Jack Catterall vs Jorge Linares

I worry about British boxing altogether. Can’t see where the headliners are coming from at all.

Re: Matchroom - they need McCormack to get an impressive win against Ritson, a passing of the torch moment in the North East. Try and move Dalton Smith well and get him in some big fights and then I’d try and nab Whittaker off Boxxer now he’s had a bit of Sky exposure.

On other platforms Azim should do good numbers if he keeps winning and Liam Davies has a good backstory and is on a good run.

Apart from that lot it’s pretty grim and the stuff I’ve mentioned isn’t the best.

 

Agree with your first point. There are some good fighters coming through like Azim and McCann too. Apparently Dalton Smith might face Harlem Eubank next year and they are looking at the situation with the European Title.

I fully expect Ben Whittaker to sign with Matchroom once his 10-fight deal ends.

Liam Davies is a big ticket-seller and the best super-bantamweight in the country followed by Masood, McCann and McGrail. One thing I will say that is encouraging is that this set of Olympians are moving much quicker than those in 2016. Mcgrail, McCormack, Clarke and Yafai have all been in championship fights within less than a year of turning professional. Yafai is very good but because he is a flyweight no one really cares.

Encouragingly I hear that Wardley and Adeleye may reach a deal soon and will fight at the end of November / December on BT. Great fight.

 

Good news Wardley vs Adeleye is close. After the Clarke debacle that division domestically needs to get moving, there are some good fights to be made.

Serious question, why do you expect Whitaker to leave Sky after his deal? The exposure he is getting at this stage of his career is massive. Appearances on sky sports news, fights being advertised during top Premier league game when millions of eyes are watching. As long as he keeps producing in the ring those are all the conditions to make a star. To move to relative obscurity would be a really odd business decision. Hearn and Co can dress it up however they want but no one can reasonably say another sports platform comes close to offering that. What is the UK subscription comparison? Maybe 5-10% of Sky?

I was speaking to some mates who are casual fans who were unaware that Wood vs Warrington was even happening! If fights like that aren't getting talked about what chance does a Dacres / McGrail etc stand to build themselves. A prime example was the Dalton Smith show I went to last month, it was like a morgue in that arena it was that empty (a nice plus was there was zero que at the bars though!). He really should of built a big fan base by now but there was about 2-3k in there, the casuals have no idea who he is. When watching the Hundred cricket last week,Adam Azim was in the box being interviewed - their fighters just pop up everywhere building exposure and excitement to the next fights.

I'm sure there are a few Frank Smith wannabees who want to argue or say that's hate, but the levels of viewership are miles apart and it's obvious to see

 

I have heard rumors about what figures Boxxer / Sky Sports are ready to pay Ben Whitaker to keep him on Sky's platform.

A serious question : How much are Matchroom prepared to pay ?

 

I think Dazn pockets are deeper, they'll nick some Sky fighters as Shalom is having a 'mare recently.

 

This is normally where Eddie says 'Boxxer have massively overpaid' about any one who left him or choose to join another promoter followed by 'they don't understand the business'.......aye, alright Eddie! You just worry about the egg based diets and let everyone else get on with their business

 

That the Dalton Smoth that’s fought 10 of his 15 fights on Sky?

Sky Are likely to do one or two things currently remove themselves to a purely PPV boxing broadcaster or reduce Bens budget likely by around 25% in 2025. Ben’s target was to deliver 4 PPVs per year from summer 2022 and have a stable capable of 5/6 PPVs by 2025. And that’s PPV that turn a profit. They are miles off currently.

the exposure is no where close to what you say it is. Okolie vs Light did 33k live viewers and Buatsi vs Stepien did 40k viewers. This is painful for the number 1 sports broadcaster in the UK given Okolie for that fight was paid in excess of 7 figures. There’s a reason Ben’s not going to purse bids as it’s month to month on the cash flow now.


As for Whitaker, from what I am told Matchrooms policy is to only pay when fighter is close to delivering. Ben will likely sign 3-5 fight deal once his contract is up. Matchroom won’t bid unless it’s for close to a Pascal, Yarde, Arthur type fight

 

So Smiths lost all that momentum In just a few fights then, ouch. Out of intrest what are DAZNs viewing figures?
Personally it's no bad thing, my tickets were free off a seat filler site that night as we're most. Let these good times keep happening, Personally hoping matchroom stay on DAZN, so far this year Wood vs Lara 2, smith vs Maxwell, Edwards vs Campos, Pattinson vs Jenkins, Pacheco vs Cullen all been on the giveaway sites. Happy days, no complaints from me. Long may it continue - I know most people don't bother buying now as on the Monday - Wednesday of fight week they are usually listed online. Apart from the bigger fights obviously.

Not sure why people only ever quote the sky viewing figures for sky sports main event when those fights were also shown on sky showcase and sky sports mix, accessible to all sky subscribers

 

No that was total viewing figures. And those big fights you mentioned what platform are they on again???

 

To be fair Boxxer did overpay for Fraser Clarke and Whittaker, although they kind of had to. £100,000 for each fight up to 10 fights with no opponent quality guaranteed. Ben Whittaker has been horrendously matched so far in his first 4 fights. I have heard he’ll return on the Buatsi vs Azeez card in an 8-rounder. When Whittaker turned professional he said he wanted Azeez for the British Title in 5 fights or less.

I’m going to get flamed for this, but look at the quality of opposition Galal Yafai, Cheavon Clarke, Pat McCormack and Peter McGrail have faced since turning professional. It’s a lot better than Fraser Clarke and Whittaker.

There is a reason why Sky have been showing a lot of their shows on Sky Showcase. I’m sure the plan is now to try and make a unification between Billam Smith and Riakporhe on PPV and sell it as a rematch with a score to be settled.

One thing I will say though is that Shalom has done a very good job with Adam Azim.

 

Be interesting that Azims deal ends just prior to Boxxer Sky deal. Wonder if team McGuigan use Azim, Dubois and CBS to try and hijack their own Sky deal. They were pretty adamant in keeping Caroline and not Daniel.

 

Didn't Azim extend his contract with boxxer for another 4/5 years before the rylan charlton fight? I'm not sure when the boxxer/sky deal ends but im pretty sure Azim will be with boxxer for at least a year or two after they part ways with sky.

 

Yes I believe 4 years. Takes him to 2026. I misread the dates. Be interesting though. Boxxer are all in on him

 

Boxxer are crap but at least you know any half decent promoter can make Sky Boxing a success. DAZN on the other hand is a crock of shyte.

 

Heard from a couple of people who train at Bens gym that he is on 80k per fight, and there was a 400k sign on on fee?

Also, there should be a wolves card announced for November. The initial plan I believe was Whitaker v Summers. However, now depends on how summers comes out of the Yarde fight.