Frank Warren and Sky Sports 1995

Famously Lewis/Rahman was live on the BBC during their commitment to the sport. That kicked off incredibly late, around 0300hrs so those in America could watch it at a reasonable hour. Future Lewis fights were to be shown on the BBC but they never materialised likely due to cost.

 

Is there no way ITV can put on free to air shows every now and again? Maybe once every two months ago. Abit like the card they put on with Eubank Jr but just not a PPV one.

I do miss those days where boxing was on ITV with the likes of Harrison, Williams & Sprott. I do remember seeing Audley get battered by a fresh faced Wilder! Has aged well, I guess.

 

Depending which way you look at it, Warren has either been one step ahead of the game, or very fortunate when it comes to chasing the money with TV deals. Getting on the Sky train in the mid-90s as ITV and the mainstream media soured on boxing, then taking Amir Khan and the sport back to ITV off the back of the Olympics.

Then got in bed with Setanta when they were throwing silly money around for sports rights. They signed on the basis that they’d have Khan once his ITV contract ran out, but then Sky started sniffing round and the PPV loot proved too tempting so he liquidated Sports Network to get out of the contract with Setanta! They went bust a year later so that worked out alright for him.

Then he figured he could make more from starting BoxNation than sticking with Sky, and a short time after that Sky then went exclusive with Matchroom.

 

I think it was on normal time in the UK, at least I don't remember staying up to watch it. I didn't have a fancy recorder or anything back then either, so definitely watched it live.

 

Calzaghe-Lacy was on very late, yes.
the programme started around 11.30pm but the fight was more like 2am if I remember right, rather than 4am.

 

Froch Pascal was on ITV was it not?

 

Remember some Bowe's fights were on ITV because Newman cut a deal on a napkin.

 

Wasn't it ITV that showed the Audley Harrison - Michaels Sprott fight were Audley got sparked by a left hook ??

 

Yes. Definitely one of the ITV channels.

 

Yeah but that was post-Warren and a Hennessy show.

That fight should’ve given the platform for Froch to become a massive star, but Fat Mick got greedy and stuck him on obscure PPV platforms after that despite having a deal with ITV for the next couple of years.

 

calzaghe lacey was itv1 , fight finished after midngiht , froch pascal was on itv4 nobody knew either at the time , williams sprott audley all fought on itv1 under warren , froch barker fury john murray all were itv4 / 2as part of hennessys deal , froch vs taylor was on primetive ppv but shown later on itv1, shocking considering froch was our only world champion at the time people forget how dead boxing was without broadcasters ....
Froch defends his title against American Taylor on Saturday with his promoter Mick Hennessy securing a late deal with ITV to broadcast the fight.

But fans wishing to view the fight live will be forced to watch the clash on their computers via an internet stream.

There will be a delayed transmission of the fight on ITV4 at 2030 BST on Sunday, with it repeated later on ITV1.

The contest in Mashantucket will be shown live in America by US broadcaster Showtime.

Froch's promoter Mick Hennessy had previously been in talks with both ITV and Setanta Sports but after weeks of negotiations a deal failed to materialise, with the credit crunch and recession being blamed.

It left Hennessy with no choice but to pursue other options resulting in a live deal being struck with online broadcasters Omnisport.tv.

But with the fight just a few days away, a late deal to also show the fight 'as live' has now been struck.

"I was always confident of securing a deal, but it was always going to be a last minute thing in this economic climate," said Hennessy.

"The difficult thing is that Carl's fight is at 0300 BST and it's hard for terrestrial broadcasters to step up at that time of the morning really because they work on advertising revenues.

"If Carl was fighting at 2100 BST or 2200 BST then it would have been a different ball game."

The lack of television interest had left Froch to question his future in the UK, also previously calling the lack of interest from UK broadcasters as 'laughable" and a "disgrace".

 

I think itv may have pulled the plug on boxing after Benn-McClellan followed by Hamed's violent KO of Sergio Liendo a week later.

 

Societies changed hasnt it. I used to love going down to the oval as a boy on a cold windswept raining sunday and sitting with my uncle watching the John Player League cricket. It was so serene peaceful and relaxing.

Now you got the noise, chaos and howling of IPL crowds