I'm very worred about the future of British Boxing

I think we all agreed that Kev's oppo going into last nights fight was one of the reasons he couldn't handle Katsidis. And we we're all unimpressed by BJ and the opponents for Frankie. And there is one very clear reason as to why this is happening. There is not enough Boxing on TV and due to this without the dates, fighters are far to inactive and with less dates the cards are being stacked with more fights then the budget can handle and a lot of fighters are getting a smaller budget to bring in oppo for them and due to this are fighting the wrong opponents and not making the progress they should be.

There is no doubt that FW matching policy is rightfully scrutinised but one thing that has to be said is that Frank needs a TV deal and a proper one (not the 1 or 2 shows with Sky a month) to keep his fighters busy and taking on the right opponents because it's hard to be doing everything I (and we) are all asking for without one.
He needs a show like Top Rank and Golden Boy have he needs a minimum of 20+ TV dates to keep all his fighters busy and getting in the right opponents for them. Until he does a lot of fighters are going to struggle sadly. And that is bad for British Boxing because our best fighters are with him and no other promoter has the resources, ability and the TV dates themselves to really make a top tier fighter. And the worse bit is there are so many great prospects with huge potential that could go so far with the right progresion that could well end up like Kev last night unprepared.

 

Oh yeah no doubt FW could do better but it's hards to progress fighters when he has only done 3 shows this year. No other promoter could afford the Olympians anyway and I don't see to many of them wanting take on his other prospects but even if they could the only one that would show them is Matchroom (and possibly Hatton) but that won't ever happen because of Frank :fire But this isn't just him all of the promoters are struggling with a lack of TV dates and any genuine top prospect will really struggle to make progression unless they are an Olympian.

FW's up and coming fighters are not getting the right opponents and that really really worries me. It's bad with the olympians but it's even worse beyond them Stephen Smith's opposition has been horrific and he is stepping up to fight John Simpson because FW needs more stars that is an absolutely crazy move and sadly I could see it ending up like Don Broadhurst-Lee Haskins. The Walsh brothers have taken on shite oppo and are nowhere domestic level based on that oppo and a lot of FW's other prospects have been disgracefully inactive i.e. Liam Smith, Thomas Costello, Joe Selkirk, Tobias Webb, Ronnie Heffron. FW is the sort of promoter that needs a lot of TV dates because of the amount of fighters he has and until he gets them British Boxing is in trouble.

 

I agree, sadly it would probably be for the best if someone like a Hennessy and Matchroom were to fall out and go bust or cease opporations. I would never wish that upon anyone but there are just to many promoters for what is a small market and it is means that a lot of promoters are left with very few dates.

Once again true. I can name to many British fighters that are 10-15-0 (or similair) and have never faced an opponent with a winning record with more wins then they have. And I don't need to add to that really because it's obvious the problems that causes.

I don't neccesarily agree with that Clev-Bellew. It could be a huge fight at world level if all goes very well and there is no need for them to fight right now especially seeing as they are quite far apart at the moment in terms of where they stand and it would be a small money fight.

To be fair other than the Brancalion fight (which wasn't FW or Sky's fault) Clev is probably the only fighter that has been brought on about right in recent times. But Tony sadly is a very good example of what I am on about, 13 fights in 3 and a half years and not once beyond 8 rounds, he has faced only 5 fighter with winning records and only 2 of those had 10+ wins and one of them was Matt Ellis. He just won a title via 1st round TKO a fight he probably trained months for and didn't even break sweat and what happens....... he hasn't been out since. He should have been out at least once since then but can't unless FW finds space for him on one of his very few shows and even then there is such a small budget that he is ended up stuck with a bum like his last opponent.

I very strongly agree on the intercontinental issue they are one of the biggest disgraces in Boxing, there is African fighter that is 5-4 with wins and losses against shite opposition that is world ranked because he holds one of those titles, sais everything about Boxing really.
But the Commonwealth is a title with great tradition and great potential, Sky and the promoters need to stop destroying it with horror oppnents they need to bring in decent proven Africans and they need to get the Aussies and Canadiens back involved because if that were to happen it would be a great title once again.

Please do not get me started on Haye-Harrison it really is everything that is wrong with Sky a very very short sighted attitude. That fight would sell well and get attention but it would an absolute embarrasment for British Boxing's reputation overseas and once the novelty wore off for Boxing in this country as well.

 

Sadly very true. And it really ps me off because Boxing has proven that it is a drew and can make a lot of money but their short sighted attitude and insipid coverage really really hurts Boxing and gives it little ability to grow beyond it's current small confines.

 

Thanks agree with all of that adds very nicely on top of what I mean. Top Rank have 36 dates with FSN before even including their HBO, Latin Fury, Pinoy Power dates. And Golden Boy have TV deals across 4 different TV outlets with a weekly show on Telefutura. And the others have ShoBox and ESPN FNF. This means you have guys like Jose Benavidez, Frankie Gomez, Deontay Wilder, Omar Henry, Robert Marroquin, Shawn Porter etc. out 8/9 times miniumum in their first year and facing the right opposition facing different styles taking step ups whereseas here you are out 4 times if you are lucky and provided you can get to 10-0 you then start to step up slighly once or twice if you look good and then fight for a title it's unproffesional, very poot management, very poor progression but sadly they have no other options unless they don't want their guys to fight.

If you look at Omar Henry he is up to face his third undefeated opponent in a row and if he wins he will be 10-0 he turned pro July 08 and he has been out 3 times this year and every single one of his fights has been on TV, Jose Benavidez is 18 and turned pro in Jan he is 5-0 and scheduled to be out again next month.

FW needs a weekly show where he has 1 main event like a Tony Bellew or John Simpson and then the undercard made up completely of his prospects. He needs to sign a cheap tv deal that doesn't bring in much money and then have his big shows once every couple of months where he gets a decent license fee. But sadly that isn't easy to do here where Boxing is black listed and Sky essentially have a monopoly of the Sport Channels so there aren't many other available options. Sadly the likes of Stephen Smith, Liam Walsh, Frankie Gavin, BJ Saunders, Tony Bellew guys who have great potential will struggle to make the progress needed until we see more TV dates and that means loads of Kevin Mitchell, Michael Jennings type fighters unprepared for the top level.