I miss Setanta

Preach my brother!!!!

 

you're not the only one

 

I discovered some old Setanta nights on tape recently and have been feeling very nostalgic ever since.

 

Setanta was the best thing that happened to boxing in years and, sadly, we may never see anything like it again...

 

we lost something significant. Damn British Boxing lost big time with setanta signing off.

 

Looks like many of us feel the same.

 

The Sutherland thing brought it home for me too. Bunce was given a bit of a free reign to do what he wanted with that show and although sometimes chaotic, he covered mostly everything that was relevant to us as fans at the time. Doing pieces on journeymen, prospects, amateurs as well as the top names in the business meant we knew more about Sutherland, David Price, Jeffries etc than we ever would have before.

Even if ESPN put as much effort into their boxing coverage, it would still be more Sky Sports than Setanta.

Unfortunately, that ship has sailed.

 

Sadly, it would appear, their business plan was as chaotic as some of Steve Bunce's shirts. I think us Brits will always look back on it as a halcyon era, albeit a brief one.

 

Setanta came in and overbid for all the fights. as soon as they started having money issues they stopped buying fights that were not part of there contract with promoters but the US promoters still wanted the over inflated fees setanta were offering from Sky.

Setanta are a big part of the problem for why were not gonna see allot of US and german boxing.

 

I want it back for good.

 

Yeah I really miss it as well. Something that has not been mentioned is Setanta's willingness to plug fights on other channels as well for the benefit of boxing fans rather than thinking about themselves as well. The fights, combination of Bunce and Kerr, interaction with fans during broadcast and genuine love of boxing is something that probably won't be captured elsewhere. As Dan-B says, Setanta's reign will probably be something we all look back on and will never enjoy the likes of again.

Boxing was fun on Setanta. At Sky, like Stork jested yesterday, it just seems like they are reading from a script. They always seem to have some sort of goal (most probably a PPV) in sight for the future and their coverage is both condescending and boring. ITV have fantastic coverage- if Sky fail to pick up anyone from the ITV team then it is a sorry state of affairs indeed.

 

One of the many things that ****s me off about Sky's coverage is anchorman Dave Darts. Man, he knows **** all and the questions he asks are the questions I get asked off my 9-year old nephew. And when the three stooges reply we're meant to be amazed by their insight and knowledge -**** right off.

Bring back Dempsey.

 

ok...my tuppence worth.

at least setanta had the respect for the views of the boxing fans that is definetly not there with sky...let me elaborate..

1. sky did not care about the boxing fans enough to even bother to discuss properly, or debate, the whole weight / weigh-in issue at the time it happened...it was almost like sky didnt have a clue there was any 144 pound issue at all.

2. after the whole kellerman ****-up, cameras cut quickly back to the studio, where the 'panel' acted like it didnt happen...all just sat there with cheesey smiles...going along with the 'sky- best for big time boxing' bollocks.

3. after sticking up for jim watt when he got stick about fury v mcdermott, he was terrible and that idiot smith too...smith kept saying marquez looked bad...even in the 4th where marquez did alright he got no credit from them..

4. emails from viewers.....sky would never entertain such an idea...its like their attitude is that they are showing the boxing and that is enough..that will do us...
no need for debate or viewers opinions.

5. whats the point of mccrory, nelson and piper...they have nothing remotely interesting to say...they know their place, sit with stupid smiles and never speak out of turn...god forbit saying anything controversial or at least debatable or interesting.

6. skys football fans seem to be treated ok...like, andy gray seems to analyse football matches well, seems to go over anything thats debateable....boxing is not covered like this...its a product, its presented like grandstand back in the 60's/70's...stick to the script at all times...


i am grateful to see any boxing on tv..but i do pay a subscription fee, so i have my limit on how grateful i am...but at least it wasnt ppv like in u.s.


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