Hauser lays into HBO, again!

[Chambers2]

Mick Hennessey is (one of) boxings shining lights and is demonstrating how the sport should be taken forward IMO, OK he doesn't always have the best of luck when trying to land the BIG names, but I believe that he's promoting principles and intentions are always bang on. He's always looking to put his fighters in competitive fights throughout their career and from what we've seen so far he wants his stars to be in BIG fights and doesn't mind them travelling if it's what's right for the boxers career (i.e. he's not a cash-cower)

not sure if this rings quite true though chambers

froch has had- what?- 3 truly competitive fights in 24?

Murray, 3 or 4 in 26

Siddique managed something like 24 without a single competitive fight

witter, Hennessy managed to get him a vacant vs Corley (!) then defences vs Morua (!!!) and a half-dead Harris.

if thats the kind of competitive matchmaking that gets kudos from fans I worry for the future of the game.

I mean, i know we are desperate for any promoter whose name isn't allegedly frank whosibob but sometimes i wonder if people don't make hennesy out to be some latterday robin hood. i mean just because allegedly fwank whosibob is perfect for the role of sherriff of nottingham ('cancel christmas' i can just see it now :P ) doesn't mean hennessy is robin hood.

lets face it its not like Froch or any other hennessy fighter has been fighting 50/50's for their past 8 or anything like that.

in fact you doubtless won't need me to remind you that before pascal froch's last 4 fights went a total of what was it? about 14 rounds between them? competitve matchmaking at its finest :)

seems to me its the same as most promoters, 50/50s are all well and good but 60/40 is infinitely preferable from any promoter's perspective, and infinitely more common, even with our 'man of the people, boxing's future, greedy cynical eff charging £45 for a fight in a birmingham sports centre' hennessy with his supposedly impeccable promoting principles and intentions.

By that comment I didn't meant that Mick put his fighters in 50-50's throughout their career (as that's pretty much impossible) I meant he wasn't happy for his fighters to be brought on slowly, repeatedly being in fights where little was coming back at them, Nobby Nobbs's (no offence) lot don't get too much work out of Mick.

Using Froch's career as an example:
Valery Odin in his 6th fight
Michael Monaghan in his 8th
Alan Page in his 10th English Title
Charles Adamu 12th fight C/Wealth title
Henry Porras 15th
Matthew Barney 16th
Brian Magee 19th

He's been brought on aggressively IMO

Watch a Hennessey undercard and watching a SN undercard is like comparing chalk and chutney IMO. Frank uses a low-risk strategy when bringing his fighters on (some would argue to the boxers detriment) where Mick is abit more daring in his matchmaking for fighters coming through the ranks and I know which I'd prefer to watch (the strategy sometimes back fires, but it's usually us on here who are saying that there shouldn't be so much emphasis on the O

[Counter-puncher]

fair enough mate

ironically while you were thinking of Monaghan etc (good match for 8th fight)

i was thinking more like Matthew Barney or Dodson etc, not particularly competitve for his c17th or c20th fights

also the last henessay show i went to the u/c wasn't that good but i take your point in general

[Chambers2]

[
in fact you doubtless won't need me to remind you that before pascal froch's last 4 fights went a total of what was it? about 14 rounds between them? competitve matchmaking at its finest :)

You can't punish Froch for punching so mutherfcuking hard ;;-)

14 rounds
4 were against Albert Rybacki who was a late stand in, because Inkins a prick
5 were against Robin Reid, not a fight that I was particularly a fan off tbh, but Reid it was a British title defence and Reid had World Class experience and a decent name (although Reid was over the hill)
2 rounds against Sergey Tatevosyan who had just been 12 rounds with Bute the IBF Champ. Sergey had never been stopped and held wins over Markussen, Gogiya and James Obede Toney
3 rounds against Tony Dodson in another British title defence against the top challenger

Before that he done 11 against Brian Magee who was the top challenger to his Brit titles

[Chambers2]

fair enough mate

ironically while you were thinking of Monaghan etc (good match for 8th fight)

i was thinking more like Matthew Barney or Dodson etc, not particularly competitve for his c17th or c20th fights

also the last henessay show i went to the u/c wasn't that good but i take your point in general

Barney was a very good class of opponent for his 17th fight IMO. He's a nightmare to fight, he posed alot of different problems for Froch and he was very very unlucky in his previous fight to lose a disputed points decision to for the European LHW title in Germany.

[oliverfennell]

I6000 words seems to border on obsessive. It's half a dissertation.

Or quarter a Terry Dooley article, in today's money ;)

[oliverfennell]

witter, Hennessy managed to get him a vacant vs Corley (!) then defences vs Morua (!!!) and a half-dead Harris.

Two fights that a lot - if not the majority - of people picked Witter to lose. Hindsight's so malleable, isn't it.

[Autobarn]

Mick Hennessey is (one of) boxings shining lights and is demonstrating how the sport should be taken forward IMO, OK he doesn't always have the best of luck when trying to land the BIG names, but I believe that he's promoting principles and intentions are always bang on. He's always looking to put his fighters in competitive fights throughout their career and from what we've seen so far he wants his stars to be in BIG fights and doesn't mind them travelling if it's what's right for the boxers career (i.e. he's not a cash-cower)

not sure if this rings quite true though chambers

froch has had- what?- 3 truly competitive fights in 24?

Murray, 3 or 4 in 26

Siddique managed something like 24 without a single competitive fight

witter, Hennessy managed to get him a vacant vs Corley (!) then defences vs Morua (!!!) and a half-dead Harris.

if thats the kind of competitive matchmaking that gets kudos from fans I worry for the future of the game.

I mean, i know we are desperate for any promoter whose name isn't allegedly frank whosibob but sometimes i wonder if people don't make hennesy out to be some latterday robin hood. i mean just because allegedly fwank whosibob is perfect for the role of sherriff of nottingham ('cancel christmas' i can just see it now :P ) doesn't mean hennessy is robin hood.

lets face it its not like Froch or any other hennessy fighter has been fighting 50/50's for their past 8 or anything like that.

in fact you doubtless won't need me to remind you that before pascal froch's last 4 fights went a total of what was it? about 14 rounds between them? competitve matchmaking at its finest :)

seems to me its the same as most promoters, 50/50s are all well and good but 60/40 is infinitely preferable from any promoter's perspective, and infinitely more common, even with our 'man of the people, boxing's future, greedy cynical eff charging £45 for a fight in a birmingham sports centre' hennessy with his supposedly impeccable promoting principles and intentions.

Hennessy's main events are usually good though aren't they & the undercards often have a decent scrap or some young talent showcased. Hennessy bills are usually competitive - or at least before the fight they look like 50-50. That said, last year they certainly didn't have the British fight of last year, which must have gone to something like Mitchell-Johanesson (a FW fight).

Obviously FW can deliver the good fights and the big fights, but oft in between it's one guy who's shit hot vs someone else who's obviously not.

It seems that regarding the Commonealth belt, no one's really putting on good shows, neither FW nor Hennessy (Commonwealth title hasn't really taken Barker as far as I thought it would).

[Chambers2]

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articl ... ?id=633424

CAN 'FREE' BOXING FREE BOXING?
HBO hopes less PPV means more fans

By Ben Grossman

With the sport of boxing and the U.S. economy both taking a beating, HBO is shifting its strategy and relocating many of its big fights from pay-per-view (PPV) to its network.

HBO Sports chief Ross Greenburg hopes the move to make more top-tier fights available to HBO customers will infuse some life into the sport.

"The sport needs more eyeballs," he says. "It's ironic, but while in bad times you'd expect the sport to suffer, it could actually trigger the opposite effect."

"It's tough to get people excited about dishing out 50 bucks every month in this economy," Greenburg says. "Everyone overreached in 2008; there were too many pay-per-view events."

The first example of HBO's strategy is its World Championship Boxing airing of the Jan. 24 bout between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito, which Greenburg says would have absolutely been on PPV last year.

[oliverfennell]

I6000 words seems to border on obsessive. It's half a dissertation.

Or quarter a Terry Dooley article, in today's money ;)

Hey, they have been much shorter in 2009. I think Hauser is far more capable than most of holding attention for a decent span. It is fortunate that Melville did not submit Moby Dick in the modern climate, "eff all the whale anatomy stuff mate, trim it down to two pages and make sure you leave space on the sides for Viagra ads." Not that I'm comparing Hauser to Melville, but you get me drift.

The Duddy one is long, but it is a complex issue, it needed more than a 'Duddy's team sucks ass' Current Scene thread

You know it's just banter, but IMO anyway I just don't think lengthy pieces suit the web. Magazines, yes, and of course books are a different matter. When I use the web I tend to have a few things going on at once, but when I read print it gets my undivided attention.

I did read all of that Hauser piece because it kept my interest and I agreed with a lot of it, but I did have to keep taking breaks from it to do some work!

[Poncey]

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articl ... ?id=633424

CAN 'FREE' BOXING FREE BOXING?
HBO hopes less PPV means more fans

By Ben Grossman

With the sport of boxing and the U.S. economy both taking a beating, HBO is shifting its strategy and relocating many of its big fights from pay-per-view (PPV) to its network.

HBO Sports chief Ross Greenburg hopes the move to make more top-tier fights available to HBO customers will infuse some life into the sport.

"The sport needs more eyeballs," he says. "It's ironic, but while in bad times you'd expect the sport to suffer, it could actually trigger the opposite effect."

"It's tough to get people excited about dishing out 50 bucks every month in this economy," Greenburg says. "Everyone overreached in 2008; there were too many pay-per-view events."

The first example of HBO's strategy is its World Championship Boxing airing of the Jan. 24 bout between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito, which Greenburg says would have absolutely been on PPV last year.

Believe it when I see it. Ross has said the same thing for the last three years, as evidenced by Mr Hauser.

[Counter-puncher]

witter, Hennessy managed to get him a vacant vs Corley (!) then defences vs Morua (!!!) and a half-dead Harris.

Two fights that a lot - if not the majority - of people picked Witter to lose. Hindsight's so malleable, isn't it.

its a shame the majority lack my discerning judgement then, I picked witter to win both. ;;-)

[oliverfennell]

So did everybody else, after they happened!

I'm sure you did beforehand, but you know what I mean.

Lacy's gonna kill Calzaghe/Lacy's a one-dimensional bum, and I always said so
De La Hoya's gonna squash Pacquaio/De La Hoya is shot and I always knew he'd lose
Tyson KO1 Lewis/Everybody knew Tyson was there for the taking, and if you didn't, you're an idiot

D

[Counter-puncher]

So did everybody else, after they happened!

I'm sure you did beforehand, but you know what I mean.

Lacy's gonna kill Calzaghe/Lacy's a one-dimensional bum, and I always said so
De La Hoya's gonna squash Pacquaio/De La Hoya is shot and I always knew he'd lose
Tyson KO1 Lewis/Everybody knew Tyson was there for the taking, and if you didn't, you're an idiot

D

:P

i know what you mean OF, i am pretty sure the bookies for both the harris and corley fights had witter favourite to add to my own authoritative prediction.... :)

i would also add, had it been warren who served up a Corley to Hatton at that point in his career (never won a meaningful fight since, i know, its hindsight again but..) or Harris, ditto never winning a real fight again....

i think if warren served up something like that for Hatton there would be people using the same old protected fighter, padded record, easiest risk/reward option criticisms

people seem willing to give Hennessy a 'bye' on things they would hammer warren for , IMO

[Chambers2]

So did everybody else, after they happened!

I'm sure you did beforehand, but you know what I mean.

Lacy's gonna kill Calzaghe/Lacy's a one-dimensional bum, and I always said so
De La Hoya's gonna squash Pacquaio/De La Hoya is shot and I always knew he'd lose
Tyson KO1 Lewis/Everybody knew Tyson was there for the taking, and if you didn't, you're an idiot

D

:P

i know what you mean OF, i am pretty sure the bookies for both the harris and corley fights had witter favourite to add to my own authoritative prediction.... :)

i would also add, had it been warren who served up a Corley to Hatton at that point in his career (never won a meaningful fight since, i know, its hindsight again but..) or Harris, ditto never winning a real fight again....

i think if warren served up something like that for Hatton there would be people using the same old protected fighter, padded record, easiest risk/reward option criticisms

people seem willing to give Hennessy a 'bye' on things they would hammer warren for , IMO

The differnce being Hatton han can fight pretty much who he wants as he brings his impressive army of fans with him and he sells shit loads of PPV's in the UK, so he has the choice of opponent whereas Witter is right at the other end of thre scale and has to take what opportunities come along. The 2 are not comparable. I know Hennessy is not faultless, but I much prefer his promoting ethics and how he likes to put on competitive fights whenever possible, however I do think that Warrens improving in this regard with the likes of Cleverly and now Khan coming through. When Frank was on Bunceys show last week talking about the his 3 Olympians he brought up the subject, saying that fighters are contesting titles alot earlier these days, so hopefully we're not going to get any more 38-0 records (without facing the best) from him

[Counter-puncher]

all true chambers, like i say though wazza would have got hammered for giving hatton corley then Harris.

however I do think that Warrens improving in this regard with the likes of Cleverly and now Khan coming through

you may have a point there