Small Hall struggles.

Yes he delivered on the undisputed hw fight but I’m not one who feels incomplete without that tbh.
The longstanding champs of the time were AJ and wilder who had a total of around 16defences(?)
Usyk and fury beat them and went undisputed straight away (thanks to Turki) with a total of around 5defences(?).
The stakes were different.

Then What’s happened since?
He’s a huge fan of boxing who overpaid massive amounts to get that done, which has caused a situation where everyone wants big overpaying and fights are not getting made. So it’s had the opposite effect, a damaging one and boxing has gone stale. A few years ago when USA ran boxing, a good top fight was on twice a month, since turki it’s dropped to twice a year, that’s dreadful!
The fighters are getting worse because of it.

on another note, i saw an article about usyk with egis klimas saying he’s no longer dealing with turki as he’s not paying the big amounts any more and is going back to the USA. Not sure how true it is, but it’s my point.

Turki delivered 2 fights we wanted, one would’ve got made without him (bivol & beterbiev) and the other Turki helped in convincing fury to agree. Everyone knows usyk would have usyk.

 

Yes, understood - I was just trying to figure out why the halls cost so much. But then everything costs more now!

 

I'd like to know who expected him to sell 30k for a 4 rounder, usually you would be required to sell around 4-5k to cover journeyman, house money and get your own wages too. Unless the lad is a heavyweight where it might be around double that. 30k to me sounds a bit far fetched

 

The BBBoC should put an end to it. Small hall promoters pleading for sympathy but they're built on the unethical practice of making 'prospects' go out physically sell the tickets to even get paid, and the parallel practice of professional losers being guaranteed pay to lose.
Of course people would rather watch "white collar" boxing or "unlicensed" brawlers or some delinquent girls on community service or whatever .... rather than a "professional licensed show" of an eight-rounder a few six-twos with some professional punchbags against some average boxers from the gym who won't even get paid.

 

Yes, this sounds like a horribly corrupt system. The sooner it goes bye-bye, the better.

 

It's just an absolute racket when you put it like that. Personally not interested in seeing prospects come up anymore - fighting 10-20 journeymen before a live body is just not my idea of good boxing/matchmaking, it's conning the consumer. Keep sparring if you can't crack an egg/take a punch. Watching journeymen come and be used up is just such a silly, unsportsmanship, bag of rubbish.

I'd rather watch genuine 50-50 affairs, whether that's small shows or not. Also, the reality is watching boxing live is trash. You can't see anything unless you're ringside. And, sitting next to rowdy, gurning goons ready to scrap you just isn't my idea of a fun night...

 

Small hall boxing should be mostly 50-50 affairs.
It makes no sense that it's not.

 

Fighters need to learn their trade just like everyone else. They can’t learn everything in the class room, they need to learn “on site” too and build on experience

 

They'd learn more from fighting opponents that could beat them.

 

I don't even know when British "journeyman" came to mean someone who loses 100 or more fights and rarely gets knocked out, losing deliberately. I'm not sure when that became a thing. A journeyman used to be more like a boxer with a 50% record who wouldn't be losing to average nobody making a pro debut. And no one should lose 100 fights and only get knocked out a couple of times, makes no sense, and then lose to a bang average boy from the gym with no experience. It's fraud.

 

My point is the option of watching 50-50 affairs with a preference for big stadiums over small halls but if big stadiums don't offer that then I'd just prefer to watch small halls.

 

I mean, I understand that but it's just incompetent matchmaking to say the least, gross misconduct to say more and fraudulent at most. It feels inequitable and is used not for learning but to create false hype then conmen that earn millions and trash champs become more frequent. In the amateur scene you usually get matched with people your level and as you build your record, your opponent's record also gets better. It's obviously not difficult in matchmaking if it is done daily in the amateur scene. And it's obviously used to just create hype and commercial interest (interest that's not warranted). Paying people to lose to your man is just the definition of unsportsmanship! No wonder the Olympics went this gone lol boxing has to be the most corrupt sport at both micro and macro levels.

 

Fighter generally need 8-10 of these fights where they learn. By learning I also mean doing what they do in sparring under the lights, with a crowd and ref etc. there are things u learn during fights that can’t be replicated in sparring. For example, taking ref orders, corner practice, being announced and feeling the pressure in a pro ring etc.

I agree that many build big records like this, frank Warren was often known for this, like with Hatton and calzaghe who were successful ones. However many fail when they step up their opponents as it’s poor development.

 

This a hundred times over. BoxRec has plenty of British boxers who have 10-12 fights, win them all on points then as soon as they step up against someone who punches back, lose and retire. It does no-one any good and puts people off attending - boxing must be the only sport where you earn more if you lose.

 

The journeyman model is totally outdated that's going back decades. I understand an easy debut, first couple of fights but protected good ticket sellers winning the first 15 contests without even being remotely tested by that I mean opponents even capable of trying to win rounds other than survive does a fighter, no good.

They actually become complacent, never punished for loose attacks, let alone a poor defence as it's never tested! Good sparring can help. sparring is that though, under pressure in front of a crowd, all fighters are exposed to their level, finding it, that's the art. Beating punchbags, long term adds nothing to any skillset.

Even at the peak of the actual small hall show's that being before and up until the first world war, post WW1 and even for a period after WW2.

Boxing shows were fought all over the UK daily, the public attended in droves because the majority of fights were competitive with the underdog even, coming to win.

Reputations built, area shows would see fighters meet multiple times, was a huge amount of boxers looking to fight, make a living in extremely hard times.

It was an era of Nobbin's fights which small hall shows had actually in the 60's and 70's coins in ring for domestic level wars, fighters split the proceeds, fan appreciation.

We move forward decades and Bobbin's fights would be the more apt term.

Small hall promoting isn't easy, but TV deals or not, give the paying public competitive fights, not move arounds.