Initially Joshua was the headline then Brook got added later. I think he was meant to be sharing a ppv card with Fury and Wlad which was postponed.
Hearn has ruined televised boxing in the UK. 90,000 at Wembley is nice, but the weekly bread and butter is your foundation. Rhodes-Moore was a better 154 lb fight than Cheeseman-Metcalf, both in terms of the action on display and the quality of the principles involved (both Rhodes and Moore would've smacked the snot out of Cheeseman and Metcalf). That was a Friday Night Fight. Any real quality has been sucked out of the regular programming to prop up the creation of PPV where it shouldn't exist. PPV should be reserved for the crème de la crème events (and with decent support, t'boot). Nobody's saying every televised card must be stacked from top to bottom. The fellas voicing their displeasure on threads like this are all perfectly aware that it's not an ideal world. They just don't want middlin' or decent or even solid Saturday Fight Night main event fare headlining PPV bills, propped up by the kind of bouts that would've made up the numbers on the same Saturday Fight Night (or Friday Night Fight) TV cards a decade or so ago. Hearn has manufactured this false market, and it's due a correction.
Top post. The fact non-PPV cards get celebrated says it all. ‘Not on PPV this weekend, get in’ because we’re that used to anything of any note being whacked on PPV.
It really should get capped at a reasonable number - that would be in the best interests of the viewers I feel. Will probably learn this week what will happen.
If DAZN were to take over the Matchroom contract they’d have to increase their monthly price- I’d happily pay a tenner a month if all fights were included. I don’t see Sky binning Matchroom completely- tweaking the amount of shows a year is a certainty though.
I know someone who works in Boxing and spoke to him yesterday , he was sure Matchroom will be leaving Sky, preferably (for Matchroom) on some kind of Hybrid deal where they retain some rights on Sky (maybe some PPV dates) , but with them building in several different territories now they feel DAZN will make a better fit going forward. Not sure how true it is and it could be completely wrong but he has been a reliable source previously on most things boxing and has a prominent role in the sport. I think it will be bad for Sky Boxing and the fans , whatever you think of Eddie and Matchroom there really isnt anyone out there that can offer the output they do, Frank is the next best but even he is so far behind and tied up with BT. Sky's only real interest is their PPV dates and who is going to fill those with anything better than the current poor offering. Be interesting to see what is announced but should expect to hear something shortly.
Sky would be mad to do that imo. They will literally be a mouth piece for an up and coming rival even if it was just the PPVs.
If he leaves Sky, it will only open up an opportunity for another promoter to work with them. Sky invest a lot of money into boxing and will definitely need to provide boxing on their channel, so it wouldn't be a good move for Eddie, IMO.
I agree , in the short term who do Sky turn to to provide PPV's though ? I remember Sky increasing the fees to Matchroom for Saturday Fight Nights presumably on the basis they will recoup all that and more with regular MR PPV's, if that product is no longer available to them what is the alternative ? An inferior promoter/promoters to MR with a fraction of the budget for Saturday's (as the PPV loot will be lost or vastly reduced) doesn't bode well imo. Saturday Fight Nights are seen as the bread and butter for the fans these are financed by regular PPV's aimed at casual fans , MR got this product bang on imo however poor I think some of the PPV's were.
Which promoter (or promoter's combined) can produce anything near what MR currently do ? You have to assume MTK wouldn't be an option for Sky. Sky invest alot in the regular fight nights because of the PPV revenue they receive , without this what product do we the fans receive if they give some two bob promoter a £100k budget for a Saturday night ? I'm not a MR fanboy but I think anyone who thinks boxing on Sky would improve if MR leave is crazy, Im quite happy for the casuals to buy PPV's in their droves and subsidise half decent Saturday Fight Nights as they currently do.
I definitely don't think boxing on Sky would improve if MR leaves. It would open the door for other promoters though to get exposure through Sky. Maybe Sauerland Promotions, Hennessy, etc.
I’ve always believed that it’ll be Sky for British and PPV shows and DAZN for all the other stuff. However it’s been no secret that boxing has been well down Sky’s list of sporting priorities for quite a few years and I’m wondering if the money they’re offering Hearn is too low to accept compared to what’s being offered by others.
