Breaking News: Prizefighter line-up revealed

[scrap iron]

I'm slightly miffed that a British champion has entered one of these. I'm assuming he would make much more money keeping his British belt, and fighting someone like Chisora. And I do fear for Danny in this format. It will be a shame to see him lose his belt on PrizeFighter. But if Fury vs Tyson happens for the vacant belt, then that will be amazing. Danny is shot to bits.

Fury v Tyson? What are you on about Dioufy?

Read up seven posts from your post, young Scrap.

I see it now mate. Yeah agreed, Fury v Chisora would be good.

[DG.]

Emerson won't warn me. He knows I will hunt him down... and KISS his ass.



PS - God, I am joking.

No surprise!

As for PF - this looks a good one!


DD

[Old bones Ian]

Right back to the boxing then,

There is usually a surprise package in prizefighter, not always winning it but getting to the final.

I've never seen Coleman Barrett box, could he be the 'surprise' in this competition?

[Dioufy]

Scrap, reckon it would get done if DW loses his belt on Prizefighter?

[DG.]

p.s boxingchat do you still think prizefighter is crap?

[Coco]

Right back to the boxing then,

There is usually a surprise package in prizefighter, not always winning it but getting to the final.

I've never seen Coleman Barrett box, could he be the 'surprise' in this competition?

I think it is ex-Olympian Francis Barrett's bro

[Asterix]

Right back to the boxing then,

There is usually a surprise package in prizefighter, not always winning it but getting to the final.

I've never seen Coleman Barrett box, could he be the 'surprise' in this competition?

I think it is ex-Olympian Francis Barrett's bro

[leforge]

Have tickets gone on sale yet?

[boxingchat]

Prizefighter, a label that used to depict bare-knuckle protagonists beating themselves into 60-round pulps, has taken an equally dangerous twist. Why dangerous, you may ask? The event used to be a harmless and quite worthy exercise in six-round, down-on-your-luck fighters duking it out for a nice cash prizes, particularly for the winner, normally a Martin Rogan type of winner, the type who valeted cars in the day (in Michael Lomax’s case) or drove them (in Martin’s).
You were pleased for them.
However, the recent involvement of Ross Minter, son of former undisputed world middleweight king Alan, and Ted Bami, a former European champion, in welterweight Prizefighter should have flagged a few warning signs that the event was suddenly looking down its nose at those same six-round, down-on-your-luck fighters. It didn’t, although I personally recall wincing at Bami’s involvement.
Now the flags are out. Suddenly we have the involvement of a host of heavyweight entrants - Audley Harrison, Danny Williams, Michael Sprott, etc - who, frankly, should not be involved. Harrison won Olympic gold and then a million quid, Williams licked Mike Tyson and fought incredibly bravely against Vitali Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight title; he currently holds the magnificent Lonsdale Belt; Sprott also held the British heavyweight title. Does this event gives these men a chance to shine, if only for a night, as Prizefighter should? Of course not. They are already established 12-round fighters, and to see them reduced to three-rounders is desperate stuff and, in my traditionalist opinion, obscene. Worse than that, it reduces boxing to the status of something that is not boxing.
Promoter Barry Hearn openly admits his event is a reaction to UFC and MMA: "It's three-round fights and it's quick action for a younger audience. Twelve-round fights can sometimes be painfully boring and young kids today want a quick adrenaline fix. Prizefighter's not for the purists, but it delivers as an entertainment...it's a great night out."
Hearn continued: "We've got to live with MMA, learn from it and innovate. MMA attracts a younger crowd who want fast, physical action delivered in an entertaining style. Boxing promoters can't bury their heads in the sand."

Well, now the ‘trade’ magazine (ahem) Boxing News is burying its head in the sand. Harry Mullan would have vilified such a new twist, defended his sport and insisted that these men are too big for Prizefighter. Claude Abrams sits on his arse and ponders his next trip to the States.

I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with everything Bennie says on this thread. I ask would the Board sanction a match between Michael Holden and Danny Williams in normal circumstances? The answer would be no due to his inactivity.

Sure it will be watchable but in line with Bennie, at the same time cringeworthy.

Danny should be stripped if he loses as he will be losing to a fighter qualified to win a British title and with no weight limit taht is not an issue as it would be for say Graham Earl losing to Ricky Burns.

If Danny wants to beat Audley so much let him defend his title against him for far more than potentially he could make if they are drawn in the first round.

Hearn should have raised the ante, made them 8 rounders and then this better class of fighter could be justified. I agree with Bennie, I find it all rather sad and Danny is, I feel, disrespecting his belt and his reputation by doing such a thing.

He could be a British Champion, coming off a loss to a (Hate to use the word) bum. What will that mean to his next purse, TV interest or indeed his credability.

It's been a long time coming but Bennie is spot on on this one.

[leforge]

Well I rather see prizefighter than British fighter v some dodgy African for a commonwelth title.

[martin_g91]

I agree with both of the above posts.

Michael Holden is 41 years old ! He hasn't boxed in six years ! and even then... he was coming off two wins in his last seven ! And now he could find himself in with the British Champion ? The Olympic Champion ? This is not good for the division or the sport as a whole.

Worst still... What if he wins !!! You never know with Danny. Stranger things have happened (not alot stranger but still)

Making a joke of our already painfully bad heavyweight division.

[anay]

Unless the draw is rigged, we could see Michael Holden matched with the British Champion at 41 years old and without a fight in six years and a win in 7.

Apart from being an obvious joke of a match, surely and more seriously this could be a potentially dangerous situation.

Surely the medical people who regulate the sport or indeed Sky TV can't allow this to happen can they?

I find dangling the carrot to entice old fighters to come out of retirement, to make up the numbers, both distasteful and somewhat irresponsible. Promoters and the TV people surely have to look at the safety aspect of doing this and, God forbid, if the worst happened would have to take full responsibility for their actions.

Fighters are the last ones to know (Or the last to admit) when their time is up so surely the
people controling the sport should show responsibility and not tempt them back to a place they should not be for their own good.

This whole thing smacks of Ali V Berbeck and the tragedy of Greg Page.

I fear, sooner or later, that Prizefighter will represent another self-imposed Black Eye for Boxing.

Do the people in charge have no conscience?

Bennie and Boxing Chat do have a point and make sensible points.

[leforge]

Is Anay boxing chat in disguise?

[boxingchat]

Why is it when someone agrees with me you assume they must be the same person? I am definately not Bennie thats for sure!

[tntround1]

Prizefighter, a label that used to depict bare-knuckle protagonists beating themselves into 60-round pulps, has taken an equally dangerous twist. Why dangerous, you may ask? The event used to be a harmless and quite worthy exercise in six-round, down-on-your-luck fighters duking it out for a nice cash prizes, particularly for the winner, normally a Martin Rogan type of winner, the type who valeted cars in the day (in Michael Lomax’s case) or drove them (in Martin’s).
You were pleased for them.
However, the recent involvement of Ross Minter, son of former undisputed world middleweight king Alan, and Ted Bami, a former European champion, in welterweight Prizefighter should have flagged a few warning signs that the event was suddenly looking down its nose at those same six-round, down-on-your-luck fighters. It didn’t, although I personally recall wincing at Bami’s involvement.
Now the flags are out. Suddenly we have the involvement of a host of heavyweight entrants - Audley Harrison, Danny Williams, Michael Sprott, etc - who, frankly, should not be involved. Harrison won Olympic gold and then a million quid, Williams licked Mike Tyson and fought incredibly bravely against Vitali Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight title; he currently holds the magnificent Lonsdale Belt; Sprott also held the British heavyweight title. Does this event gives these men a chance to shine, if only for a night, as Prizefighter should? Of course not. They are already established 12-round fighters, and to see them reduced to three-rounders is desperate stuff and, in my traditionalist opinion, obscene. Worse than that, it reduces boxing to the status of something that is not boxing.
Promoter Barry Hearn openly admits his event is a reaction to UFC and MMA: "It's three-round fights and it's quick action for a younger audience. Twelve-round fights can sometimes be painfully boring and young kids today want a quick adrenaline fix. Prizefighter's not for the purists, but it delivers as an entertainment...it's a great night out."
Hearn continued: "We've got to live with MMA, learn from it and innovate. MMA attracts a younger crowd who want fast, physical action delivered in an entertaining style. Boxing promoters can't bury their heads in the sand."

Well, now the ‘trade’ magazine (ahem) Boxing News is burying its head in the sand. Harry Mullan would have vilified such a new twist, defended his sport and insisted that these men are too big for Prizefighter. Claude Abrams sits on his arse and ponders his next trip to the States.

I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with everything Bennie says on this thread. I ask would the Board sanction a match between Michael Holden and Danny Williams in normal circumstances? The answer would be no due to his inactivity.

Sure it will be watchable but in line with Bennie, at the same time cringeworthy.

Danny should be stripped if he loses as he will be losing to a fighter qualified to win a British title and with no weight limit taht is not an issue as it would be for say Graham Earl losing to Ricky Burns.

If Danny wants to beat Audley so much let him defend his title against him for far more than potentially he could make if they are drawn in the first round.

Hearn should have raised the ante, made them 8 rounders and then this better class of fighter could be justified. I agree with Bennie, I find it all rather sad and Danny is, I feel, disrespecting his belt and his reputation by doing such a thing.

He could be a British Champion, coming off a loss to a (Hate to use the word) bum. What will that mean to his next purse, TV interest or indeed his credability.

It's been a long time coming but Bennie is spot on on this one.

yes true to an extent but why cant promoters/tea boys just give credit where its due sometimes? people were saying prizefighter has got boring surely this brings the excitement back? every saturday i read a daily where an alleged promoter week in week out slags off our fighters(correction slags off fighters that isnt with him) yet bums up hes own boys for beating sambo the african anorexic on a boring f.f.n yes he should be stripped if he loses but hearn shouldnt have done nothing apart from what he has done brought a bit of excitement to the screens instead of the normal f.f.n borefest or the pay per views that line ups change more times than a certain someone has given there boss a reach around and yes i think holden shouldnt be involved but if you want to start on that one then surely the africans that come over here after having nearly all staged fights in there own countrys only to be stopped in a round or two by our prospects should be looked into aswell that is 1 fighter out of 8 who definately should be a no no i bet its more than 1 out of 8 commonwealth challengers that should be turned down to fight for the title

Here Here!

[leforge]

Perhaps Holden should have a warm up fight on the Simpson V Truscott card.

[stujones]

Why wasn't such criticism labelled at the Cruiserweight tourny? That had a similar mix of up and comers, recently retired, and very much retired fighters coming back.

Why didn't anyone condem a potential Bruce Scott vs Dean Francis match up.

I actually think it will be interesting, interesting to see how much "superior" in terms of skill level this will be to the first two Heavyweight tourneys... my feeling is people are going to be VERY dissapointed with it.

I can see the point being made by Boxingchat and Bennie- but in the space of a few fights the two prize fighters winners in the Heavyweights have gone to argueably ranked above ANY of the fighters that have entered this one. Given that Rogan has beaten Skelton and Harrison, and Sexton beat Rogan (in a far better, in terms of entertainment and skill level than Danny Williams' most recent outings).

To say that Danny Williams is somehow "above" this level is, in my opinion, disrepectful to previous prizefighter champions, and actually wrong - as proven in 12 round contests. I personally think it is very bad that a British champion makes 3 defensives (against only 2 fighters) in pushing 4 years and could be a case of him being ranked as low as 7 in the country.

PS - I am not an advocate of the prizefighter.... heaven forbid I even prefer to see a commonwealth title fight than prizefighter. However, lets get it right - Danny is living off his performances that are over 5 years old now (and one of them was a brave kicking!) - don't see anyone singing the praises of J.C.Gomez.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I agree with both of the above posts.

Michael Holden is 41 years old ! He hasn't boxed in six years ! and even then... he was coming off two wins in his last seven ! And now he could find himself in with the British Champion ? The Olympic Champion ? This is not good for the division or the sport as a whole.

Worst still... What if he wins !!! You never know with Danny. Stranger things have happened (not alot stranger but still)

Making a joke of our already painfully bad heavyweight division.

Have to agree on this one. I'm not keen on fighters who are very inactive coming out of retirement to take on active fighters with recent wins.

However, the board are to blame, not Hearn - if they are prepared to let a six years inactive 41 year old fight, in whatever format, then it's on their heads.

[funso banjo baby]

OH MY GOD

DD


ive no idea what coleman barrett is but i cant see him doing an Ovil.

holden and gammer will be the simkin and butlins (they could progress)

but as for the big three ????

this is going to be mental



shame scot belshaw is in...hes paperthin

danny hughes is presumably the tubby trier ?

this has everything


AWOOGA

[tntround1]

Harrison wins IMO. he's perfect for it. he will be fit and he will win IMO

[jamesmcdonnell]

Harrison is a slow starter. He won't win.

[alexpaterson]

Williams for me has mixed at the higher level and if its his night will take a bit of stopping I see a Harrision vs Williams final with Williams winning

[jamesmcdonnell]

Sprott is probably the fittest and most active, but his previous performances against Danny have always been extremely negative. He could probably spark audley again.

Oh how the mighty have fallen, from undisputed champ by 2008 (or whatever rubbish he came out with), to prizefighter fodder, and not even the favourite at that.

[daveferguson]

GO ON BIG DANNY HUGHES!!!!!!!! SHOCK THE WORLD!

[Asterix]

Thanks Ant. This is going to be a fun night's boxing. Yes, it's bubblegum boxing, but it's also entertaining and this time has bigger names than ever before. The only thing cringe-worthy is if someone (like, say, Audley) puts in a poor performance.

The atmosphere at York Hall will be amazing.