Mcdermot undercard truly awful

[m1kee50]

Apart from the FW show at Upton Park I only go to FM shows because he puts a fair amount on at Dagenham and Brentwood (Ive also gone Prizefighter and Hayemaker at York Hall)

by and large they are good shows - although I havent had that much to compare it to.

I'm looking forward to seeing Big Larry as well as Big Bad John.

[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.

No but they do help sell out the venue. Think back to the heady days of Manchester a few years back.

A show with the following developing prospects sold out venues primarily because all the home fighters were good ticket sellers in their own right. The promoter could rely on them to sell out a venue on the back of the tickets they sold personally. It is cheaper to do that than spend an arm and a leg on advertising:

Ricky Hatton
Anthony Farnell
Michael Gomez
Jamie Moore
Michael Jennings
Thomas McDonagh
Wayne Pinder

That certainly true, and as I say- just personal opinion.

By all means, if 10 fights sells out a show, and makes more profit overall, than 5, then thats ace, lets have 10!!!

but I've been to shows with 8, 9 , 10 bouts, at least half of which are only watched by a tiny number of people- that can't be economical.

I just mean personally, i'd be happy to go to a 5 fight show if they were good fights.


To address this to the original post-

The show on Friday has a good main event- Fury V McDermott 2, and 2 good undercard bouts, Jones - Selby and Larry Olubamiwo- Ferguson. Daniel Peret should give a decent showing, too, against Dallas.

So thats 4 decent bouts, so not bad really.

[saturday_kid]

Good points, Jeff, but I can't get into watching fights online, I prefer to see them on my TV so I tend to download them, pop them onto a USB and then watch in comfort.

Thanks mate. I watched a few films on my lap top and iphone whilst on holiday- they were fine to watch. People have preferences but I was suprised at how watchable they were. Regardless I think of Itunes as only a platform to give fans access to them- imagine having a huge archive of fights that you can access and relive. I'd be skint in a week. I've got 10,000 fights on DVD but I still love the old domestic stuff. Ingle-Jones replay i'll have some of that. Once you download something of itunes its there for you to watch on demand- stick it on a usb and watch it on TV at your leisure

Gonna sell me some of your fights Jeff? Thats some collection, don't think mine hits the 1000 dvd mark yet.

[winkveron]

Jeff, like the idea of the awards at the end of a bill.

I'd also like it if the yearly awards shows were televised and maybe given a bit more airtime. The big name fighters/promoters owe it to the sport to plug these. Imagine Haye going on Jonathan Ross for example to tell him about the annual boxing awards.

[FtmPress]

I think this debate has been very constructive and is what is needed more on these forums than people jusrt coming on and attacking boxing personnel. Following on from this I have spoken to some of the people in our office including our press officer and marketing person and they feel it would be a good idea to host a fans Q + A session somewhere in London and invite some other members from the boxing world and the media to contribute to help take boxing forward. Please let us know your vierws on this.

Looking at sometime in September after the summer holidays.

[Jeff Thomas]

Think its a great idea frank, time for a change.

[chinny]

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.

I buy tickets pretty regularly - once a month maybe.

[chinny]

I'd attend the Q+A Frank, good idea

[Brit Ryan]

I'd attend
what you'd really benefit from is a mixture of: diehard boxing fans who don't attend shows; those who go to all they can; and those who have attended once or twice (I am thinking of people I have brought along to shows with me in the last 12 months or so) - so you get a spread of perspectives.

[oliverfennell]

You need decent size, mini documentries- you need previous fights- you need a good pre fight analysis.

Mini montages of previous fight highlights/training footage/soundbites etc are such a simple and effective way to boost anticipation in a fight or boxer. It's par for the course in wrestling, for example. And before anyone talks about time and costs - even Charlie f'n Zelenoff can do it!

[oliverfennell]

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.

You do realise that "armchair fans" are every bit as valuable as live attendees, given that you make money from TV too?

[Brit Ryan]

The relevance of the reference to "armchair fans" is that Frank was talking about people's comments on the quality of shows and, in particular, the undercard 9and also facilities at venues etc...). Given that there is usually enough good fights to show on TV (whether these are the ones that are selecetd is another topic), I would say that the opinion of armchair TV watching fans was of the utmost irrelevance.

[winkveron]

Frank,

One thing I will say about 'armchair' fans is they are surely the people you want to convert into ticket buyers? So listening to their views will be very beneficial to you and the future of the sport.

[Datsue]

Frank,

One thing I will say about 'armchair' fans is they are surely the people you want to convert into ticket buyers? So listening to their views will be very beneficial to you and the future of the sport.

The majority of those who buy tickets for shows (excluding huge 20,000+ jobs) are friends/family of the fighters or friends of friends/family. That won't change. Therefore, the non-televised, undercard doesn't matter all that much because friends/family only want to see their man win. They don't give a eff who he is fighting, by and large. Only the main TV fights have a requirement to be competetive and/or compelling in one way or another.

But surely, if we're about how to engender a positive upswing in boxing's fortunes, that (the bit I bolded) has to change?

I mean, I know people must be sick of hearing it, but UFC shows can't all be attended by mates & family of the fighters?

[JamesH]

I think this debate has been very constructive and is what is needed more on these forums than people jusrt coming on and attacking boxing personnel. Following on from this I have spoken to some of the people in our office including our press officer and marketing person and they feel it would be a good idea to host a fans Q + A session somewhere in London and invite some other members from the boxing world and the media to contribute to help take boxing forward. Please let us know your vierws on this.

Looking at sometime in September after the summer holidays.

I have really enjoyed reading this thread.

Frank, it works both ways. If you had 2 or 3 of your employed minnions regularly on the forum stirring the pot while making digs at other promoters, there probably wouldnt be much of a constructive contribution returned. However, when you come on the way you have, seeking, poking and developing debate, it should be applauded and rewarded with some sensible suggestions, as it has been.

Also, those of you not happy watching boxing from laptops, make sure any new TV you get has a suitable port and you can plug a cable directly from laptop to the back of the TV, so you stream directly but are able to watch in a little more comfort.

I have attended shows (i.e. paid for tickets) every couple of months for the past 5 years or so, but have dropped massively from that since my daughter was born last year. Will be aiming to resume that frequency next year hopefully... Meanwhile, I would really like an increase in internet coverage and would be very willing to pay a 2 or 3 quid a time.

Jeff, MachoMan, quality posts lad.

[MacTavish]

Here, here - what makes me laugh is people like Hennesey Sports just randomly posting dull press releases on this forum and not engaging thier consumers - talk about not understanding the digital channel to build customer loyalty!

Does anyone within Hennesey have even a basic understanding of marketing?!

[Jeff Thomas]

I think big changes are on there way. Thanks for the compliment.

[m1kee50]

I tell you something else... whether it is promotors or SKY that have the rights to the fights (and in untelevised shows i assume it is the promotor) DVDs should be made much more available for recent fights. Even if they are only available online and the packaging is not great im sure there is a market for legal recordings

[oliverfennell]

I tell you something else... whether it is promotors or SKY that have the rights to the fights (and in untelevised shows i assume it is the promotor) DVDs should be made much more available for recent fights. Even if they are only available online and the packaging is not great im sure there is a market for legal recordings

Speaking as someone who lives outside the UK, and in a country which does not have Sky Sports - I for one would very much welcome increased online availability of British fights, and I would pay appropriately for such. The technology is in place - hell, Joe Public can stream TV channels on Justin and equivalents - so it can be done.

On that note, learning that McDermott-Fury 2 will be available legally online this weekend is the best boxing news I've had for a while!

[Jeff Thomas]

I tell you something else... whether it is promotors or SKY that have the rights to the fights (and in untelevised shows i assume it is the promotor) DVDs should be made much more available for recent fights. Even if they are only available online and the packaging is not great im sure there is a market for legal recordings

Speaking as someone who lives outside the UK, and in a country which does not have Sky Sports - I for one would very much welcome increased online availability of British fights, and I would pay appropriately for such. The technology is in place - hell, Joe Public can stream TV channels on Justin and equivalents - so it can be done.

On that note, learning that McDermott-Fury 2 will be available legally online this weekend is the best boxing news I've had for a while!

Oliver- itunes! The way forward yes or no?

[saturday_kid]

I tell you something else... whether it is promotors or SKY that have the rights to the fights (and in untelevised shows i assume it is the promotor) DVDs should be made much more available for recent fights. Even if they are only available online and the packaging is not great im sure there is a market for legal recordings

I know the Hatton's do this with their non TV shows which is great imo. Brought 2 shows off them and can't really complain

[Brit Ryan]

Do they still do this?

[oliverfennell]

I tell you something else... whether it is promotors or SKY that have the rights to the fights (and in untelevised shows i assume it is the promotor) DVDs should be made much more available for recent fights. Even if they are only available online and the packaging is not great im sure there is a market for legal recordings

Speaking as someone who lives outside the UK, and in a country which does not have Sky Sports - I for one would very much welcome increased online availability of British fights, and I would pay appropriately for such. The technology is in place - hell, Joe Public can stream TV channels on Justin and equivalents - so it can be done.

On that note, learning that McDermott-Fury 2 will be available legally online this weekend is the best boxing news I've had for a while!

Oliver- itunes! The way forward yes or no?

I don't use iTunes personally but yes, the idea of an online video library is exactly what I mean - although to be honest I probably wouldn't pay for much older stuff. It would have to be the next day for a fight I've avoided the result of (which is exactly what I will do with Fury-McDermott).