Bellew fight but was a big step up fight for Bellew at CW. One most in his position would have avoided tbh.
I really like Mike Costello, I'm glad he's landed a good gig because he's a proper journalist who is very consistent in what he does. A very good appointment. Andy Lee is usually good when he's alongside him, so that's good news too.
Andy Lee is pretty good I think. Says it as he sees it, good technical knowledge without being too pretentious or over complicated. Very astute choice. Similar in some ways to Paulie but less outspoken. Costello is a very solid choice, not sure who else would've been a better pick. Agreed on Froch and Nelson. I still can't understand why you like Bellew but there you go!
I think Bellew, at times at least, makes an effort to get into the actual boxing aspects, when he does that he can be good. Froch and Nelson are much further down the road of 'trot out a cliche' than Bellew, although he's guilty of that at times also. I also think Bellew may help DAZN reach a slightly different audience, because he's happy to hype fights up in a way that the rather straight laced Costello or Lee may not. Boxing is a balancing act I think, appeal too much to the hardcore fans and you shut out the casual ones, go too much the other way and you wind up with some of the worst of the Sky coverage. With that in mind I think this was a good, balanced lineup, a mix of sound journalism and boxing commentary, a bit of hype, a balance of male and female voices etc.
The casuals (especially the Matchroom lot) annoy me as much as the next person but that's a very good point.
I think you have to be a "casual" to want all these presenters and pundits anyway. By all means, interview the fighters who've just had the fight, interview the trainers and managers and promoters as well, if there's a pressing question about the plans for the next fight. But all these ex-boxers giving their opinion, what's the point really? They need to be binned. Anyone with any knowledge of boxing, anyone who's seen more than a handful of fights and is paying attention, ought to be able to make up their own minds. The ringside commentary is a good idea but as long as the commentator doesn't feel the need to constantly talk. It's supposed to be commentary, not a constant stream of consciousness.
Yeah agreed. I think overall it's a good balance. I do think Bellew isn't nearly as popular or liked as MR think he is. That's just my instinct though so could well be wrong as they've obviously done significant research. I can't think of many others to fill that role they obviously want though - recently retired fighter, relative household name, charismatic* (subjective, in my opinion not at all) I think some of it is just to help it be a slick operation and a good TV product. Whilst that may not appeal so much to people like ourselves, lots of people (especially those that may be sports fans but not necessarily boxing fans) are very used to highly polished BBC/Sky/BT productions for football, rugby, tennis, boxing etc. It would stick out like a sore thumb if it wasn't a well packaged product. Agree on the analysis point, the thing that irritates me (and is actually very patronising to newer fans) is the propaganda and favouritism in the analysis. I appreciate they have to try and sell the home fighters, but it cheapens the product.
In Costello and Lee they got two of the names I'd have at or near the top of the list. That covers the actual fight commentary itself and that's by far the most important part. After that, it's obviously subjective. I think they want someone who will stick their neck out, hype it up a bit, throw some shade etc. I'm saying that as someone who doesn't really go for that shtick at all. For example, I like Richie Woodhall, very measured, laid back, knows the sport well, but tied up with BT Sport/Queensberry. When I watch Ritchie he's often having to straight bat something ott from the carnival barker crowd of Rawling or Bunce. He's not a natural at hyping fights, just a very nice man who knows boxing inside and out. DAZN and Hearn aren't in the 'lets represent the noble art of fisticuffs' they're selling their product to as many people as possible. Probably a polarising figure like Bellew is going to be more effective at that and I don't want to do him down too much as sometimes in the pre fight analysis he's come up with some decent points.
I think re: Bellew if it’s not one of his mates or little fake mates he’s not too bad. He’s absolutely unbearable otherwise.
Yes that's fair comment. He's capable of spewing mountains of old tripe if he has some kind of connection with a fighter.
Don't get me wrong, I love a press conference, a build up with bother, all that nonsense. I just don't care who is the person presenting that nonsense, or a fight. How many hangers on do you need? Apart from the commentators they are surplus to requirements. If I'm not watching a fight live, I fast forward all the chatter, and if it is live I'm usually stuffing my ugly face while chatting to whoever is in the room with me until the fight starts. If Eddie used their salaries to pay the actual fighters, then we might see a better card or two.
