Wonder what Sky make of tonight's action?

[danfoster]

If they can keep the run of fights going (Appleby, clev bellew, Hopkins) I see 456 giving them some serious competition indeed.

Your dreaming how many casual fan will subcribe nowhere near a 100000 that they want. Boxing does not get good viewing figures on sky they wont care. None of my mates knew what channel this was on, the publicity for it was poor. When sky pull out of boxing in July which is likely this channel is not the answer!

Publicity is a serious issue for this new channel as, previously, Sky had the built-in link with News International publications to cross-fertilise a live event promotion.

Now, they're gonna have to make the running themselves. That's not impossible with Degale (Olympic Gold) and Cleverly (WBO champ) as they will generate interest in the media through their achievements and they already possess a degree of name recognition (a great deal of it in the case of Degale).

But what i can see being a real problem is how they 'bring through' the channel's own stars of the future. How will they be pushed and promoted?

Let me put it this way - if you were a hot young prospect and you could sign pro with Eddie Hearn (huge promotional opportunites across News International due to Matchroom's unsurpassed relationship with Sky) or Mick Hennessey (live dates on Five fetching THREE MILLION viewers) which would you choose? My guess is that you wouldn't be bothered about going with Frank and the boys on a real specialist interest channel generating 10k viewers.

Surely the next generation of Olympians are not going to want to sign up for the comparative obscurity of a this new channel when Eddie and Mick are offering so much more?

[gobbles]

Sky working to put together their own big stable now.

Expect Froch and Khan as the big stars, with Brook, McCloskey, Barker, McDonnell, Martin Murray and Matthew Hatton as the next level.

And the guy they will build into a star next year is David Price.

I think they may show Macklin, he seemed to be liked. Is Khan coming back then?

Nothing in stone, but bridges have been built on both sides

[danfoster]

Sky working to put together their own big stable now.

Expect Froch and Khan as the big stars, with Brook, McCloskey, Barker, McDonnell, Martin Murray and Matthew Hatton as the next level.

And the guy they will build into a star next year is David Price.

I think they may show Macklin, he seemed to be liked. Is Khan coming back then?

Nothing in stone, but bridges have been built on both sides

Interesting info Gobbles - i got the distinct impression this alliance was being remade.

With Haye gone, Sky need Amir (and unless Amir can get Five interested, he needs them).

In three years, Britain could realistically have Amir, Cleverly, Brook, Degale, Price and Fury as world-level operators, which would be the healthiest stable of 'world class' british fighters for some time. (of course the Olympics could relly help kick-start the interest as well, especially if that lad Joshua does the business)

[leforge]

Anyone know more about Eubank jnr and Hennessyis it happening?