Mcdermot undercard truly awful

[FtmPress]

FTM Press

First of all, Well done for coming on here and liasing with fans. I think that it shows that you have an interest in what we want to see. I think that that is very important taking the game forward. Franks being at it longer then 90% of us and obviously understands the blueprint to building interest in fighters, Lennox Lewis was managed impecibly.

I do totally agree with the posters who have said they want to see an end to these foreigners, particuarly the fat ones, coming over taking on our prospects. Its a bit embarassing when we've got the UFC guys- highly trained, fighting machines and absolute grafters appearing on TV one night representing MMA and then the next night some fat, croation milkman called nvksndffn fnknfkafnvic, with a 12-8 record representing the boxing.

Also, where is the relevance- I can kind of see Danny Peret- Dallas as relevant, as much as its going to be an eyesore for as long as it lasts but Price Vs Palokovic with 7 losses in his last 8, and one stoppage?? Whats the point. Why not just give both parties £500 quid, add a win on to Prices record and save all the time spent training and putting the thing together.

How much of a part do you (FTM Press) get to play in the whole production of the show on Sky? Do you not think its time that its presentation was revised. There is no sort of progression ever explained, they do little to raise the profile of the actual fighters- other then those little subheadings that come on when their entering the ring.

I'm positive I could do a better job then that- give me a few quid a week and a chance to make a few changes and I bet I could make some really good changes and start moving the sport forward again instead of backward. As a promoter I wouldn't be satisfied with the job Sky are doing with my promotions.

You need decent size, mini documentries- you need previous fights- you need a good pre fight analysis. You need other relevant activity in the division discussed regardless of the broadcastor or promotor. Plus tons of other things.

This make good reading but is not as easey as that, We at ftm our trying to profile are fighter more but using frankmaloney.com and you tube plus working with boxing web sites. But boxing is not like football or is it realy like ufc they do not put on as many shows as boxing, all so not many newspapers cover ufc it is a sport with a cult following is you put on a big boxing match at the same time as a big ufc fight i know which one would pull the biggest tv viewing. All so at all our shows we now have a big screen showing the weight in press conf. and the fighters last few fights and have design new layouts in the programs to give the fans more news about the fighters on the card.

[Jeff Thomas]

Sounds promising, how do you direct people to your website? I've never had any inclination to click on your website thus far- don't mean that in a horrible way but never thought 'oh i'll have a quick look what Maloneys' doing'.

Just clicked on it, and its really good. Like the layout and the content is decent too. I'll be back.

http://www.frankmaloney.com/

Its pretty good, how about profiles for each and everyone of your boxers and video clips of them in action? That would be a good inclusion. Know it would be hard work but I think boxing needs to build the profile of fighters more. Its always so much more interesting seeing two fighters you know about square up then TBA Vs S/O.

Just being on FWP promotions website too and clearly a great deal of work has gone into it.

How do you feel about boxing at FTM? Do you think its on the decline? What needs to change to take it forward?

Thanks for your replies.

[damianhucker1]

I was trying to defend your card, Frank. You don't have to be so hostile all the time. Some of us are on your side. Anyhow... my point stands. It is far cheaper to bring in a Latvian journeyman than an American. That's the crux of the argument and I know I'm right.

yeah you are right , im a fan of frank and have actually just bought his autobiography a couple of days ago , so as said above were not trying to criticise , at the end of the day we are the guys you make your money from , so it IS worth listening to us from time to time , and as a white collar promotor , i can say from my experience its DEFINATELY cheaper to use eastern european journeman that americans , ii know its not the same high costs as it is in the pros but its still relative to it all , the flights are where the extra cost is , plus america will have a higer cost of living than say latvia , so american fighters will want a higher purse , as far as fighters that would come over from america , i dont know about heavies but i know tim witherspoon jnr has already been over once or twice , think he fights at lightweight , if he came over to fight a prospect his name alone would put extra bums on seats .

No one is being hostile and we do listen and read these forums, And take onbroad what the fans say Do you not think we would not use USA fighter before eastern europeans is much easyer to speak with them as they speak English. But there are less American Heavyweights about now, all so quite a few of them come over here and just throw thereselfs on the floor. I have no promb. with any of you guys coming up with names for us to look at. I can tell you now is much cheaper to use a American than a Eastern Europen what is worth more 5000 euros or 5000 usa dollars, since when have you even paid white collar boxers or what medical do they have to pass to be able to come here and box and what broad do they have to be pass by. There a lot more to bring a boxer in than just coming up with names.

honestly , im not trying to say i fully understand everything you have to do to bring in foreign opponnents , for the reason you state , i dont have to do the same things when bringing in fighters that you do , but i DO pay for fighters to come over , and i know its been cheaper for me for example to bring in a greek fighter than it was to bring in an american , i like to think i do it as the pros but on a smaller scale , but your dead right that i dont have some of the extra hassles you do , i fully realise that at times it would be difficult to find the right opponents etc , but i do feel i disagree with what your saying to an extent , not everything , but you cant just compare the money exchange rate between euros and dollars , as i said earlier america has a higher cost of living , than the likes of latvia so i do feel the reasons americans arent being used is mainly financial , as of course its your job to make more money etc , no doubt id do the same at first , but i think it could do with changing for at least the short term , to get a bit of credibility when prospects are improving their records , beating fat latvians holds no weight with many of us , we know which fighters are good , maybe the general public arent so knowledgable , maybe thats why its not seen as so important to listen to the likes of boxrec posters , as we only really represent a minority of boxing fans , not criticising the larry v ferguson bout as thats a good intriguing bout , but do we really need to see some of our top prospects being given 90-10 fights , what do former olympians learn from this for example , maybe 70-30 fights would be better as starting points for someone like that , at the end of the day , i understand what your job is , to get maximum money for as little risk whilst earning better rankings etc , we realise that , and were not knocking that , just throwing out ideas of what we would like to see , i personally would like to see the likes of price and dallas given matches there expected to win but are by no means forgone conclusions ,rather than bouts were we know who will win before the bell rings , we as spectators are less likely to part with our cash when we know the outcome already , that is the reason white collar shows are doing so well at current , people know that on the main (not all as theres some dodhy geezers about) but usually many of the fights are at worst 70-30 , mainly 60-40 and more 50-50 bouts than there is in the pros , we all know there not the same calibre as the pros etc , not trying to kid anyone , but people want the excitement , the fact that they dont 100% know whos gonna win , im moving off topic here anyway so gonna throw in the towell .

To put it simply we are in the most behind you on many things you do as a promotion and i personally feel your one of the best there is , but theres a few tweaks that we feel would help in the long run .
people on here who have commented are really not getting on your back , im certain of that , i suppose the fact you take time to answer us etc has put you in the firing line on this occasion , theres many far more guilty than you of doing things that detriment the sport , your a good fella , we are all fans of you and your very rarely criticised on here , so please dont think otherwise
just a few changes that need to be made by boxing as a whole not just yourself , hope you dont think we have anything but 100% respect fo you .

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

I had no idea that there were no work visa requirements for visiting American fighters? Learn something new everyday!

And Ferguson vs Larry O is indeed an intriguing match up! I know you need foreign opposition for your fighters - where else in the world do they exist? Argentina? Canada? Germany? Australia? I don't know - just fed up of seeing Perrier Peret over here once again. But I know your job of getting your lads opposition isn't easy either - a vicious circle.

[pyenest77]

I have been on the website plenty of times & it is very informative. It is also a decent place to get tickets for FTM shows from. But in my opinion for what it is worth. The website can build a fight card up, but when a load of fat Latvians get knocked over in a round then for me that trust/excitement is lost & it takes a long time to rebuild.
I have been to Franks shows & generally they are as good as any other promoters so this is more of a general complaint that one made in Franks direction.

[whicker]

Paying customers in boxing are continually let down and the answer is not to come up with jibes like this but rather to address the short-comings and put on shows that constitute genuine value for money. No wonder the sport is dying when this is the attitude...

Well, at the end of the day paying customers will vote with their feet, and TV customers won't tune in if they are not happy.

In my opinion, these shows could do with at least 2 well matched undercard fights- classic example being Samuels V Renda, etc.

[damianhucker1]

ftm , you said suggest names of who would be willing to come to uk , well kassim ouma's manager eddie gonzalez has had a conversation with me today , ive suggested he post on here which he has done , hes looking to get his guy some bouts on uk soil , hes an interesting fighter to have on these shores , if you could work anything out with him , not sure if uganda is in the commonwealth but if so he could go down that route i suppose , a former world champion would look good on any middlweights record im sure .

[FtmPress]

This post is very good and this is what forums are about your views and we will take on what quite a lot of you have said,
You all keep on about Latvians we have only use these once and that was prob. one of the worst shows we have every put together and we said we would not use Latvians unless we could stand up their records.America is very short of heavyweight right now even American promotors are using heavyweights from Europe there is less heavyweight boxing going on in the USA. Were do all the heavyweightchamps come from right now. Even when we were building Lennoxs career we had trouble with american oppens. At less 4 arrive and fail medicals or did not have the right paper work. And with the BBBofC new rules you would not have time to replace one, It is a hard job getting the right oppens to teach your own fights what you need them to learn and to build their records. I recall Micky Duff getting stick for some of the Americans he brought over for big Frank Bruno, Gary Mason and others. And he had one of the best guys working for him in the states.And by the way we at ftm do not take this personally.But we would like to ask and know how many who post on here buy tickets for shows.

[damianhucker1]

This post is very good and this is what forums are about your views and we will take on what quite a lot of you have said,
You all keep on about Latvians we have only use these once and that was prob. one of the worst shows we have every put together and we said we would not use Latvians unless we could stand up their records.America is very short of heavyweight right now even American promotors are using heavyweights from Europe there is less heavyweight boxing going on in the USA. Were do all the heavyweightchamps come from right now. Even when we were building Lennoxs career we had trouble with american oppens. At less 4 arrive and fail medicals or did not have the right paper work. And with the BBBofC new rules you would not have time to replace one, It is a hard job getting the right oppens to teach your own fights what you need them to learn and to build their records. I recall Micky Duff getting stick for some of the Americans he brought over for big Frank Bruno, Gary Mason and others. And he had one of the best guys working for him in the states.And by the way we at ftm do not take this personally.But we would like to ask and know how many who post on here buy tickets for shows.

cheers for the reply , last show of yours i went to personally was jason booths fight at harvey haddyn stadium , in nottingham . vs matthew marsh

[mickey1975]

This post is very good and this is what forums are about your views and we will take on what quite a lot of you have said,
You all keep on about Latvians we have only use these once and that was prob. one of the worst shows we have every put together and we said we would not use Latvians unless we could stand up their records.America is very short of heavyweight right now even American promotors are using heavyweights from Europe there is less heavyweight boxing going on in the USA. Were do all the heavyweightchamps come from right now. Even when we were building Lennoxs career we had trouble with american oppens. At less 4 arrive and fail medicals or did not have the right paper work. And with the BBBofC new rules you would not have time to replace one, It is a hard job getting the right oppens to teach your own fights what you need them to learn and to build their records. I recall Micky Duff getting stick for some of the Americans he brought over for big Frank Bruno, Gary Mason and others. And he had one of the best guys working for him in the states.And by the way we at ftm do not take this personally.But we would like to ask and know how many who post on here buy tickets for shows.

Ive bought a few when you were in the Yorkshire area.Had some great nights during the Ingle days
I may go to Doncaster in a fortnight,not sure but interested in Woodhouse-Bull

[funso banjo baby]

im a fan primarily of the heavyweights

i go to the light heavy, cruiser and heavy prizefighters...altho the last was really dire..and the Aforce one was at the excell

a bill of competitive heavies would have been great

[Glyn Leach]

I was wondering how to take that question: Was it a genuine enquiry or was it a dig at the site members? Be good if Frank could clear that up.

[GlobalBox]

could someone at ftm say whether this is a 10 or 12 round fight boxrec now have it as a 12 round affair can frank himself advise no one seems to know for sure

[FtmPress]

could someone at ftm say whether this is a 10 or 12 round fight boxrec now have it as a 12 round affair can frank himself advise no one seems to know for sure

It is a 12 round fight. Big Larry and Dave Ferguson is a 10 round fight.

[whicker]

But we would like to ask and know how many who post on here buy tickets for shows.

I do go to shows- or I did. I decided not to go again after a show last year (not realted to the boxing itself) , but I am open to chaning my mind if a card did look really good, I'd probably buy a ticket. And I'm happy to travel to shows, too.

the issue is that unless the main event really is stella, that itself is unlikley to sell a show to me. I'd usually look at the undercard and if there were decent fights, that would sway me.

[Counter-puncher]

But we would like to ask and know how many who post on here buy tickets for shows.

I do go to shows- or I did. I decided not to go again after a show last year (not realted to the boxing itself) , but I am open to chaning my mind if a card did look really good, I'd probably buy a ticket. And I'm happy to travel to shows, too.

the issue is that unless the main event really is stella, that itself is unlikley to sell a show to me. I'd usually look at the undercard and if there were decent fights, that would sway me.

i've been to 3 or 4 FTM shows in the last 12 months.

[FtmPress]

I was wondering how to take that question: Was it a genuine enquiry or was it a dig at the site members? Be good if Frank could clear that up.

This is not a dig at anybody, I beleive is a fair quetion to ask. I know for a fact that some of the posters have never brought a tick for anyones show.There are 2 times of fans in boxing these days the ones who go to shows and the armchair fans.It would be good to know the percentage of what this forum is made up of.

[leforge]

I go to shows been to 5 this year.

[Counter-puncher]

I was wondering how to take that question: Was it a genuine enquiry or was it a dig at the site members? Be good if Frank could clear that up.

This is not a dig at anybody, I beleive is a fair quetion to ask. I know for a fact that some of the posters have never brought a tick for anyones show.There are 2 times of fans in boxing these days the ones who go to shows and the armchair fans.It would be good to know the percentage of what this forum is made up of.

i was staggered when told Rhodes- Moore was struggling to break even. i was there, anyway

[Glyn Leach]

Cheers Frank

[whicker]

I was wondering how to take that question: Was it a genuine enquiry or was it a dig at the site members? Be good if Frank could clear that up.

This is not a dig at anybody, I beleive is a fair quetion to ask. I know for a fact that some of the posters have never brought a tick for anyones show.There are 2 times of fans in boxing these days the ones who go to shows and the armchair fans.It would be good to know the percentage of what this forum is made up of.

Yeah, a fair point- if people have no intention of going to shows, then their opinions are worth little in terms of business.

There are also fans, I'm sure, who will go to shows but only if it's of a good enough quality (as with any product or service.)

[Glyn Leach]

I'm not so sure. Most promotions feature 'ticket sellers' of one sort or another, usually friends and family etc of the boxers. These people buy tickets to see those fighters but might not to watch boxing in general, whereas people on this forum probably watch an awful lot more boxing on TV than the fans of a 'ticket seller'. I think it's important to try and convert the TV fans into ticket buyers, so the views of armchair fans are valid.

What do you think Frank? And yes, this is a good thread, very productive.

[whicker]

Another point, and again, just personal opinion- I'd be happy with a card with 4 decent undercard bouts, and a good main event, that lasted 2-3 hours.

I know this might not be practical or indeed economical to have less fights and shorter shows.


But these long shows with 10 fight cards don't "sell it" more to me- unless amazingly all 10 bouts were great.

[Glyn Leach]

Spot on Macho. There's the rub - the more undercard fighters on, the more tickets those undercard fighters will be able to sell, thereby making more money ... in theory, anyway. Even with TV money and gate revenue it is hard to balance up the cost of a decent promotion with a good main event, particularly when a purse bid is involved. That's why I think it's so important to create general boxing fans rather than rely on the fans of one or two popular fighters per show to make that show successful.

Taking the example of the UFC in Britain, the fans turn out irrespective of the fighters on the bill, because they are fans of UFC - and they will only have been able to watch UFC on television, from America, until a couple of years ago. But those TV fans became live show converts. British boxing needs to create that sort of fan. Whether it can ever happen I'm not sure, so many things need to be balanced up. But that should be an aim, at least, I think.

[winkveron]

Money permitting, I go to whatever I can get to in the Manchester area. I actually prefer the leisure centre shows to the arena/stadium ones. Better view, atmosphere, less numpties and johnny-come-latelys.

Frank, if you ever put on a show in Manchester I'll definitely be there, you put on some good shows.