Froch/Kessler Undercard, Still All Quiet....

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true.

 

full undercard will be announced within 2 weeks

 

It should be simple really. To make a PPV worthy of its status, there should at least 1 more big fight that people are genuinely looking forward to seeing. Building a PPV on one fight is dangerous because, obviously, anything can happen in boxing.

 

And not 1 person can say that Bellew-Chilemba 2 is a mouth watering prospect.

 

If it wasn't box office Froch, Kessler, Groves, Bellew, Chilemba on the same card would be VERY good.

However it is box office, so you do expect a little more. If Groves gets put in with a decent operator and maybe 1 or 2 decent names get added, then Hearn has done his part.

 

Groves in any fight I can think of is not worth a ppv place. Barker vs a top class middleweight and Frampton against a top class super bantam would have been worth the money. But they'd rather line their pockets.

It was more important to get the quality of ppv back and take a loss than make it a financial success in my opinion. Looks like they don't agree.

Been a supporter of what Matchroom have done the last couple of years but I'm slowly starting to think it was a bad move by Sky. Domestically the quality is vastly improved but the fact we only get to see international fights if a matchroom fighter is on the bill is horrendous.

Brook injured and so Sky decide to not bother showing Peterson vs Matthysse.

Maybe I'm just being a cynic but if this is a sign of things to come then Sky may as well not broadcast boxing.

 

Hearn has got the credentials to be a very good promoter but the 'all the eggs in one basket approach' of Sky with him means we are seeing an increase in inactive fighters with other promoters. Are all these guys going to migrate to Hearn and can he accept them all?? Hearn stated his intention was to effectively swallow up the British professional shop window and become the dominant man in this country. He said it at an open day for the press in Brentwood when his vision was unveiled and that this is what really interested him in going into boxing full steam. The thing is, for this to work the other promoters essentially have to become 'feeder clubs' to use a footy term, and look to have an occasional junior co-promoting role at best a la Coldwell. Boxing ain't footy though.

Hennessy got lucky at the last min when CH5 eventually agreed to show Fury-Cunningham and thats a scary thought that that fight may have ended up with no tv outlet. With one promoter hogging our main dedicated sports network a lot of fighters have been left in the lurch to a large extent. BT are starting up at least 3 sports channels this year. Hearn may find this isn't going to be as straight foward as he thinks.

 

Agree with this. I don't think Sky have decided to not show Peterson v Matthysse by the way. Without Brook on the card, GBP have a contract with BoxNation.

 

I honestly think that would be a good thing.

Sky definable under estimated BoxNation sticking around and thought the other promoters would be willing to work with Hearn.

The thing is what are BT going to do with Boxing? Are they going to just give there subscribers BoxNation, or are they going to take over the contracts and show everything BoxNation shows without the repeats?

I would say at this point in time Hearn is capable of doing 14 Quality Shows a year. That's the Frampton v Martinez/Bellew v Chilemba level cards. If BT were to come into boxing which seems likley, could they match that with any other promoter. I don't even think Frank, Hennesey, Hatton & Maloney put together could do 14 quality shows in a year.

 

A few years back there was live boxing on Sky almost every week, when FW was signed to them. Some of the small domestic tear ups were the best fights to watch. The sketchy coverage now is disappointing.

 

Yeah the details of how BT are going to do this are being still being worked out at the moment but Green definitely wants to have a boxing option. And although his links make a straight Boxnation transplant the talked about option, this isn't actually the favoured route. The thing is BT are going to have a lot on their plate initially so the former may be the initial go to option, or indeed a delayed go to option

As for the televised sports scene as a whole, it seems people havent realised what's about to hit them yet properly. BT aren't going anywhere like Setanta did, who were always going to be a transient UK entity and very short term competition for Sky. And similarly a half hearted ESPN. With BT entering the fray, Sky will for the first time come up against a sports broadcaster that dwarfs them in terms of financial muscle. Sky are the little man in this sense but with the succesful broadacsting history and reputation that BT now want to create. No matter what BT's success is in the first, second, third or fourth years, they will still be there for the fifth.

Everyone is assuming Hearn is the one sitting pretty in British boxing right now, and he is. But things can change quickly, almost overnight with the amount of money that is on tap. BT won't be so worried about the number of shows initially because if they have 'names' who are fighting every so often that becomes a selling point as to their general sporting spread, and it can grow from there. But they will also be willing to make a loss on smaller shows within the context of the overall gain, which is good news for inactive fighters and people who want to see some regular domestic dust ups again.

I find the weekly Ringside prog enjoyable but very two-faced. They feature a lot of fighters who don't fight on Sky - but then they have to cos they've only got one promoter! What is desperately needed is another outlet with the clout to blow Sky out of the water. And that's what's coming.

 

This is why competition is necessary. Hopefully BT really will throw plenty at boxing.

Compared to the dross before, Hearn has got things moving forward. Seems to be really enthusiastic about the sport and talks to the fans. But the fact we only see matchroom fighters on Sky sucks.

I'm not saying Quigg, Murray and the other big names should always be on Sky, but when they are fighting for titles like Murray is or like Macklin will be then the card should be given a showcase on Sky to compliment the domestic shows. Similar to how Ward vs Dawson was on after a matchroom show, an international fight in the early hours after the domestic show would be a good start.

What else is there at 4am for couch potatoes to sink their teeth into.

 

Not much details about on this BT deal yet. So is it going to be available as a subscription package on sky or is it a standalone thing like Sky itself or Virgin?