FRANK WARREN DESTROYS Eddie Hearn / updates us on the Wilder Fury situation

But the networks have to pay full value for the fights. If AJ has signed with Sky, it’s up to Sky to win the bid to keep their rights. They don’t get every fight for free. That’s ridiculous.

What if Povetkin and gone to purse bids and the Russians had won it and wanted it in Russia ... the purse bid doesn’t stipulate a network, Sky would have to step up and beat other network bidders and pay the winning promoter for the rights to carry it.

 

You really don’t understand business do you?

If Sky has no competitor for the rights to the fight, why not put up a dollar or a penny? Asking BT how much they are willing to pay puts a benchmark for the LEAST the fight would generate in UK rights revenue ... Sky, of course, would have to put up more than BT to win it.

It’s a smart way of saying to Sky, “If you want this fight, it’s going to cost you.” It’s no different than going to one Las Vegas casino and saying “How much would you put up to host this event” to let MGM know they’re going to have to come up with more to have it at their place.

 

But asking BT Sport how much Joshua earns?

How on earth do they know?

Have BT sport even hosted a PPV?

 

Why are they jumping at Hearn so much anyway? Eddie doesnt even mind the fight, just like most the guys in the sport he says Fury doesnt look ready but he doesnt care about the fight. He says that the road Fury and Wilder has taken leads to Joshua anyway, Joshua isnt losing any thunder here as soon as there is a winner in that fight all that will be talked about is the winner facing Joshua in an even bigger fight.

All Hearn has really said is IF the fight happens. Warren getting salty big time as usual but at the end of the day the 1 thing Hearn has said about that fight is IF and seeing as the fight isnt even made yet even though they have been saying 99% for a while Hearn is still not wrong, its still a matter of IF.

I wish we could put this 50 million offer to bed. No matter how legit or not legit that offer was Joshua and Hearn decided they wanted to fight in the UK.

 

Thank you,thankyou,thankyou and good night.
Why is we can see this when so many can’t?

 

Frank also said that Boxnation was "excellent, doing really well". It's all propaganda from both sides!

 

Honestly, No, They stood in a ring after Fury Vs Pianeta and told everybody listening they were announcing the fight almost immediately, there was talk of a press conference at BT Tower on that Monday with details of date and venue.

They told us the fight was 99% done and that it was very easy to make.

People are waiting, if fans want to travel they have to get time off work, buy tickets, book flights and hotels, there is actually quite lot to do.

Because if it is a HUGE fight then fans will travel right? They travelled for other British fighters in HUGE fights in the USA.

Also if you're leaving this official announcement until the mid/end of September then you are not giving yourself that long to promote and sell the fight if it is happening this year, both fighters are not regular PPV fighters (Wilder has never had a PPV) so I would assume they would want to make sure they have promoted it correctly and have given it every chance to succeed.

There was even talk or some sort of press tour, I can't see that happening now, not if the fight is happening this year, late November/Early December.

There were rumours of Fury having some sort of issue with the fight or he was pulling out, and yes they have addressed those rumours and denied them but I believe there was/is some sort of problem, it may well be a very small one but something is happening or has happened because we are 3 weeks down the line from that ring confrontation and promises of an announcement and we have had nothing.

The "Buzz" of this fight has already started to fade, if they wanted to over shadow those fights you've listed they would have done a deal on the quiet and then just announced it the week of those fights and blown it all wide open.

They either went too early with the promise of an announcement of the fight or something has happened because the claims they made haven't came true yet and the timing of the initial announcement is starting to look poor and amateurish.

 

To be fair to them, BT Sport within a short space of time have made themselves a player in UK sports broadcasting. They took a lot of people from Sky as well as BBC etc and they've chosen pretty well. They will have access in house to good analysts with a handle on the UK market. Doesn't mean they're the Oracle at Delphi, but their best guess is probably a pretty good one. If I were a Finkel they'd be an intelligent choice for some third party info on the UK broadcast market. Plus they may pay a little over the odds themselves for the PR win against Sky...

 

Why not jsut say that then?

 

Another super thread about money in boxing, compelling, rich and exciting.

 

Actually, yes there was ... talk about Wilder-Fury has dominated conversation since the minute Deontay stepped into the ring after Fury’s last fight for their face-off.

Saying ‘it’s official’ and ‘the announcement is coming’ has only increased anticipation and interest and discussion in the event.

If they announce it next week or the week after, it makes no difference than if they had done it the week after Fury’s fight. The interest is there and the hype machine has started ... and guess what, since that non-announcement it’s gained more publicity from Eddie and AJ talking about it than it would have otherwise.

Do you think a fight in late November-December is going to suffer at the box office or in PPV sales because they announce it in mid-September rather than in late August or early September? Lol.

Let me ask you this: Do you remember that on June 26, Eddie said he had been given a 24-hour deadline by the WBA to sign AJ-Povetkin? Do you realize it was July 16 before the fight was actually announced? Does it make any difference?

 

So fight still not confirmed then? Wilder not signed yet, no venue yet, no date yet, so basically nothing has really changed since this possible fight was first made public other than Fury saying he's signed a contract and sent it to Wilder. Wilder seems to keep losing his pen doesn't he.

Nothing really that damning for Hearn there. Warren confirms he was approached by Wilder's people to gauge what BT would pay for the fight, which is not a surprising move at all. Remember in the early Joshua/Wilder negotiations Finkel tried to get Hearn to reveal data on what they think it would do in the UK like he was dealing with a bunch of British amateurs. Like Hearn would actually do that and give a rival a clue on what to expect to be paid. So of course they went to Warren and BT to see how much the UK could bring to the table as they have no real experience of working in the current UK market.

Warren also confirms the offer from BT was for 50 mill for the world wide rights which of course confirms what Hearn has been saying in regards to it not being a feasible option to accept as it would mean Joshua would violate his exclusive deal with SKY. No point in agreeing the deal for 50 mill if SKY sue you for all that money later down the line. So while this confirms they had the funds and the offer was legit it was also an offer that Joshua and Hearn could never agree too.

This also shows us that there perhaps isn't as much money in the Haymon coffers as some think or much confidence in how much money the US market generates for this fight if they are needing BT a British broadcaster to bank roll the whole deal on Wilder's side.

 

That is exactly why Matchroom didn't accept the fight. Get it now ?

Why would Matchroom risk such a thing, when they can just have it in the UK without all these demands. Having it in the UK removes the Sky issues, Vegas Corruption/Bias Judges issue/ Allows Matchroom to take thier usual % from Joshua fights. Understand exactly why now they rejcted that offer

By that logic, would Finkle put a bidding war on the US TV Rights ? Would he shop the fight to HBO, to see how much they'd be willing to pay/gurantee ? no he wouldn't. He would've insisted on that fight being on Showtime PPV.

 

Complete BS. Al Haymon is part of Wilder's Team and i'm sure has close ties with Finkle. Sky bought the rights to Mayweather-Pacquiao and Mayweather-Mcgregor and they both broke UK PPV Records at the time. Finkle could've just gone upto Haymon or Mayweather Promotions to get him some more info on the UK Market.

BT would have only bought the UK and Irish Broadcasting rights, not Worldwide you dumbo! The offer is really messed up, if it relies on the UK PPV Market.

But going to a entity which has never done a PPV in it's existence, it's quite clear what they were trying to do.

 

I disagree. Firstly, if I had, at great expense, purchased the rights to the fight and I wasn't bound by existing contract I'd speak to everyone capable of showing it

BT may not have put a PPV on yet but they are entering the market and seeking to establish themselves in PPV. The chance to have their domestic rivals best draw on their channel, in the biggest fight of his career, would have possibly encouraged them to offer a better deal on the revenue share than sky would with their established audience.

To me it's not controversial. If AJ took the offer he got the upfront money but they owned the rights. The fight was in Vegas so Joshua's sky exclusivity didn't apply so why shouldn't the fight be on BT sport?

Of course AJ would be stupid to sign than deal and he was foolish to make the 50mill and I'll sign tomorrow quote but that's another story. Lots you can rightly criticise team wilder for but this isn't one in my view.