I'm going to assume within the next 18 months AJ and Fury are going to be retired irrespective of how the next couple of fights go, I'm also and I hope to be wrong on this am going to assume Dubois image holds him back from filling the void, but there is always a next. Who do you see being the next Brit that fills out stadiums etc to carry on the torch, I'm tentatively going if his ability holds up with Ben Whittaker or Moses Itauma. Or can the Saudis put cards as consistenly good as Saturday's together and do it without a singular superstar?
No chance Itauma or Whittaker do it, first of all it's usually heavyweights that sell stadiums as they get the casual fans / football fans involved, and Whitaker hasn't got a football club association which is another thing that usually helps, for AJ he had the olympics in London which won't happen again for decades, and he won gold as well in front of the whole population, that's not gonna happen to someone else for decades, on top of that he was a heavyweight, but also had Hearn / Sky in their prime in 2014-2019 where the big fights were pushed on sky sports and british boxing was also in a great place in terms of massive PPV fights / fighters (Haye Bellew, Brook, Khan, Whyte etc), which made people follow boxing in Britain more, and the starts with the heavyweights and filters down, we also had Froch Groves 2 which ignited British boxing and Aj was able to ride on that wave too as well as being on the undercard. As for Fury, he didn't have the olympics / Sky etc hence why it took him 10+ years to be able to fill Wembley and that in my opinion only happened because of AJ, making British boxing as big as it was benefited every one else too, but also to Fury's credit he had the epic trilogy with Wilder which made people fans, so you need to have epic fights to get that fan base (Fury Wilder 1+3 and AJ Wlad), and fury had the netflix documentary etc and the Fury family is a famous one now in boxing, and that like London 2012 is an anomaly, so to sum up, in my opinion there won't be a regular stadium filler for many years, of course, Wembley can be filled up with a big British grudge match like Froch Groves or Eubank Benn, that is a one off, in terms of someone who can sell out Wembley fighting who ever, i don't think there will be one.
A lot of relevant points. Whittaker will have to go the Naseem route in terms of you either love him or hate him. Calzaghe did Cardiff and did Hatton not do Man City. It may not be Wembley but could a northern lad do say Old Trafford/Anfield. I thought I had seen Whittaker on the pitch at Wolves, I may have made that up though. There will always always be a next star that's a certainty, if their capable of doing Wembley another question altogether.
true, you have your Hattons etc, but the way British boxing is i don't see anyone, british boxing right is now is pretty awful especially when AJ and Fury leave
You’re in for a rude awakening. Frisch sold out Wembley. It’s not a Joshua specific thing. It’s become a norm for flagship boxers. Being managed well enough to box stiffs will be required to do it time after time
Froch did it once 10 years ago, and that happened because of the beef and the controversial first fight, as i said in my post you may get the odd fight every 10 years like Eubank Ben, Aj sold out 80k+ vs Povetkin, Parker, Takam, Dubois and all 4 aren't big names, so it is an Aj thing.
We could potentially have one at this very moment if he's marketed right going forward. Nick Ball and Anfield. Scousers love the sport and with Ball's front foot style surely he would attract more supporters.
The really crazy thing is that KSI and Tommy Fury have more chance of selling out a stadium for a boxing event in the next couple of years, than any of the current British boxing prospects, especially when you look at the current Matchroom roster. Unless of course the Benn v Eubank fight gets made, but outside of that and Joshua, the Matchroom stable is looking pretty bare. No wonder Eddie, has put Frank Smith in charge as he's going to be the eventual scapegoat, simply because Matchroom Boxing UK was primarily built on the back of the Joshua / Heavyweight PPV events. Thus any current heavyweight prospects will now be handled with even more care than predecessors like Audley and Joshua, so expect a ticket selling prospect to brought along in a similar vain to how George Collins was, as opposed to a Josh Taylor. For me Dubois, despite the win over the weekend, is still arguably only a 50-50 shot against the majority of the top 5-10 current heavyweights, so a stadium show isn't a guaranteed sell, unless it's a big name opponent. In the era of style over substance, where the number of followers you have on IG, determines a boxers box-office value, small-hall shows have once again become the real value for the real boxing fans, especially in this country.
Load of bollocks. Frisch only did it once cause he was ancient and matchroom and skys partnership was in its formative years. Had frock been a lot younger he’d have been doing it. Take your blinkers off.
Stadium are for football in my opinion and boxing should take place in indoor arenas. Pointless watching that ant flying about on the canvas on Sat unless ringside.
pretty much. it's a promotional flex more than anything. Give me a York Hall type venue any day over a stadium
Britain doesnt have the promotional team to do it consistantly now. Joshua had hearn with pretty much a monopoly promoting him and british boxing very well at the time. If joshua came along atm....he,d struggle to do what he done without hearn/sky etc. Right place at the right time with the right product. Franks doing okay but hes an older style promoter.....ben shalom doesnt really have a clue and eddies stuck concentrating on his tv channel as opposed to british boxing. The next crop will do well off the back of it but they,ll be struggling to be the next joshua from the off anyway. Going to need to build themselves quieter and get the people joshua/fury got interested in the sport onside when its time to challenge etc.
