Super middleweight tournament tonight

yeah, F it why not. Prizefighter was good fun even if you're probably not going to see any future world beaters.

 

The Fight Academy bill's on YouTube as well.

 

Penfold on punditry just said he doesn't like Sweet Caroline and wants to sit down when it comes on. Man's gone up in my estimation for that.

Good night of boxing this, and final still to come

 

Entertaining show, glad I watched it. Well paced and a surprising climax.

 

Didn’t know it was on until I saw this.

 

Very entertaining enjoyed that tonight made a nice change from the usual dross on DAZN.

 

Still rate this as one of the best formats in boxing when it’s used the right way, like tonight (well, last night). A bunch of young prospects who were mostly unknown and off the radar of the big promoters got the chance to launch their careers.

Really pleased for Osborne — he was definitely the best value on the night. Beat the much taller and heavily favoured Khan, then took out Brown, who looked a cert after beating Smith, and finished with a brutal stoppage of Lewicki, who’d earlier beaten the overly muscled favourite Nadeem.

The best part is a defeat in this format doesn’t really do much damage. Martin Rogan launched his career off the back of Prizefighter, Audley even managed to resurrect his all the way to a Haye title shot. It’s also one of the best nights out at the fights, bar the big events, as atmosphere-wise you become properly invested in the outcome, especially if it's a local fighter.

Hopefully Osborne gets himself a contract, some TV time, and a proper payday, nothing better than seeing an honest pro get some well-earned recognition.

 

I know the winner got £25,000 but did the other fighters get paid. I would hope they all got something eg QF £2500 SF £5000 RU £10,000

 

Yeah, I quite enjoyed it as something a bit different. You felt you knew which way it was going after the quarters, but then both Nadeem and Brown got beat in the semis, and the lightest puncher there wins by knockout in 30 seconds in the final!

But really entertaining. Wouldn’t mind seeing it again, but not too often. They absolutely did Prizefighter to death in the end, and the novelty proper wore off.

 

Oh they’d have got paid, doubt it was anywhere near that much for everyone else though.

 

Gutted I missed this. Super middle a good weight for this format as well, nice bit of power but still nice and quick.

 

Well, Matchroom milked it to death in the end. As they started putting bigger names in it, that’s where the problem began. It works best when it’s unknown lads where anything can happen, like last night. Or when you’ve got the old-timers back in there trying to turn the clock back – that’s when it feels fun and unpredictable.

Once they started mixing names and prospects it just became survivor bias in action. As much as I enjoyed watching Audley win it back in the day, the format had become ABC predictable by then.

That was Matchroom’s first move back into boxing after their hiatus, testing if they could drop a name in, get them through, and make it look organic without it feeling fixed. They had the embryos of their stable right there. Audley got the Sprott fight after, pulled the miracle left hand shot out in the last round, and that led to the Haye shot – which, in its own way, also helped launch Fast Car.