British boxing needs PPV

Hayes & Hattons PPV figures dicked on the 90s ones.

 

Didn't know that but it seems it reaped big figures and left fans fed up because of lack of quality. The 90's shows had depth and quality. Sadly the Haye PPV's didn't and that's the problem really he had it all on him to produce a great fight.

The Valuev undercard was atrocious.

 

Hardly the brightest tactic since I can corner them. Oh Rob, I'm so glad you don't run my business. But, please, tell me what I can do to be popular like you?

 

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The last time ITV got behind two fighters was Calzaghe and Khan. Both were huge stars, without the forced marketing of Sky. That was the last mainstream golden age for the sport in the UK. Add those two in with Hatton, who had been promoted from a Manchester attraction to a genuine star, and you had some real push.

PPV is not going to make boxing more popular and relevant, it will only decrease how many people watch it or catch it by chance.

 

The mainstream media will latch onto a fight if they deem it worthy of latching on to irrespective of whether it is ppv or not. Since it's Froch who's at the centre of this right now, I seem to remember Froch-Ward getting ample mainstream coverage even though it was in Atlanitc City and on regular Sky Sports.

 

I understand where Jack is coming from, though. Sometimes the prestige of a PPV -- whether it deserves to be one or not -- can get the casuals intrigued. Them seeing it as a box-office fight that you have to pay for, can sometimes lead them to think it's a special, one-off event.

But in my opinion, it does more harm than good in the long run. It just makes the sport even more exclusive than it already is.

 

In terms of Calzaghe, are you classing Setanta as ppv there?

 

I don't think PPV will have that kind of impact where it increases the popularity of the sport. Every casual I know who became sucked in by the hype of the Wlad/Haye and Chisora/Haye fights then went back to their merry ways. They didn't give a **** about Bellew or Barker or Brook or anything like that. What happens when they purchase a PPV but the product turns out to be ****? Now they feel ripped off as opposed to if they didn't have to pay to watch it and it turned out to be ****.

Amir Khan fought on ITV and became mainstream. You say it won't be that widely promoted if it's on terrestrial tv. Well what about the fact that more people will be watching?

 

Absolute bull**** regarding Calzaghe or Khan. Khan hasn't attracted a major UK TV audience since he's been off of ITV. Calzaghe's fight with Kessler attracted a much larger number of viewers when it was shown on the BBC.

It wasn't until Calzaghe appeared on ITV that he became a star. Fact.

Hatton, as I already explained, was a unique case. A local attraction who his promoter and Sky built into a star. Ricky only appeared on PPV when he was an established draw and justified the fan interest. And even then, it wasn't until he beat Tsyzu that he properly crossed over into the mainstream.

Naz became a star because of ITV, but made his big money on Sky. No doubt.

Haye is another unique case. He, and Valuev, made the fight the event it was. Not the fact it was on Sky. It was a cocky, good-looking Brit, challenging for the heavyweight title, against a massive beast of a man. The fight sold itself.

You can't look at the one common factor in the success of a promotion and ignore the other factors.

 

There's a mixture there though. Hatton was a one off really in terms of cross over appeal and garnering huge travelling support etc. Khan's media profile was built off the back of his Olympic success and publicity which provided the springboard to being able to shunt him quickly into ppv - it wasn't ppv that built him.

Calzaghe's biggest fights were on ITV and Setanta. As for the Murdoch empire, they are going to have rethink their tactics across the whole range of their sports soon because people are not going to pay through the nose for things given the compeition. It will be interesting to see how ppv pans out in this environment.

 

And he has been a singular failure on PPV. His loss to Prescott did abysmal numbers and even his Primetime stint did poorly. PPV, and being on Sky actually, has reduced his fame and exposure.

Murdoch's empire is finding new media a bit of a challenge. The paywall for its news media has been a disaster, cutting readership dramatically. The old days of PPV are dwindling, IMO.