Are Matchroom and Sky ruining boxing?

That's nonsense. Many small hall shows around the country can put on competitive fights, we dont need to world title eliminators against a top ranked American for Friday Fight Night, just got domestic dust ups. If other promoters want to get a piece of Sky they have to deliver. I would like to see the likes of Coldwell, Hatton, Fearon etc all get a chance at Friday Fight Night. You can be sure they will try their utmost to deliver.

 

No my point is even small hall shows have a better shot at being better card if there on a Saturday night for the simple fact more fans can travel from out of the host city to watch the card.

I think we agree Sky need to have a tired level for there boxing coverage. Simular to what HBO do with PPV, World Championship Boxing & Boxing After Dark.

Sky can tier the payments based on what level that card is deemed to be, and also the promotional output. For a PPV they go all out, preview shows, weigh ins and press conferences on SSN, show old fights. For a Big Card on a Saturday they show the weigh in and interviews, and for a lower level card it just gets previewed on Ringside & Toe 2 Toe.

If Hearn goes to them and says I have Brook vs Khan he gets a PPV, if he goes to them with Romero vs Frampton he gets a Big Saturday show, if he goes to them with Barker vs Ritollo he gets a Small Saturday show.

 

Yeah, I get that. But, Saturday night live pro boxing has traditionally been the place for big boxing shows, not small hall. More people are likely to stay in on a Saturday night to watch a big boxing show, rather than a small hall. I would have thought Friday night is the natural berth for a small hall card.

 

As I have said many times, I think there is a market for smaller shows on weeknights. If theirs no football on you could put a FFN equivalent on a Wednesday and get decent figures. PF always did well on a wednesday.

 

Can someone fill me in on what happened to C5 ? I seemed to miss that one. I thought they were doing well with Fury, Degale, Eubanks jr ect. Why did they pull the plug and where will Hennessy's lads go now ?

 

They chose to watch countless repeats of Steven Segal movies.

 

6 months into a two year contract and people have already decided he's rubbish.

Amazing.

Might as well **** off the next 18 months, eh lads?

 

Leisure centres would be too big to hold Wednesday night small hall shows, you could run them in the gym. It would generate about 100 punters at best and the atmosphere would come across like a morgue on TV. Friday night for small halls are best and Sky have 4 or 5 sports channels, so what if it clashes with a nationwide football game.

 

Because Hearn has a good stable with all the sky dates. He's got a lot of backing and if he continues to deliver poor shows, why should the blame be aimed at other promoters? Hatton was just starting out so was obviously going to make mistakes. Its pretty clear Hearn told sky to get rid of him.

 

Yeah, I agree with you on Hatton, I was shocked that they got rid of him and as you say he was just starting out. But, in Rob's arguments put forward - he has been providing some defence to Matchroom by 'its still work in progress', whereas there was no such sentiment for Hatton.:good

 

Then isn't it that that is ruining boxing? A sport's top competitors won't meet unless their demands are met. Sure they don't have to meet but they both claim to be 'world' champions. It's laughable really. What other sport is so brazen when taking the ****?

 

No my point is the new Sky/Matchroom/20 fights is a work in progress.

Hatton had a 6 card deal a year and couldn't deliver. They messed up the McCloskey PPV. They couldn't agree a deal to show Rhodes & Hattons title fights live, they couldn't put on a show in a venue that seated more than 3000.

 

Nobody has exact figures but theirs rumors your looking at 10k a show. BoxNation seem to pick up everything last minute I assume to get it on the cheap.

 

If Hattons were delivering good shows and good ratings and not ****ing up, it wouldn't matter what Hearn told them to do.