Totally agree. In today's world of multiple champions the general public and casual fan are left confused. Therefore they are more likely to be attracted by good match-making.
Except when the public gets bored or ridiculous titles and takes no interest in them at all. For example, a few years ago when John Thaxton was British champion and Khan had the commonwealth strap. Amir Khan was arguably even bigger back then than he is now and drawing in millions of viewers every couple of months. Imagine if Khan v Thaxton for the British championship was promoted to the general public and sporting world. It might have been a great fight and the legacy of the British title gets known to the casual viewer. Next time there's a British champion, this will get remembered and therefore the marketing value will be greater. With the upcoming DeGale/Groves fight, whilst hyping and trying to sell it Sky should be milking the fact that it's a British title fight and in future that could well get repayed. Not enough long term planning is in place for boxing as a whole because it's far easier for each individual promoter to make more money for themselves by diluting the entire sport
I agree with your sentiments here, but if the likes of Degale and others didnt get the money then they would have signed with a US promoter. I think it is far more healthy that the top prospects are signing with the domestic promoters. I would hate to see all of the prospects going to the likes of Goldenboy et al. I prefer to see thriving British and Irish promoters and promotions rather than losing all of the talent to overseas promoters. The problem is when you move the talents to ppv too fast, like the case with Khan. This is where you draw the line. I agree with the point about Sky demanding more quality fights, the regular Saturday night cards have been very dissappointing.
Thursday Night Fights 40 Shows a year. Ringside plus Live Boxing. A 3 hour show. British & Commonwealth title fights and major prospects. The young fighters will be on a platform where they are able to showcase there skills to a biggest possible audience. The amount of competition around on a saturday night means Boxing viewing figures quite often fail to reach 6 figures. Friday Night Fights 10x a Year. European title & Higher Domestic level (Smith/Simpson etc). Will have a higher budget, more marketing and be previewed on the Ringside show and Sky Sports News. Prizefighter 6x a year will also be Friday Nights. Saturday Night Fights 6x a Year. World title fights or packed cards. Higher budget and more marketing. Press confrences and Weigh ins shown live on SSN. Saturday night will allow for larger crowds. 2 Prizefighter Saturday nights a year will also take place. Sky Box Office 4-6x Per Year. Only for major fights with an agreed budget for an undercard produced by a Sky affiliated promoter and must include both UK & US legs. You then say to the promoters tell me what you got. If Maloney comes with Hall vs Donnelly its Thursday Night. If he comes with McDonell vs Hall is Friday night and he gets more money. If Warren wants to do Murray vs Spanish cabby its friday night. If he wants to do Murray vs Mitchell its Saturday Night.
Rob.. how do you earn a living? All are very good ideas though and I really wish someone like you was put in charge :good Is there anything realistic that the British board of control can do to help the situation?
Theres no reluctance they just go where the money is. The germans are not intrested so they make more money fighting in the UK. McIntosh is fighting in Germany next month becuase he was offered more money than what Warren offered to fight Bellew. Simple. BB your getting it all wrong. Just raise the standard of what you accept for European and Commonwealth titles and its not a problem. Jamoye, Fegatilli, Nuzchenko were all good challangers. Usuhona was good for the Commonwealth.
The BBBofC cannot help. All they need to do is have official rankings and allot of domestic boxing issues will sort themselves out but they seem reluctant to do so.
the general public are not confused. they just see for the Commonwealth title and it adds meaning. if they as over 10 rounds it means nothing.
Absolutely bang on here :thumbsup We saw Khan vs some pudding for the WBO intergalactic title and Thaxton ended up with Lawton if I remember rightly in front of two men and his dog. Would have been a big moment in Khan's career to get past an established champion like Thaxton.
As for your previous point Rob - I've not got any argument to your point that a title fight will do better on TV. However - getting viewers interested and retaining them are two different challenges. We've seen mismatch after mismatch for the Commonwealth title, to the point where even the likes of me and you don't take an interest and just ignore it. On other shows we've seen two Commonwealth title fights in different weight divisions, one a 12 round borefest and the other a 3 round blowout. People might watch, but then they'll think ''balls to it'' and not bother - so they'll miss a Simpson vs Lindsay, or a Hall vs McDonnell - proper fights that are of a good standard. If we can be served up these kind of fights a couple of times a month I'd gladly settle for a reduced amount of coverage. Not everyone has a right to earn big money or hold a title - in the bygone days there used to be such a thing as a contender.... a Stefy Bull or a Nigel Wright. With a few simple changes that I've outlined we could go some way towards restoring order. Like Tom Sayers said, following boxing is a ***** - if the sport wants to attract new and dedicated followers it has to change sharpish.
It doesn't really matter who's fault it was though, that was just one example of how the British title isn't being marketed well enough. Like you said, if the BBBofC put up an official ranking system and made mandatories more clear and more often then it would help up the quality of the matches being made.
Yes but all you need to do is have more quality control not completley drop the title all together. Its not the title thats the issue its Sky allowing that poor opponent on TV. I don't think some of the changes you have outlined are simple or practical.