Interesting Article

Poor poor decision by HBO.
Last year Cotto vs Foreman from Yankee Stadium was their biggest TV rating on regular HBO.
Totally agree with the article & the way HBO have treated Sergio Martinez has also been dreadful.
Imagine if HBO treated Al Heymon this way with all his links to the entertainment industry.


Onto Australia, well until their is a rival network willing to invest time & money into boxing Fox Sports/Main Event will continue to give us mediocre coverage & show little care for the development of the product.
Andy Raymond the MMA nuthugger will love this & pump MMA down our throats further in 2011 on FOX broadcasts...leading to less & less boxing.

 

In regards to Raymond giving mma a plug at every opportunity, imagine for example an afl commentator talking up rugby league during a game or a league commentator talking up rugby union, it wouldn't and shouldn't happen. Is there any alternative boxing commentators in the country ?

 

HBO doesn't care about Arum or top rank or anybody, they have the money and Arum knows it and if he won'ts it he must do business with them.

 

It would appear that bar Pacman a prerequisite for HBO fighters is that they must be able to draw crowds of no more than 900 people (eg: Andre Berto, Paul Williams, Tim Bradley etc) hence their allowing the likes of Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Lopez to go to Showtime. HBO seems to think that fights have a betetr atmosphere when they take place in empty areas!

 

:deal

 

I think the opposite will happen this year in regards to Fox Sports mate.

The structure has been changed in management and the promoters including ACE have all been told to lift the game in terms of matching, venues etc.

I wouldn't question Andy's commitment to boxing. He has taken plenty of hits from the sport but remains one of Australia's leading advocates so we need to support him more than shoot him down.

Remember he works for a station which supports all forms combat sports. So it's not unusual for him to speak about things Fox are showing. He probably gives boxing plenty of plugs during a MMA show and vice versa!

Fox has lifted the bar which the promoters now need to jump over so its up to them.

BK

 

Main Event televising the debacle that is Sonny Bill Williams vs Scott Lewis as a PPV (expecting $50!!!!!!!!!) is not what i would call a great move for Australian boxing.

The 1st FOX show (Jamie Myer - 4th Feb) of the year simply does not cut the mustard with the matches on it. Probably 1 bout is passable with the rest being rather pathetic (can live with 1 or 2 but the rest of the entire card!!).

The 2nd FOX show (Barry Michael - 4th March) seems alot better with fairly even matchups involving very few overseas imports.

When a commentator (Andy Raymond) plugs overseas MMA bouts a hell of alot more than boxing overseas bouts on a boxing Friday/Thursday Night Fights show (including not being able to pronounce Antonio Margarito's name properly) i think its time he exclusively commentates MMA.

Hope this changes come off & things improve but if im being honest i should be very skeptical & expect more MMA & less boxing.

 

Main Event - I am sure they took it on because they have a promoter willing to front the dollars. Thats how it works - promoter covers production and once that is paid then they start to divide the revenue. Can't blame Main Event entirely for giving someone a chance and also doing what they exist as a channel for.

In respect to the first 2 cards you can't break old habits in one lesson so expect this to take a little while to kick in but rest assured that people in the right places want to see competitive fights that will entertain.

I know Angelo D has matched some AWESOME fights for ACE BOXING's first TV card! Kegsy if you don't like it then we might have to give it away :deal

 

When is your 1st TV date???
If some of your fights are awesome thats great to hear.:good

Angelo Di Carlo to be fair in the short time (3 years) he has had FOX dates has more often than not delivered on some good fight nights.

 

Make that ALL awesome fights ...Date will be released soon - i usually post on the forums first thing before even changing our own website so - you will hear it here first!

As a fight fan first and foremost I want to see the standard lifted also but being involved in the other side I totally understand the dramas getting the fights to hold or even signed for that matter. Its a tough gig... but fingers crossed it starts to lift this year.:bbb