It's going to stink the place out after the hype of Smith-Williams. Frank Warren made the same mistake on the Fury-Chisora II card where the crowd died after Saunders-Eubank and the main event was crap. On paper the LMW fight is far better than the LW fight here. Hope they see sense.
Frank really has lost it, he's been in the game long enough to know better. Look at what Hearn is doing, he's given the public what they want, well mostly
It's a bit better fight but no way is it 'far better' have you seen Petr Petrov fight, he's Russian! hes a good solid top 10 fighter and he comes to fight and he comes to win.That's a really good fight as well. I like both main fights on this bill.
Petrov is decent but he has also lost every time he has stepped up. It's not about the quality of the opponent anyway here, although it's a factor. The main factor should be fan hype and crowd excitement. Flanagan is not exactly an exciting fighter and Petrov has no profile here. Smith and Williams will have a lot of fans in the arena and there is a legitimate rivalry there. It's a no brainer. Sky had Joshua destroy Molina after the Whyte-Chisora epic and the crowd was so dead that they didn't even care about Wladimir Klitschko entering the ring after. Hearing Wlad ask the crowd if they were excited for his fight was one of the most embarrassing moments of the year in a boxing ring.
I see your point but I myself am a believer in the more prestigious fight being top of the bill, unless there's a huge difference in name factor. I think it'll be a pretty decent fight in itself, plus I won't be there so I don't really care about the atmosphere. Sweet Caroline seems to generate more atmosphere than most of the Matchroom fight but I'd sooner never listen to it again