I fully expect McCormack, Whitaker and Yafai to follow him to Sky- they would have to be bonkers not too.
It's about time the Mccormacks, Clarke and Whittaker and the other lads turned pro. So we can see some real prospects on undercards instead of bums like Hamzah Sheeraz, George Fox and Campbell Hatton.
Matchroom have signed Cheavon Clarke. I think Hearn is struggling to attack the top UK Olympians compared to previous cycles. Ben Whittaker also prepared to sign with Sky and Boxxer apparently. If Joshua continues fighting, he’ll most likely continue fighting on Sky.
Lauren price has said she’ll announce who she’s signed with in the next week or so, I’d expect rating stall to go the same way as having them both on the same promotion makes sense. I think they’ll have gone with matchroom as they were at a lot of matchroom shows last year but wouldn’t be surprised to see them snapped up by boxxer
Ben Whitaker is the one they all want. It will be a total failure for Hearn if he doesn't get Whitaker. That signing matters most to all the promoters. I think Ben is probably struggling to choose. His style actually makes him a typical Frank Warren type of fighter. Flashy and fast, outspoken. But Sky will guarantee the platform to become a megastar. DAZN and BT don't guarantee that. Only problem with Sky is that it might be harder to make fights because Boxxer's stable is somewhat limited at the moment. Another factor is that you want to be able to make big world title fights in the US. Top Rank and Sky now have a partnership. That is huge for Whitaker because if I'm not mistaken all the US Tokyo Olympians signed with Top Rank from what I've heard. Frank and BT probably give Ben more access to the PBC though. And as for Hearn, Matchroom USA has been pretty average so far and doesn't look an attractive proposition for future opportunities abroad. But his UK stable is the best of the 3. A lot also rides on where AJ chooses to fight (I know he's with Hearn but that doesn't mean he'll fight on DAZN). If his rematch with Usyk is on Sky, that'll probably tempt more people to sign with Sky. I think Sky might be best for Ben and that's where he'll sign for, but it would be a huge hammer blow for Hearn.
I’m 99% sure he’s signing with Boxxer. He’s going to fight under 258MGT, and Fraser Clarke is already tied to 258 and Sky. This makes me presume all 258 fighters (including Joshua) will sign deals with Sky when their Matchroom deal with Hearn ends.
Big presumption. Hearn has signed with AJ for his career. 258 will do what’s right on an individual basis. Hearn overpaid a lot of the 2016 class and hasn’t got much value back. Clarke was signing with Matchroom until Boxxer effectively paid way over the odds. They are paying Fraser not far off what AJ got for turning over. Hearn said he’s not matching it. He’s of the opinion he will let sky do the donkey work and if it makes sense he will pay over the odds in 10-15 fights time.
He hasn’t specifically said that. Just knows given what he paid Kelly, cordina, buatsi the return has been a lot lower than expected. All of those particularly Kelly and cordina had a much bigger upside than Clarke. Hearn knows he needs to pay purses that are realistic for the signings he makes. Boxxer on the other hand need to overpay to build a stable and obtain some star power quickly. A lot of this will play into boxxers hands initially. I think from a logocal standpoint hearn will look at the fact he’s paying Johnny Fisher 20% of the outlay for Clarke and he can sell him for a much longer term and build him slowly whilst seeing a return. Clarke is going to need big money spent on opponents in fights 8-12 unless he is either a mandatory position or sells a shedload of tickets. Big money makes little sense
Kurt Walker - Top Rank Cheavon Clarke - Matchroom Frazer Clarke - Boxxer Pat Mccormack - Probellum Luke Mccormack - Probellum Caroline Dubois - Boxxer Peter Mcgrail - ? Ben Whittaker - ? Galal Yafai - ? Lauren Price - ? Karriss Artingstall - ? Charley Davison -? Madness how so many months later. Half of them still haven't decided who to sign with yet. And all apart from Mcgrail haven't had their pro debut yet.
The lack of pro debut’s is the most disappointing thing. I think in previous times they would’ve all signed with Hearn and been out by now but with the multiple options now it’s making it harder (and slower) to decide, they’re losing (or lost) any momentum that they may have. It also suggests to me that more are signing with Probellum - who at the moment simply don’t have the shows to facilitate them.
Very interesting to sign with a promoter who can’t actually promote you though isn’t it. They must be getting incredible money to fight with no tv deal and in Rainton
Confirmed that Galal Yafai has signed with Matchroom, probably as most would have expected. I really rated Kal as he was coming through the ranks through to being a champion, but being out of the ring for 2 years now has probably meant his days at the top are over.
Good shout, I meant to post this yesterday and forgot to. Sounds like he's on the fast track - first fight will be for the WBC International (or is it Global?) belt on the Okolie card. Hope he does well and he can lead a mini-revival of Birmingham as a fight city. It'd be good to see more regular arena fights at the NIA, have spent many fun nights canalside in Brum.
