i agree but you have to remember Matchroom are dealing with a non PPV budget. They have to juggle cards like Leeds will cost approx £1.5/2m to put on. Unfortunately they do need some additional UK talent as the pool is now being spread through another UK promoter in Boxxer and Wasserman plus Probellum. There are limited fights they can make and many of the reasonable names in the UK are under contract elsewhere. I agree the cards could be stronger at times but they also follow the analytics and put their money into Whyte vs Wallin and Chisora vs Parker... which although i appreciate you may not like it Jurgen drives the numbers higher than practically anything that has been put on by any UK promoter in the last 6 months. Granted the Whyte fight fell out but they will only plough funds into fights that drive the subscriber numbers. The truth of the matter is that there is a very limited number of crossover star boxers in the UK currently that have a small profile compared to fighters of 5 years ago. The profile for instance of Josh Taylor is much not much higher than someone like George Groves pre Froch. Which is criminal given what he has achieved, we only have to look at todays SPOTY award to see he wasnt eveny given a look in. I do believe if he had a promoter such as Hearn backing him from the off instead of MTK he would be getting a much bigger recognition but thats another point. There is a real lack of fighters that could drive serious viewers to a casual market. In my opinion if DAZN buy BT sport and in turn take a major control over the UK boxing market and sport market in general. If there are not Leeds level cards every week then fair play have a moan you will be right to do so. But until fight purses are either reduced or comeptition dies down the quality will be spread thin. If under Hearn the Sky headlines for the last three cards would have been Riakporhe vs Durodola, Eubank vs Awdijan and Avaneysan vs Taylor this place would have had a complete meltdown. Dont forget Boxxer are working with the same budget that Matchroom had last year
Fair and good points from your side Trafford, but did Eddie Hearn not know what he was getting into before Matchroom signed the deal with DAZN ?
No but I believe he thinks in the long game DAZNs platform will win due to the sheer scale of it being the only concept that could offer a global service. Plus his budget is bigger with them than what Sky etc we’re able to afford. it’s a gamble but one really he did have to take.
Probellum have a massive budget apparently. I think they’re going to snap up loads of decent talent and then force their way in to a TV deal and then they’ll be right up there amongst the best.
I think they are struggling with a tv deal due to it obviously being Kinahan led. However by bringing Schafer, Sam Jones, Jim white etc on board it gives the promotion a chance to wash away the Kinahan link before a tv deal likely does appear. Rumour is they are launching a boxing streaming platform
It is the fight purses going to Chisora and Whyte that annoy me - far too much going into pudding pie when it could be spread much wider developing new talent.
Boxnation could be the new home of boxing should they continue on this channel with their huge stable. Makes sense for all parties and it is part of the Premier Sports package and also free with BT Sports at present.
Didn't you say they are free with BT Sport or Premier Sports ? They are both subscription services aren't they ?
Both with plenty of other sports as part of the packages but Premier Sports also stuck the boxing on Freesports which is a free channel on Sky.
You actually still get Boxnation with the BT Sport pack (on the app). I actually think the approach of putting the undercard behind the paywall but the main event on free to air works well. Probellum aren’t going to succeed if they rely on a new streaming platform with an additional subscription.
Think Premier Sports are Irish so Boxnation may be their home for a while until Sky or BT take the plunge.
The rights fees arent enough to drive real fighters on peak UK times. Thats why it will likely be their own online streaming platform as it allows them to generate subscribers worldwide and pool that money into the platform.