To Frank Maloney and Sky

[taffytoon]

You can not blame the board if two fighters turn up and refuse to FIGHT! Last night's fight ON PAPER looked great. The build up was good, the banter and trash talk pointed to a bit of a war. What we in fact got was a bloody awful wrestling match. I will admit the ref did not help but again he can only officiate what is put in front of him.


As for the budget of sky, I go to many many smaller shows where the only budget they have is ticket sales. Mostly the fights are very competitive and the boxers get far less of a purse than the lads last night. I do not accept the purse as an excuse. You do your research and get known fighters that will test your lads. The 3 lads that turned up last night were not fighters, what did the lads learn from their opposition last night - Nothing...

Frank

There are many UK fighters you could have used last night to test your fighters, I do admire you popping on here and trying to explain your reasons but you know better than any of us that fights like this only bring the sport down and give T.V executives more excuses not to fund the fight game going forward.

did you watch the fight?? it was clear that broadhurst was there to fight. haskins was there to do what he does best.. spoil and make his opponent look bad. which he did a good job at.

Yes I was ringside at the fight. They were both as bad as each other for goodness sake. Watch it back.

[taffytoon]

Taffy,
I wasn't blaming the Board mate, just clarifying that the match up was not one that Frank set up, but a mandatory ordered fight.
Nothing more, nothing less.
The old Promotor's dilemma - great fight on paper ..........
I also respect the points you make about competitive match ups - the purse point was not made as an excuse.
I think you will see from my post I'm not exonorating Frank, merely stating that Sky also contributed.
Sky now demand a Championship fight as the bill header for every show at a time when the fee has been cut by at least 50%.
It's not for me to respond on Frank's behalf, but he may take issue with you that there were several UK fighters that would have taken the fight - or been in a position to take the fight, considering Promotional ties - at the purse available.
We'll never know - but I wonder who the three UK fighters were, mentioned in an earlier post ?
I'm not campaigning on behalf of the Promotor mate, and to be fair to Frank he's stuck his hands up, but I maintain that Sky have contributed.
They want the quality of their product to increase and increase at a time they are willing to pay less and less.

Some very good valid points and a very sensible and informative reply. I enjoyed reading that

I still say that we have UK fighters who would have put up a much better challenge for the same or less money.

[taffytoon]

We continue to watch because that is what boxing fans do. However, there is no chance of attracting a single fan with the mismatches that have ruined the sport during the last ten years - I grew up thinking that Duff and co were bad, but ten years of Eastern European doughnuts is killing the sport.
The promoters need to realise that modern fans are not as loyal or forgiving as the old school warrior fans - people want fights and they want them earlier in a boxer's career. Warren got it right with the Olympians in Newcastle and hopefully they will not go back to fighting Latvians/Bulgarians/Ukrainians.
Wigan recently refunded their travelling fans after a massacre...how long before a fighter like Price has to do the same thing?
I think 2010 will be a crucial year - the press will stick with Haye, Khan, Froch and Pacman and the other 500 odd boxers in Britain, including some great talents, will fall even further under the radar. The fans, if promoters are not careful, will vanish under the radar too because the time has come for competition.
Why do people think that Prizefighter gets such brilliant viewing figures? It's because it is competitive and that is really what all sports fans want.
Why do people think that thousands each week attend the 'other' type of boxing shows, the ones that operate quite legally but not under BBBofC rules? Competition is the simple answer.
Adios.

You have hit the nail smack in the middle of it's head Buncey Boy

[Tykemania]

If this was a warren the forum would be in meltdown double standards imo sky need to start checking the quality of opposition

Yes, but Maloney doesn't seem to look for duff opponents, he seems to try and find competitive fights for his fighters (plus Price especially needs to be brought through slowly in my opinion). Warren on the other hand is cynical!

[jBacca]

Maloney has a history of doing this. It was no long ago he was defending a piss poor friday fight night between two guys who are nowhere near the best at british level or even contenders. Can't even remember their names.

Without names it's a crap post

[whicker]

The fans, if promoters are not careful, will vanish under the radar too because the time has come for competition.
Why do people think that Prizefighter gets such brilliant viewing figures? It's because it is competitive and that is really what all sports fans want.
Why do people think that thousands each week attend the 'other' type of boxing shows, the ones that operate quite legally but not under BBBofC rules? Competition is the simple answer.
Adios.

Yes- this sums it up well.

A good contest should be balanced, and exciting - thats why people watch- for the entertainment and the excitment.

[mickey1975]

Maybe trim the bill a bit?Qaulity over quantity,etc,etc.Twelve bouts seems a lot for a sports centre show.I presume the Welsh lads were added to boost ticket sales,but three of them lost!Also,i would have liked to see Karl Place,he looks a real prospect and that was a great result against a boxer with a winning record not too far away from home

[FtmPress]

Maloney has a history of doing this. It was no long ago he was defending a piss poor friday fight night between two guys who are nowhere near the best at british level or even contenders. Can't even remember their names.

Please let me know which ones, I believe you may be talking about Chris Edwards fight with young Usman Ahmed but this fight turn out to be ok this was put together by myself as a vol. title fight. Last nights one was oder by the BBBof C and on paper it look a great fight but turn out bad. We know in todays market we have to make comp. fights or TV will drop us and fans will stop watching boxing, I hold my hands up to last nights oppens. It will not happen any more on one of my shows, But now and then you have a bad day at the office when everything goes wrong and last night was one of them days.

[whicker]

To add- I wouldn't say everything went wrong.

The starting at 9 pm format was excellent, much better- and I think its great to see two live undercard fights before the main event.

I thought the main event was OK, too, and the Martin Power fight was enjoyable.

I enjoyed watching Friday Fight Night - the only issue (as everyone agrees) being the quality of Latvian opponents.

But overall, the timing and format was a big improvement, I'm sure most will agree.

[FtmPress]

An explanation from Frank on the journey home last night.

“Though the right results were had by the home fighters, it is fair to say that the promotional team were less than happy with the quality of opponents on the show.

But it is a fine balancing act when you are trying to develop young fighters. In today's market it's very difficult to get british opponents to fight the proposed golden boys of british boxing. There are too many people trying to build fighters records so they can get larger pay-day against top fighters.

You will always get good fights when you know the quality of the matching such as Edmonds and Power/Tony Hill against Osman, Lewis Browning against Francis Croes and Usman Ahmed v Kyle King. Though not all these fights make television (due to scheduling and timing available), they are great viewing for the paying public. A great example of this is Karl Place who yet again showed that he has the star potential.

I know the ultimate responsibility of the quality of overseas opponents lays with me and for tonight's 3 journeyman I do apologise as these have to be three of the worst we have ever had.

Maybe its time to start to look further afield than some of the smaller eastern European countries. We will be looking to step up our Olympians over the next year but rushing them will be no good to themselves or the boxing fans who follow them.

One has to remember the quality of the first five opponents of Lennox Lewis and look where he ended up. Also Frank Bruno and Nigel Benn had to start somewhere.

David Price in his interview on Sky did mention that he felt the quality of some of the top amateurs in the world were a lot better than pro journeyman but one must remember amateurs and pro's are two very different sports.

Don Broadhurst showed there is no substitute for experience. He was an amateur of the highest international calibre but only had 11 pro fights and looked lost and had no answer to the unorthodox style of Lee Haskins, who never had such an outstanding international amateur career.”

[whicker]

What surprises me is that British fighters don't fancy taking the fights. These days, with the economy being weak, I'd think that people would appreciate any paid work they can get.

[Nightmare Roy]

Fair play Frank, i could see on your face you were disapointed, but props for coming on here

[ed robinson]

Going slightly off topic, there was real spite between Haskins and Broadhurst before hand but the fight didn't live up to billing. Exactly the same for Smith and Quigley. Even Haye / Valuev and Small / McDonagh had some needle. Just curious if people think that's a coincidence?

[whicker]

Going slightly off topic, there was real spite between Haskins and Broadhurst before hand but the fight didn't live up to billing. Exactly the same for Smith and Quigley. Even Haye / Valuev and Small / McDonagh had some needle. Just curious if people think that's a coincidence?

I think I see your point here.

Fights that have been built up a bit based around the "needle" between fighters are generally not as entertaining as fights in which the participants have not felt the need to mock, taunt or banter with their opponents beforehand?

I think a good example is Rogan V Skelton. No needle or bickering before hand - Rogan made a good natured joke at the press conference, nothing more- and the result was an excellent fight.

Yeah- I agree- too much of this "pre-fight needle" hype will turning boxing into wrestling! I couldn't honestly give a fornicate what goes on at the weigh in- it's the quality of the boxing match that counts.

[15829]

when was the last time lee haskins was in a really good fight I no he blew burkinshaw away but he was clearly overmatched

[taffytoon]

What surprises me is that British fighters don't fancy taking the fights. These days, with the economy being weak, I'd think that people would appreciate any paid work they can get.

For goodness sake, look at the schedule page on Boxrec and you will see fighters week in and week out fighting for a very small purse who could of been a better challenge to any of the lads. The latvians were diabolical and I can only assume they were paid pennies? A small saving could end up VERY costly if the plug is pulled on T.V deals. That said it seemed to me that a lot of bums were on seats so tickets sales must have been okay as well as TV money?

Ricky Hatton puts on very well matched events and yes he looses money on them FOR NOW but he is looking at the bigger picture. Once Sky walks away from a promoter it is very hard getting them back..

Risky game to play putting attrocious fighters in with prospects.

FTM Press

Are you working for Frank or are you Frank? A few of your original posts on last night seemed heartfelt and apologetic yet the last one entitled " An explanation from Frank on the journey home last night." seems more like a press release.

Last time I will quote this but I find it very difficult to understand how you can not get UK fighters to fight your golden boys when week in and week out other lower league promoters do it very well.

[telboy66]

Just who writes up the records of these Latvian boxers Hans Christian Andersen I think Frank needs to have serious words with his matchmaker at the moment he can't match the cheeks of his own arse

[FtmPress]

What surprises me is that British fighters don't fancy taking the fights. These days, with the economy being weak, I'd think that people would appreciate any paid work they can get.

For goodness sake, look at the schedule page on Boxrec and you will see fighters week in and week out fighting for a very small purse who could of been a better challenge to any of the lads. The latvians were diabolical and I can only assume they were paid pennies? A small saving could end up VERY costly if the plug is pulled on T.V deals. That said it seemed to me that a lot of bums were on seats so tickets sales must have been okay as well as TV money?

Ricky Hatton puts on very well matched events and yes he looses money on them FOR NOW but he is looking at the bigger picture. Once Sky walks away from a promoter it is very hard getting them back..

Risky game to play putting attrocious fighters in with prospects.

FTM Press

Are you working for Frank or are you Frank? A few of your original posts on last night seemed heartfelt and apologetic yet the last one entitled " An explanation from Frank on the journey home last night." seems more like a press release.

Last time I will quote this but I find it very difficult to understand how you can not get UK fighters to fight your golden boys when week in and week out other lower league promoters do it very well.

FTM Press is the name that the office use and also what Frank uses himself the posts early this morning was Frank himself when he was dropped home. The latest article was a chat Frank had with his press officer on the way home and he just felt that it was wise tom put it up. He has also asked us to repond as to why English fighters will not take certain fights is 3 reasons.
1 Unless they are journeyman who just go in for the money, but a lot of managers and trainers like to think the fighter has a chance even it is only slight.
2 They simply outprice themselves by asking for unreasonable money
3 If a fighter is stopped he can be out of action from 28 days up till 48 days depending on the advice of the doctor and /or board official at ringside, so it is better for UK journryman to face lesser dangerous opposition.

3 British opponents did turn Jeffries down last night, also 2 heavyweights did not fancy the Price job and once Karl Baker pulled out against Dallas, which had been agreed 4 weeks ago the 2 British fighters who turned the Price job down were offered the Dallas job but they claimed 5 days was not enough notice.

I hope this goes some way to answering some of your points.

It does cost the promoter more money in the long run to bring in overseas fighters, especially with the value of the pound as it is today and there is always 2 airfares, accomidation and licence fee's to the board and transportation when they are in the country.

[FtmPress]

Just who writes up the records of these Latvian boxers Hans Christian Andersen I think Frank needs to have serious words with his matchmaker at the moment he can't match the cheeks of his own arse

I approve the matches myself and most promoters like the BBB of C work with and use boxrec records as a reliable source as this is the most up to date record site.

[taffytoon]

Thanks for the speedy responce much appreciated

I do know all the above and also know there were other fights out there where FTM would of got better value for money.

Have a great Christmas

[dapug]

We continue to watch because that is what boxing fans do. However, there is no chance of attracting a single fan with the mismatches that have ruined the sport during the last ten years - I grew up thinking that Duff and co were bad, but ten years of Eastern European doughnuts is killing the sport.
The promoters need to realise that modern fans are not as loyal or forgiving as the old school warrior fans - people want fights and they want them earlier in a boxer's career. Warren got it right with the Olympians in Newcastle and hopefully they will not go back to fighting Latvians/Bulgarians/Ukrainians.
Wigan recently refunded their travelling fans after a massacre...how long before a fighter like Price has to do the same thing?
I think 2010 will be a crucial year - the press will stick with Haye, Khan, Froch and Pacman and the other 500 odd boxers in Britain, including some great talents, will fall even further under the radar. The fans, if promoters are not careful, will vanish under the radar too because the time has come for competition.
Why do people think that Prizefighter gets such brilliant viewing figures? It's because it is competitive and that is really what all sports fans want.
Why do people think that thousands each week attend the 'other' type of boxing shows, the ones that operate quite legally but not under BBBofC rules? Competition is the simple answer.
Adios.

It is so odd to read Buncey’s post. This is a man who years ago spent his entire time attacking Duff’s policy of building fighters yet supported FW’s as he wanted to get in with the new guy on the block and continued being a big fan of FW’s and his boxers until a fallout.

Now we notice he is bigging up Prize-fighter, is that because FW has dumped one of his creep puppets over remarks when Buncey wrongly though he had become a personality in boxing when he was on Setanta trying to promote himself and not the sport he claims to love. (Does anyone remember a young Sky Commentator and presenter called Gary Norman) he also though he was bigger than the boxers and sky wisely removed him.

Even Buncey’s writing is exaggerated and outrageous, maybe that is why he cannot get fulltime employment with a National Paper.

Because there is nowhere for him to spout his BS he has tried to take Buncey on the road, I attended two of these shows were the language were foul and the comments to boxing people were insulting and these were poorly attended. This basically shows that real boxing people have no time for this self promoting drivel.

Even in this post he mentions boxing that is outside the jurisdiction of the BBB of C, this shows that this man is willing to do anything to gain recognition and a pound note.

Bring back the likes of Reg Gutteridge RIP, Colin Hart, Ken Gorman, Sri Sen, Dave Field and the King of them all Hugh Mcilvanney. Buncey you could not begin to emulate these fine boxing gentleman.

[neil hibbert]

We continue to watch because that is what boxing fans do. However, there is no chance of attracting a single fan with the mismatches that have ruined the sport during the last ten years - I grew up thinking that Duff and co were bad, but ten years of Eastern European doughnuts is killing the sport.
The promoters need to realise that modern fans are not as loyal or forgiving as the old school warrior fans - people want fights and they want them earlier in a boxer's career. Warren got it right with the Olympians in Newcastle and hopefully they will not go back to fighting Latvians/Bulgarians/Ukrainians.
Wigan recently refunded their travelling fans after a massacre...how long before a fighter like Price has to do the same thing?
I think 2010 will be a crucial year - the press will stick with Haye, Khan, Froch and Pacman and the other 500 odd boxers in Britain, including some great talents, will fall even further under the radar. The fans, if promoters are not careful, will vanish under the radar too because the time has come for competition.
Why do people think that Prizefighter gets such brilliant viewing figures? It's because it is competitive and that is really what all sports fans want.
Why do people think that thousands each week attend the 'other' type of boxing shows, the ones that operate quite legally but not under BBBofC rules? Competition is the simple answer.
Adios.

It is so odd to read Buncey’s post. This is a man who years ago spent his entire time attacking Duff’s policy of building fighters yet supported FW’s as he wanted to get in with the new guy on the block and continued being a big fan of FW’s and his boxers until a fallout.

Now we notice he is bigging up Prize-fighter, is that because FW has dumped one of his creep puppets over remarks when Buncey wrongly though he had become a personality in boxing when he was on Setanta trying to promote himself and not the sport he claims to love. (Does anyone remember a young Sky Commentator and presenter called Gary Norman) he also though he was bigger than the boxers and sky wisely removed him.

Even Buncey’s writing is exaggerated and outrageous, maybe that is why he cannot get fulltime employment with a National Paper.

Because there is nowhere for him to spout his BS he has tried to take Buncey on the road, I attended two of these shows were the language were foul and the comments to boxing people were insulting and these were poorly attended. This basically shows that real boxing people have no time for this self promoting drivel.

Even in this post he mentions boxing that is outside the jurisdiction of the BBB of C, this shows that this man is willing to do anything to gain recognition and a pound note.

Bring back the likes of Reg Gutteridge RIP, Colin Hart, Ken Gorman, Sri Sen, Dave Field and the King of them all Hugh Mcilvanney. Buncey you could not begin to emulate these fine boxing gentleman.

talking through youre ass there mate

[15829]

X2

[boxingchat]

Am I alone in thinking that the quality of FFN has significantly diminished this season with
some of the most boring fights and poor quality undercards ever seen? In the last few FFN offerings we have suffered 36 rounds of complete dross, like being told Matthew Hatton and Lovemore N'dou was a world title fight and then on the 100th anniversary of the Lonsdale belt seeing two of the worst British title fights in living memory in Small/McDonagh and last nights hug-a-thon between Haskins and Broadhurst.

With the halls looking emptier by the week and the atmoshere likening a wake, can we as boxing fans really be satisfied with these shows? Are we getting our monies worth or are we being fed poor quality fights because Sky are giving OUR money to things like American Pool and the like? It seems to me that Prizefighter, which IMO has now been done to death and has become boring, is taking over from the real sport we love and the developement of tomorrows stars. I've said before that PF is entertaining but it is not real boxing. Would Sky put the Masters Football Tournamants in place of Super-Sunday Premier League Football, of course not so why are they messing with the boxing? Not one Prizefighter has matched up to the first one as now the fighters are tactically aware and as a result its just become dull. Has this polished up tough-man tournamant taken up all the FFN budget and/or made middle-league and has-been fighters inactive whilst awaiting a call from Mr Hearn for a shot at £32k.
Is there inactivity the cause of the poor foreigners we've seen? Has PF stopped fighters fighting their way back into contention or just packing it in, as many of them should? Either way the serious side of the sport is suffering as a result in my opinion.

There are lots of other factors to the demise of FFN and maybe all should be expalined buy the suits at Sky. Bring back Ringside too!

The introduction of Ricky Hatton as a promoter has been a farce and so far his first three shows have been less than up to scratch. After poor main events, we've had piss poor back up fights to fill a two-hour shot. Macklin went in one round, fair enough, but aren't we entitled to be entertained for the remaining 110 minutes as well? Last night for instance, God bless Martin Power, was equaly as dull. Whilst it's commendable that Frank Maloney has apologised for picking, not one but two, diabolical foreigners to be knocked over by his Olympians, please don't take this as a sincere sorry, after all aren't the records avaibable to study and cross reference on the very site he has chosen to hold his hands up on, this one!

One of his closest allies, Phillip Fondu no doubt got these bodies over and was asked by the Promoter for 'easy jobs' for his Olympic prospects. Didn't he check what he was getting for his money or, in reality, did he get exactly what he wanted and exactly what he paid for? Both the BBBC and the people at Sky could and should have checked these bums as well and said 'no thanks.' They have a responsibility to the sport and to us the fans too don't they. I hear the Newport show was poor and the main event was again supported by a flimsy undercard throughout Even in the front row people were talking, texting and sharing jokes, in fact doing anything but watch the boxing. If they don't want to watch it, what makes Sky think we do? For me, Maloney's apology was about as sincere as George Graham's. They both only apologised after they'd been caught out.

I can't work out just who is making the decisions at Sky and just who is vetting these fights.
Why has the policy changes and the quality suffered? Sure enough Haskins and Broadhurst was ordered by the Board so maybe Maloney can hide behind that fact, but he wanted the fight and he paid to promote it, did he really expect Benn V Eubank? Did Ricky Hatton not know that Small V McDonagh was probably the worst match that could possible be made in the whole of British Boxing, if not then perhaps Sky should seriously question if he knows what he is doing and also seriously question their own quality controller, if indeed such a person exists. Hatton might be a great fighter but outside the ropes he has alot to learn and his shows have been poor at best.

allegedly has been slaughtered on here for years, in fact it's become national pastime on Boxrec, but I feel sure a fight like HaskinsV Broadhurst would have been on a big show and surrounded by other championships or at the very least on a show with some depth, in the home town or at least one of the fighers to ensure an atmosphere, that's what promoting is all about. Last weeks PPV in Newcastle was good, sure Khan went in a round but no one expected it to, but the rest of the show was decent an Mitchell V Prescott was worthy of a FFN slot on it's own - so why did we have to pay extra for it?

Going back to my original question, someone, somewhere at Sky Sports needs to get a grip of
the Boxing programming as for the first time in a long time they have a monopoly on the sport, so why not build on it, who knows more people might turn on. There's lots of great prospects out there so why oh why do we want to watch PF tournaments every few weeks featuring guys who are past it or never acheived anything at their peak, it's a joke.

To their credit they do a great job of covering the sport and their production and preview stuff is second to none. Whilst Adam Smith can 'polish' many a turd the fact is most boxing fans know the turd is a turd long before the first bell, don't fool us we know more than you do!

Let's go back some years and we had many stars and many great fights and the PPV fights were special occasions with massive bills full of top quaity fights, remember Naz, Eubank and Calzaghe on the same bill?. So what's changed at Sky, the personnnel, the budget or are some promoters just not up to the job. How can super-shows work one day and not the next? Maybe fighters are being vastly overpaid now, I don't know but somethings gone wrong.
I agree that you get what you pay for and promoters are no doubt struggling, as are all business people and if the reason is that Sky have seriously cut budgets then I sympatjie with them all. However, the fact remains that my bill has not gone down and your bill hasn't gone down either so I am entitled to get the same quality that my money used to buy me, am I wrong?

Frank Maloney's apology adds insult to injury and only last week he was telling Anthony Small to refund the crowd at Wigan, as the Wigan football team did after their 9-1 humping, for his disgusting display against the equally disgusting Thomas McDonagh. Well Frank, the tables have now turned 360 so if your apology is sincere and you are a man of principle then perhaps YOU should refund the crowd at Newport for your sub-standard offering and give your fee back to Sky who could then re-invest it by buying some decent boxing to show to us long suffering fans.

I would like to find out just who at Sky is buying such poor fights and sanctioning so many weak supporting contests. I have read elsewhere on this forum a post by 26 who says that budgets have been cut and this is the reason for the declining quality but I can't help thinking that if his is the case then surely it is a false economy. I am sure like many of you that without boxing I probably wouldn't bother with Sky Sports and would rely on the pub or MOTD for my weekly football fix.

So let's hear from someone at Sky as to what the reason os for this. and if we get know explaantion then let's at least hope that the quality improves in 2010 and we can get back to the old days and looking forward to FFN.

We can only hope!

Merry Christmas and Adios!

[whicker]

Are you baised towards a certain promoter? Strange how you don't mention the equally disappointing Smith V Quigley fight.