Do not buy the Whyte fight.

I'm not sure I said that, but carry on ...

To be honest, I think Povetkin should have retired a few fights ago.

His fights with Klitschko and Joshua should have made him rich some time ago, so I don't think you're making much of a point at all. He's had dozens of fights at a decent level, yes, so he should have some more money in the bank. I'm not advocating poverty for any of them.

I'm not deluded. I'm just saying it's not a given that every "world ranked" contender deserves millions of £ ever time they fight a competitive match.
I'm also pointing out there the only way it gets to that point is by promoters hyping the fights into something they are not, and putting them on PPV, turning the sport into a series of over-hyped sideshows.

But you confuse cause and effect.
The inflated purse expectations (inflated by PPV model being expanded) have created the situation where "it doesn't make financial sense" in the first place.
The move towards most contenders fighting "about twice a year" when they are healthy and active is part of this vicious circle too.

Boxing has about 17 weight classes, so your comparisons with tennis, golf, darts etc. don't hold.
That's 170 "top ten" fighters, and yes. we should 'weight' it towards the heavyweights because they do deserve their added acclaim and popularity, but even so, why should even half as many, say 80 or 90 of them ALL get millions per fight ?
Including boxers who don't even WANT to challenge for world title belts for 6 million pounds ??

And, honestly, yeah, that darts guy is probably overpaid too.
But that's outside my field of knowledge.

Yes, because the purse expectations for non-title fights have been inflated by PPV model.

 

Its not really odd at all. Its just seeing the same complaints time and time again when the answer to them complaints are staring them in the face.

Again its not about eddie hearn...pretty sure some people on here are obsessed with eddie hearn...he just so happens to be the guy smart enough to know top challengers cant fight top challengers without additional income. Its not worth anyones while.

Look around you tho....no one is consistantly putting on challenger v challenger fights on normal tv. You,ve all said yourself the other markets whyte went to arent doing it. Franks definetely not doing it. Hennessay had a go and almost lost his house.

You,ve got to wonder why?

Eddies just being greedy you say. Thats fine but no one is putting them on.

If it was just down to his greed you,d still have people putting them on to make a fair return. The problem is their not making a fair return on them.

And you sit complaining why wilder fought 46 bums.

Or ruiz only fought one named opponent before joshua.

Or ortiz fought no one till wilder.

The list can go on.

Good fighters sitting wasting their careers.

Or even when boxing was better funded...why bruno fought about 30 cheap useless opponents...mostly going over to america to get paid for big fights.

Or frank had extra long wbo runs...getting in cheap opponents.

Or dubois fights absolute cans before joyce...then you say should have matched him better.

The vast majority of fighters you cant get two named opponents fighting with any kind of regularity. Thats a broken sport. One that no one wants to fix cause it costs money.

What happens is they hold out fighting bums till the one big pay day comes off. Financially its a broken sport. Surely people want challengers to face off against other good challengers. Top ten guys against other top ten guys regularly.

The only way to do that regularly is ppv. I m not saying they cant be on normal sky tv. Their is a budget there...but its not a big one. They cant put on a show like that often. So, Its a case of pay the money for the fights you do want to see otherwise the fights dont get made and we need to wait forever to get the sport moving.

Otherwise its not in the fighters interest to fight a top ten guy their better just holding out for the number one in the division. The same thing you,ve all been complaining about. The heavyweight divisions been littered with that in recent years.

Their is bad news tho...you need to fund it because no one else wants to.

I m just telling you the problem boxing faces...and if you want to fix it...your gonna need to pretty much fund it together cause no one else wants to.

Unforgiven saying they,ll fight for the money thats there....the problem is their not and havent been for a long time. Its not greed...its just why would you risk it for 50 grand when you can all sit it out fighting nobodies till you get the big one if there even is a big one.

 

I'm not sure.
His arguments have some very strong internal logic for the fact that every single point he makes is reverse of what's what.
It holds together as a cogent view because he has everything backwards.
It's interesting debate/argument anyway.

 

Proves my point I think, I suggest you have a bizarre and illogical obsession with defending anything Eddie does and you reply with an essay detailing how everything Eddie does is wonderful.

 

Again, £50,000 is your figure, not mine.

You have it all backwards. The fighters would perhaps turn down good offers nowadays precisely because PPV has inflated their expectations.
They are holding out for "the big one", yes, and Dillian has been given "the big one" five times in the last 3 years, (plus a 'gimme' on the Joshua-Ruiz Saudi affair card, where he was paid lord knows how much and didn't even arrive in shape !).

 

If it carries on like this, contenders won't even care about winning world titles (following Whyte's lead), because they just have to get on the PPV sideshow tour, fight a somewhat competitive oppponent with rematch clauses galore, get hyped to ridiculous proportions, and if they're really lucky get a fight with a Youtuber or Love Island contestant.

 

I know this is gonna be hard for you...but take eddie hearn out the equation for a minute.

The next guy will be charging you for them same fights as well.

Lets say eddie started putting them on for free. He went bankrupt. No more eddie hearn.

Jim thompson takes over....

"Eddie was putting these fights on for free. Hes mental. No wonder hes bankrupt. I need to start charging for them"

Or i,ll just not put them on.

Challenger can just fight non challengers till they fight the number one.

It really comes down to what do you want from the sport.

If you want a competetive sport where the top guys are facing each other regularly you need to fund it.

If you want to see a sport where the top guys are fighting non challengers for years waiting on their one shot against the cash cow....dont fund it.

 

We,re hardcore boxing fans bud. That to us is wrong. Youtubers....love island contestants etc. The problem is...boxing as we know it or we want it to be...doesnt sell well enough. They or we then need to look down other avenues.

We,ll never get the sport we all want but to get the sport going we need a bigger market.... to get that we might need to use youtubers or love island contestants to get it.

The alternative is...a sport where the best dont fight the best. Or the top ten dont really fight each other. A sport we,ve been watching for too long.

 

Whyte is an average boxer who has got to a high position in the sport for three reasons. His style is quite exciting, he takes a punch to land one. He's got a very good promoter and can 'tark' shite relatively well, so the marketing is decent and he's lucky to be riding the crest of the wave of that good promoter and a very lively divsion. All of that's meant the incentives of boxing as it is reward sitting on your arse and waiting for the WBC to finally do what was promised and give him the big ticket fight.

I think the problem boxing has compared to all the other sports mentioned is also its strength. It's almost completely unstructured. There's no league or cup fixtures forcing boxers to take on the difficult fights, only ranking bodies that can be relied upon to fix things if your promoter is well in with them. If Football was like boxing would we get Man City vs Real Madrid? Or would each prefer to wallop second rate opposition until someone came up with enough PPV loot to justify the risk of taking a loss? Well if they kept their status by not getting beat, then they'd probably stay at home battering Sheffield United unless and until someone coughed up.

The system is broken and always was.

 

Very good points. Boxing is the only sport AFAIK were the competitors can choose their opponents, if football was run like boxing then Liverpool or Man City could win the league by only playing sides 8th place and lower, Liverpool at home to Burnley would be a £20 PPV.
So boxing was a mess long before Eddie showed up but he has demonstrably made a bad situation worse.

 

Outstanding post.Well done N17

 

Thank you very much Mr Noel.

 

you are a simpleton. “Eddie putting them in for free will make him go bankrupt” it’s eddie overpaying average fighters which is the problem

 

Really, you want to have a pop at YouTubers? YouTube fights like KSI Vs Logan Paul were at least "competitive".

Jake Paul has shown more in 3 fights (he has zero amateur experience) than Campbell Hatton did after his promo, build up, 30 minute TV documentary, I actually believe Jake Paul has more talent than Hatton too.

Campbell Hatton was 4th down the bill ON A PPV CARD and was fighting a man that was 0-10 and looked like he had never boxed before.

I personally know amateurs right now who would have sizzled that joke of an opponent, I'm not joking, I am deadly serious, he was that poor.

And what do we get after? After they have rammed Hatton down our throats all week? "Oh leave him alone, it was his debut, why all the hate"

Nobody hates Hatton they hate the sickening promotion and the fact you are just expected to accept and be grateful for this kind of cobblers without any question.

And if you do have the nerve to voice unhappiness then Hearn will sit there with Kugan like a 16 year old with attitude and say you live in your mums basement knocking one out.

That's what Hearn really thinks of hardcore boxing fans, that's how he thinks, the disrespect is incredible. Hearn now caters for casual fans who swallow his crap without question..


Fabio Wardley chief support Vs a 40 year old shot to pieces fighter who lost 4 of his last 8, getting stopped in all those defeats.. CHIEF SUPPORT.

Main Event, a 41 year old Covid ridden shot to pieces former world champion who couldn't stand upright. he was reeeling around in the first round from NOTHING, his balance was all over the place, I actually think it raises questions about Boxing Medicals.

Cheeseman Vs Metcalf was a very good fight, I enjoyed it, but the reality is that was a main event on a Saturday Fight Night, should be nowhere near a PPV card.

Kongo Vs McKinson, nowhere near a PPV card, another decent fight to stick on a Saturday Fight Night.


That is not PPV and shouldn't be justified as a PPV now just because Ted Cheeseman and Metcalf gave us a crazy one.



And don't do that "the best fighting the best" rubbish, tell me who is the "best fighting the best" on Saturday night?

I said your argument works for a AJ Vs Fury, I would even let it go if Wilder Vs Whyte was made, if it was an eliminator for the WBC belt.

but Ted Cheeseman, Hatton, Nick Webb and Fabio Wardley are not "the best", they are at the moment good/average level domestic fighters.

 

Ha ha. You dont get that i was telling him a story to show him its not about eddie hearn. And you,ve went on to call me the simpleton to boot in the same post. The irony is incredible.

Eddie overpaying average fighters as opposed to not paying them and not seeing them fight. Thats the alternative...i know that because eddies the only one putting them type of fights on consistantly and none of them have been fighting each other for a years now.

No matter anyway bud...hope you enjoy your boxing.