That sums it up for me. I was listening to Kell on the Costello and Bunce podcast. I wish him well, but this fight seems like the definition of a cash out. He's cut out Dom Ingle and Eddie Hearn, so you have to imagine this is his last fight and he's unlikely to serve up many surprises. I hope he manages to put up a decent display and can leave with some honour intact. He deserves that much.
Cutting out ingle is going a bit OTT. Kell needed to leave Sheffield to train but Dom couldn't leave his other fighters for such a long time. I am not buying this cash out talk either. Kell is comfortable and doesn't need to worry about money. Kell chased this fight because he still believes he belongs at the top and genuinely believes he can beat Crawford. I honestly don't understand some fans. If kell was fighting a top 10 guy this weekend he would be getting tons of abuse on how he taking another tune up fight. He does the total opposite and fights P4P top 3 guy and still gets abuse and criticized. Sometimes boxers just can't do anything right in fans eyes.
Completely agree with this, I was thinking the same my self. Big Brook fan - I think all the noises out of his mouth the last year have been positive and I expect him to be in excellent shape and it should be a great fight. With regards to the broadcasting rights, I had a few back and forwards on the forum a few weeks back after the Eddie v Kell stuff. I know the argument was that they wanted PPV and while it isn’t one I think Sky could have bought this for a reasonable fee. If Premier Sports can get their hands on it, it won’t have been out of Sky’s reach. Sky are entitled to pas of course which they have but the issue for me is that Hearn is the one making the decisions on non Matchroom content. It’s an absolutely farcical situation. After Hearn came out with his defence v Brook on IFL almost every comment was anti Brook. The facts are that Brook went a made a fight that Hearn probably couldn’t and wouldn’t have made had they been in a promotional bind. Brook then came to Sky to sell the fight and Eddie said no because ‘Brook turned his back on me’ and ‘we are spending money on our fighters’. So the best fight involving a UK fighter this year and one that is a household name on Sky (he must have headlined 15 shows - yes fifteen, probably more than anyone else I can think of on Sky) because Hearn either couldn’t make a few quid out of it himself or let his pride get in the way because Brook isn’t under his promotional banner. Sky need to have a look at themselves here. They are either serious about boxing or they aren’t.
If Sky weren't serious about boxing and the price was right they'd show it. They are serious about boxing, hence their contract with Matchroom, hence they're busy building their own characters, hosting their own events. They worked with Brook, they put on a night for him where he was lacklustre. He proceeded to cut them and his promoter and his trainer loose and signed with a competitor for a fight in the middle of the night at a time when Sky have their own PPV's to promote and have taken massive hits from the lockdowns. There isn't a load of money floating around to buy more boxing content. That's why the fight will be on Premier Sports.
This really is laughable. They are serious about boxing sure.....Obviously there are difficult financial times but if you think that their recent programme - 3 x PPV, a couple of fight nights thrown in with barely a decent fight on any - represent ‘serious about boxing’ then all credit. Their model is more focused around selling PPVs than it ever has been before which is fine. But the PPVs themselves are gash with little to no undercard. I hope you’re looking forward to the women’s card this weekend, which is essentially Hearn doing everything on the cheap because he’ll pay them peanuts but dressing it up from the inclusivity angle and ‘supporting womens’ boxing which is complete nonsense. Hearn even said himself when he took Taylor on that he didn’t expect to make it a bigger thing with women’s boxing but he has spotted an angle to save a few quid Anyway, if you are content with Sky then you’ll be in clover this weekend. I don’t know what you are doing on a boxing forum though as these are usually common place for boxing fans! Sky have the right not to buy the Brook fight, Kell came across entitled thinking they would do. However, my issue is that Hearn blocked the fight because he wasn’t making a few quid out of it and then used it as an excuse to try and assassinate Brook’s character. As I said, Sky really need to look at themselves and create a budget for non Matchroom content to help secure the occasional fight that would appease boxing fans, who you know, like boxing.
i agree Eddie is a sh%^ house, he had no intention and really pressured SKY to not even put a competitive price for the fight. Just show what a two faced guy eddie is. He blaming sky is rubbish he blocked the fight.
