Is this a bad move by sky? Haye will most probably beat Valuev, although its not a certainty, but say if they had this fight on sky sports 1 - hyped it up as they are doing already (and they do it well) then a lot of people and non-boxing fans will tune in to see Haye win and with his charisma and exciting style they will probably be a fan of his and more likely to pay to watch him if/when he takes on a Klitschko...which will do huge numbers as a result also...Pac v Cotto is the week after so if sky are planning to put that fight on SBO aswell then not many people will pay for 2 fights in 2 weeks and will ditch one or the other
It's risky but it's the way Boxing is going to be for a while, so it can be funded. If the fight has a decent undercard then it will be worth buying for boxing fans. And Haye can sell his fight like no other.
The simple answer is that sadly both sky sports and boxing are all about money, no-one cares about the future of the sport.
It was inevitable. The card the other night (which I paid for) was not worth the £15 although I'm happy Khan won. But as someone above said this is the way boxing will be for a while. I wouldn't be shocked if along with Haye that FMJ v JMM, the smw tourney and Cotto v Pac were all on SBO. Even though it is only the week after if Khan does fight on the Nov 14 undercard it will be on SBO, no doubt. Maybe time to start digging deep.
very true, i suppose sky dont want to take the risk with Haye and put it on Sky Sports 1 and then hope he wins, this way they make money wether he wins or loses, but if they were looking to the future they'd stick it on Sky Sports. It will be tough for Haye to gain a fanbase off of PPV
its a british fighter going for the world heavyweight title, any thinking it would ever not be on PPV is being dumb
I certainly won't be buying this crap. Luckily for Sky most casual fans will be drawn to it due to the size of Valuev and they won't have watched his shitty performances on dodgy streams against the likes of Holyfield.
haye will MAKE it an exciting fight. Pac vs Cotto with a British portion will sell; I will buy it no doubt
It will be free on german satellite channels so sky can shove their SBO where the sun does not shine.
Haye knows he needs to go for a stoppage, I think this will lead to a somewhat exciting match. PPV will kill boxings popularity if it hasnt already. Having novices like Khan and deGale on ppv is acomplete joke..
Just watch the Sky pundits change their tune. Was it Nicky Piper who said that Ruslan was a better fighter and more of a challenge to Wlad than Haye? I miss Setanta sports like a SOB. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12183_5449151,00.html
Seeming as PPV funds boxing in the US. This is a shite statement. Its simple, are you a Haye fan? Do you want to see your man win the Heavyweight Championship of the world? Well you going to have to pay for it. I can see ALL future British fighters in world title fights on PPV in the future.