What will be of boxing in UK now if Hattons gone. Your average Joe knew of the fight and what happened, yet people can't name the no.2 p4p fighter, no its not Prince Naseem, Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali. They don't know who David Haye or who The Cobra are, nor do they really care. They still ask when Joe Calzaghe's next fighting, I tell them I've never heard of him. They one guy they know of his Amir Khan, only problem is 90% of them want him to lose, in the worst possible way. We have some quality up and coming fighters, quite possibly future champs but in terms of purely popularity don't know if they will come close to Hatton. Hatton has done alot for boxing in general, never really see a fan base like that ever, can the other 3 (Khan, Haye and Froch) continue his legacy, don't think so. Depends alot on Froch, but hes spent too long bad mouthing the countries favourite boxing son (not saying its wrong)! In the sense of boxing being a talking point, its on a slide at the moment and may be years before it comes back.
I would think you are looking at Khan being the only fighter to get mainstream attention should Hatton choose to retire. David Haye could not even put up a guarantee for a stadium in the UK, hence why the fight is taking place in Germany with K2 taking the liability. He didn't even sell out the O2 either in his latest fight. If he becomes THE heavyweight champ he might start to grab a few back pages, but thats a long way off. Carl Froch couldn't get a TV deal fighting for a world title. Enough said. There's Junior Witter though... As for the prospects, they are going to need something to appeal in a major way if they are to be truely mainstream. That is the way boxing is now, mainstream attention does not come purely with success or skill. Hatton had the football fanbase, and the way he portrayed himself to appeal to them. Hamed had his whole persona. Jefferies looks like he's one that could be taking the Hatton route to mainstream attention, he's making a promising start in the ticket selling department. The only other one is DeGale, purely because nobody likes him and he's a gold medalist. That gets attention if he does well.
ur talking bull**** mate...im not british...but a blind man could see the sport in britain is flourishing...the amount of talent coming through is sizable...degale and jeffries is only scratching the surface...frankie gavin, billie joe saunders, david price, tyson fury, the murray brothers, walsh brothers,smith brothes,mitchell brothers, cox, brooks...i could go on here all night...british boxing is booming dont let any1 tell u different:good
Now actually try to read the opening post. I'm fully aware of the exciting talent coming through, the guy is referring to marketability. It's fairly clear only Hatton and Khan have this, and to a lesser extent Joe Calzaghe before he retired.
Kevin Mitchell has so much potential to be the next popular name in the country. Nice guy, all action style with defensive flaws. He's the obvious contender to Hatton's throne of popularity if you ask me.
Tough one this. Calzaghe played off the Welsh thing, Hatton off the Northern working class thing. I like Froch but even with ITV behind him your average Joe dunno who he is. His fight are always exciting which is a shame. Maybe his fit Mrs may get him more attention? Haye could do it just because he's now a Heavyweight. But when Williams and Skelton fought for world honours no one gave a ****. If Haye KOs Klitschko then we'll see. His arrongance may hold him back though. I feel for Khan because he's a great talent and he's never been in a boring fight, but more people want him to lose than win. This include alot of my mates which really pisses me off. I was gonna go to the Kotelnik fight but my mate who I was going with me fancied Kotelnik to win. Cant be doing with that ****. Jefferies could be massive, because of the whole football thing like Hatton. Majority of Hatton's fans arent boxing fans. They just love the **** up and singing songs etc. It seemed this was the case in Sunderland on Saturday.
Thing is, alot of casual fans dont give a **** about the lower weights. Which is a shame cos the speed and excitement is there.
I think people will emerge. I think the next Froch fight will get more media coverage. Haye has a chance to break through against Klitscko. The Olympians all have a great chance especially as several have potential marketable rivals- Fury vs. Price, Jeffries vs. Sutherland vs. Degale vs. Groves. Perhaps they won't reach Hatton levels because quite frankly, world boxing is going to struggle to find someone with that level of support
Yup your right I am talking about pure marketability and popularity in the mainstream. I can see all these guys having a good fan base, but just can never see the whole of the UK supporting them. The talent coming through looks very good, but on the marketability aspect it may not ever reach the heights of Hatton, or is it just the end of an era and we should move on?
It's going to be a long long time before you find a British boxer as popular as Hatton, that isn't to say Haye, Froch, Khan etc can't be successful.
Well he has been waiting in the wings for his time to come, it's time for young Khan to step up to world stage and be counted starting on 27 June, where P4P King Manny will be at ring side at London O2 to see the British Future Star in action.
