Super Official Important Poll: EVERYONE ON ESB PLEASE RESPOND ASAP

Martin Lindsay
Frankie Gavin
Carl Frampton
Paul McCloskey
John Simpson
Matthew Macklin
Derek Chisora
Paul Appleby
Tyson Fury
John Murray

 

Good work Jeff - one question. Is the garden gnome really gonna go back to the sky bosses and recommend fighters outside of his stable get shown more?

If he is, then fair play! My list would be...

Frankie Gavin
Kell Brook
Tony Bellew
Ryan Rhodes
Tyson Fury
James Degale
Nathan Cleverly
Martin Lindsay
Rendall Munroe
Derek Chisora

Cheers, top work Jeff! :bbb

 

Jeff - this was solid! I've rearranged this list, added and dropped people about 20 times! But here's my top ten;

Frankie Gavin
David Price
George Groves
Stephen Smith
Tony Bellew
Martin Lindsay
Nathan Cleverley
John Murray
Matthew Marsh
Michael Stanton (he's my cousin, I couldnt not put him in there)

Have to echo the words of a few though, each need to be in good fights. I've missed loads out, but settled on the above as a mix of prospects, current domestic champions and people who have been in good fights.

To be fair though Jeff, most of us will watch anything. So if Sky are worried about ratings then we're not really the ones to canvass. We'll watch regardless. If they are serious about improving the sport, then yes, take all of our opinions as I think 99% of people on here want the sport to continuously improve.

If it is the latter, then can I make a suggestion about shows...

Why are all shows, regardless of who is fighting, pretty much a standard £30 a ticket? Take for example Paul Smith v Tony Dodson. That was a pretty big fight in Liverpool. Yet there were hundreds of empty seats and the reason was the pricing. I know loads of people who said "yeah, I'll go to that, let me know when you're getting your ticket" only for them to pull out when I told them the price.

I understand that promoters need to cover their costs, but why not have a batch of cheap seats. The ones up in the rafters or, on smaller shows in sports halls and stuff, standing room only where it's £10 or £15 entry.

Most casual boxing fans that I know would be happy to go to a live event for a tenner. Obviously you then need to satisfy the people that pay the £30 so put them on the floor near to ring side. Obviously the money men know more about these things than little ol' me, but surely it makes sense to sell empty seats for £10 than to leave them empty and get nothing?

As I say, us lot will pay to go anyway and we'll watch whatever is on TV, but to grow the sport we need to get people involved who oridinarily wouldnt be. If there was a fight in a sports hall near a local fan and he paid a tenner a ticket. The chances are, the next time the lad that fought is on sky, that casual fan will tune in to see how he's getting on.

Also, from a casual fan perspective, boxers need a back story. It may p!ss us lot off a little bit, but my casual boxing mates have said to me in the last year or so "did you see that bin man?" "did you see that lad with the maths degree?". It's small details and it may get on our nerves as we see it as irrelevant but if it brings more interest in the sport then we can live with it. Even if Sky did a little 60 second interview, similar to the one at the back of boxing news each week, with each fighter that they show on their bill. It adds a little bit more interest for the casual fan.

Sorry to go off on one.

I've got loads of ideas to change the world so let me know if you want any more

 

Choi Tseveenpurev
Frankie Gavin
George Groves
Kell Brook
Gavin Rees
Tony Bellew
Ryan Rhodes
Martin Lindsay
Willie Casey
Joe Catchpole (top prospect from round my way)

 

All my 6 fights to date have been on sky shows but Im still to be aired thanks to all who have given me a mention

 

Myself
Frankie gavin
Kenny Anderson
Martin lindsay
Pajo hyland
John Simpson
Stephen smith
Choi
Jason booth
Dean Byrne

 

Is Dean Byrne planning on basing himself in Ireland/England then? If he is I would definitely add him to my list.

 

was it 6 ffs even worse

 

If anyone gets fired as a result of my continuous critical comments toward Sky then I apologise in advance.

 

Paddy that was a top post :good

Completely right about casual fans needing a back story. When I first started getting into the sport I couldn't just watch a fight. I had to find out something about the fighters. When watching Friday Fight Nights back then most of the fighters were unknown. I had no idea who they were and that made it less interesting.

As you learn more about a fighter, you take more interest in them. If they've got an interesting back story like Munroe being a binman that attracts more fans. Sky need to give fighters an identity. Sky's Countdown shows for PPVs need to be completely revamped. It's still Watt and McCrory/Nelson talking about the fights with a few clips from training.

Remember when Haye fought Barrett on Setanta? On the week of the fight they had a 30 min preview show which was a Buncey interview with Haye. Except it wasn't a 'traditional' sit down interview. It was Buncey and Haye walking around London, visiting places from Haye's childhood like where he grew up, his first gym etc. If someone didn't know who David Haye was before that they certainly did afterwards. It would be great if Sky did something like that for fighters. And it'd be better to show it on Sky1 as it would reach a wider audience.

 

like that at home with the hattons before the paulie fight

 

agree with allot of what paddy says. there needs to be more build up to the main event.

i think sky need to work with the board of control and set up an official British Rankings.

 

:good

They need to do it for people like Cleverly, Groves, Gavin and Brook though.

Maybe Sky Sports could do some features on the top British gyms and their fighters. So you'd get an epsiode on the Ingles gym, another on Gallaghers and so on.

 

1. Kell Brook
2. Frankie Gavin
3. Carl Frampton
4. Tony Bellew
5. Choi
6. Tyson Fury
7. John Murray
8. Derek Chisora
9. George Groves
10. Kevin Mitchel