How to spoil a great card

[cobbler80]

Toilets and bars were a joke and the scheduling hideous. Was 3:30am before i finally got a cab out of there

the staff looked about 12 actually i think they were 12 to 14 years old. excel is an awful venue, please don't go there again frank.

People were just pissing under the stands by the end. Was piss all over the place

Only plus side to the lawlessness in there was that the smoking ban didn't exist!

[ALI]

While out on a bit of a pub crawl I convinced a mate to stop by a pub i knew was showing the card. We were there around 11pm (GMT+1). After waiting forever for Eubank - Saunders to start, and that fight failing to deliver much, we ended up leaving at around 1:30 am during the second round of Fury - Chisora. That says a lot as It is very unlike me to walk out of anywhere while a big fights in motion.

The card dragged on for too long. allegedly take note!

[ALI]

While out on a bit of a pub crawl I convinced a mate to stop by a pub i knew was showing the card. We were there around 11pm (GMT+1). After waiting forever for Eubank - Saunders to start, and that fight failing to deliver much, we ended up leaving at around 1:30 am during the second round of Fury - Chisora. That says a lot as It is very unlike me to walk out of anywhere while a big fights in motion.

The card dragged on for too long. allegedly take note!

Christ we cant even write the words B.o.x.N.a.t.i.o.n. on here now

[DaveyH]

It was a decent night of boxing, I enjoyed it for the most part.

I think Mitchell Smith was on the prime time slot because they really wanted to push him. The commentary team were paractically salivating over him during his ring walk, and he looked a confident guy. I think they were expecting something amazing from him last night and to be fair he boxed really well. But in terms of something explosive and entertaining, the Hungarian didn't read the script.

[lefty]

Toilets and bars were a joke and the scheduling hideous. Was 3:30am before i finally got a cab out of there

the staff looked about 12 actually i think they were 12 to 14 years old. excel is an awful venue, please don't go there again frank.

People were just pissing under the stands by the end. Was piss all over the place

Only plus side to the lawlessness in there was that the smoking ban didn't exist!

Reminds me of the quote about Scott Harrison kicking off .... "There was crisps everywhere"

[lefthook82]

Excel is a bitch to get away from

A main event starting at half past midnight is a disgrace

[Crease]

A main event starting at half past midnight is a disgrace

Agreed, that just shouldn't be happening on British soil.

[Crease]

I agree, I was bored to tears for much of the card, the matchups didn't deliver. By the time the heavyweight clash came, I was virtually asleep.

I suppose it depends on what you're looking for.

There is a group of fans that want to see spectacular knock outs, on the other hand there are some of us who enjoy competitive fights going the full distance.

I guess to get a post event, fan-friendly reaction a card has to have a little bit of everything in it; early stoppages, systematic beat downs, a controversial split decision, maybe even a draw or two...

[Boxerbeetle]

Did you prefer the matchroom show the week before?

People after last weekends fights had taken place and before this weekends ones had taken place were on a crusade throughout the week. Bellew v Cleverly was an outrage because it failed to live up. Fury v Chisora was even worse but the same reaction just isn't there. Last weekend about 50% of the rbr posts were reggaereggae and boxer beetle posting about how annoyed they were that the event was going so late. This weeks rbr neither are anywhere to be seen and yet the card ran later.

I know everyone (including me) was pissed at PPV. But you yourself lefty said that based off of that 1 poor PPV means Eddie is as bad, or worse than Allegedly. I'd argue that Allegedly's PPV Bill of Clev v a bin man. Groves v DeGale when they had 10 fights a piece and Gavin v Young Muttley with 8 and 4 rounders beneath that was easily a worse PPV than last week. At least last week there were top 20 boxers facing other top 20 boxers a few times. By far the worst PPV has to go to Haye v Harrison, but people last week over-reacted that it was worse than that.

For the record I thought Saunders v Eubank was the best fight on both cards.

You wanna get your eyes tested mate, I posted loads on last night's RBR, right to the end of the Fury fight - in fact, I set-up the fvcking thread. And I was also complaining the bill ran so late, same as everyone else. But as I didn't feel I was being robbed by a one-sided PPV last night, and as pretty much all the fights were competitive, I wasn't as critical as the previous week. I suggest you get your facts straight before bringing my name up again

[Sklar]

Unless they were catering to the Yanks (they probably were), the timings of the headliners was wrong, IMO. Had BJS kicked of at 2100 and Fury immediately afterwards it'd have been right.

[jameswilson]

Did you prefer the matchroom show the week before?

People after last weekends fights had taken place and before this weekends ones had taken place were on a crusade throughout the week. Bellew v Cleverly was an outrage because it failed to live up. Fury v Chisora was even worse but the same reaction just isn't there. Last weekend about 50% of the rbr posts were reggaereggae and boxer beetle posting about how annoyed they were that the event was going so late. This weeks rbr neither are anywhere to be seen and yet the card ran later.

I know everyone (including me) was pissed at PPV. But you yourself lefty said that based off of that 1 poor PPV means Eddie is as bad, or worse than Allegedly. I'd argue that Allegedly's PPV Bill of Clev v a bin man. Groves v DeGale when they had 10 fights a piece and Gavin v Young Muttley with 8 and 4 rounders beneath that was easily a worse PPV than last week. At least last week there were top 20 boxers facing other top 20 boxers a few times. By far the worst PPV has to go to Haye v Harrison, but people last week over-reacted that it was worse than that.

For the record I thought Saunders v Eubank was the best fight on both cards.

You wanna get your eyes tested mate, I posted loads on last night's RBR, right to the end of the Fury fight - in fact, I set-up the fvcking thread. And I was also complaining the bill ran so late, same as everyone else. But as I didn't feel I was being robbed by a one-sided PPV last night, and as pretty much all the fights were competitive, I wasn't as critical as the previous week. I suggest you get your facts straight before bringing my name up again

Mate come on. There's massive difference in your tone on each rbr. Saying 'this is running late, it will overlap Crawford v Beltran lol' is slightly different to what we had on a regular the week before. We'll call a spade a spade by saying the Matchroom show was a poor PPV, but let's do it the other way too and not call 'pretty much every fight competitive.'

[Boxerbeetle]

Mate come on. There's massive difference in your tone on each rbr. Saying 'this is running late, it will overlap Crawford v Beltran lol' is slightly different to what we had on a regular the week before. We'll call a spade a spade by saying the Matchroom show was a poor PPV, but let's do it the other way too and not call 'pretty much every fight competitive.'

Which fights weren't competitive last night? Fury vs Chisora obviously wasn't, but I'd say the rest were. For all their faults, I'd rather watch Gavin & Skeete in a relatively close 12 rounder than watch any number of the Matchroom boys blow through lesser opposition.

I'd agree my tone was different in each rbr, simply because I didn't enjoy most of the Matchroom card, whereas I did enjoy most of the FW card.

[Dan Dares]

A bunch of mates said the atmosphere was hideous last night - and it was wall to wall with arseholes, and they seemingly did exactly want they liked.

He believed some didn't even have a ticket and security just let loads of people walk in. The later it got, the nastier the vibe.

Anyone here go down ?

First card as a punter for quite some time. Very badly organised. Nowhere near enough security, or the right kind of security - the ones near us looked more like teaching assistants, and in the main, kept well away.

There were some poor f**kers that must have paid £200 for their seats, but couldn't sit in them because someone else was and wouldn't move. So they gathered in the isles, which meant we couldn't see the ring, despite being fairly close. When security did pluck up the courage to ask some if they had their tickets, they were told 'my mates got it' and the 'security' just said 'oh ok then' and scarpered, sharpish. They didn't come back.

Whoever the 'Event Organiser' is obviously couldn't organise a f**k up in a brothel, and is ultimately responsible for a lot of fans having a completely sh*t experience. Absolutely no way I would ever consider buying tickets for any of their events again.

It was hilarious to hear Jim Rosenthal say 'no-one is leaving because Fury v Chisora is about to start'. From where I was looking, people were piling out of the venue.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I agree, I was bored to tears for much of the card, the matchups didn't deliver. By the time the heavyweight clash came, I was virtually asleep.

I suppose it depends on what you're looking for.

There is a group of fans that want to see spectacular knock outs, on the other hand there are some of us who enjoy competitive fights going the full distance.

I guess to get a post event, fan-friendly reaction a card has to have a little bit of everything in it; early stoppages, systematic beat downs, a controversial split decision, maybe even a draw or two...

I wasn't looking for spectacular knock outs, I just wanted some sustained two-way action, of which there was very little.

The first half of BJS v Eubank was desperately boring, so was the entirety of the Fury v Chisora, as one sided a fight as I've ever seen, with Fury not even getting out of 1st gear.Eubank Jr did pretty much nothing for almost half the fight, again, rather boring to watch. Then there was skeet pecking around with his jab in another boring fight.

That's not the promoter's fault, the fighters have to actually fight, but high octane entertainment it most certainly was not.

[jessi]

Gavin v skeete was on before the main two and not Mitchell smith like someone said earlier

[ScottDetonator]

People were just pissing under the stands by the end. Was piss all over the place

I know the feeling well. It seems most 'live' events now just end up with people, mostly men, pissing everywhere once the drink has kicked in.

I've been put off going to gigs now because over the last 5+ years, pints of urine are just flying everywhere. Never used to be like that. 'I can't make the toilet with that queue, so I'll re-fill my plastic pint pot and lob it over my shoulder..'

Nothing like getting hit in the face by a warm salty liquid to really enhance the nights experience... What I want to know is though, why have people started doing it? Has it always been that bad and I've only just noticed it or what?

[UrbanFox]

I'm very surprised to hear all these negative feedback on the organisation of 'Bad Blood', especially timing.

This was exactly WHY FW stopped the Copper Box partnership, this card was always running late and people were leaving before the main event in order to catch the last train. There were also issues with the soundsystem.

[danamba7]

Why bloat the 'prime time' of a fight card with fighters who either kill the atmosphere with a negative style or couldn't crack an egg ?

Padding out a show with people who can sell local tickets, but bore the wider UK public to tears is a trend I keep seeing a lot too.

Last night was all about Saunders vs Eubank Jr, it was a Michelin star main course of fillet steak.

So why feed us 4 hours of carrots and ruin the appetite? A friend who went to a bar said they were closing just as the fight looked set to finally begin. Viewers were ready for going to bed by the time they finally began the main two fights.

Promoters need people who come to fight and look for a KO - people like Travis Dickinson , Brad Saunders, Jack Catterall,

The big shows miss the crash, bang wallop of Hatton, Calzaghe, and soon Froch and Haye.

People like Skeete and Fury, pecking away with the jab - it was awful. I'll give the big man a pass because he's usually good value.


Serious question - has anyone actually been impressed in the last ten years by a visiting Latvian or whatever? Just think of how many you've watched in all that time - I bet you'd struggle to name 1 performance and struggle harder to tell me their name. Doesn't that tell you something ?

A good ticket seller doesn't equate to a good performer - same goes for a bad ticket seller equalling a bad performer.

I just feel last night had some great ingredients , but they overcooked it with bloat. It was 24 rounds too many before the big two fights.[/quote

i agree it dragged on too late man

I agree, I was bored to tears for much of the card, the matchups didn't deliver. By the time the heavyweight clash came, I was virtually asleep.

Same here

[freddydoesdallas]

People were just pissing under the stands by the end. Was piss all over the place

Nothing like getting hit in the face by a warm salty liquid to really enhance the nights experience... What I want to know is though, why have people started doing it? Has it always been that bad and I've only just noticed it or what?

Some women make a good living out of that!

[jameswilson]

Mate come on. There's massive difference in your tone on each rbr. Saying 'this is running late, it will overlap Crawford v Beltran lol' is slightly different to what we had on a regular the week before. We'll call a spade a spade by saying the Matchroom show was a poor PPV, but let's do it the other way too and not call 'pretty much every fight competitive.'

Which fights weren't competitive last night? Fury vs Chisora obviously wasn't, but I'd say the rest were. For all their faults, I'd rather watch Gavin & Skeete in a relatively close 12 rounder than watch any number of the Matchroom boys blow through lesser opposition.

I'd agree my tone was different in each rbr, simply because I didn't enjoy most of the Matchroom card, whereas I did enjoy most of the FW card.

If every FW card from now on ends up being like the last one in terms of the matchups then I'll be surprised. Thus far this year that was the 1 show out of everything from them that had a really good top 3 fights where everything came off. The PPV show was the one show where everyone to a man was outraged, AND it had a main event that didn't take off and now you're making out like it's been like that all year and the Matchroom guys have been facing nothing but mismatches while the other shows are nothing but 50-50s. Come on, Walsh's fight (to name 1) was close was it? Burns v Beltran and Crawford. Froch v Kessler and Groves x 2. Mitchell v Maduma. Bellew v Chillemba x 2. DeGale v Gonzalez and Periban. Crolla v Murray. Mathews v Coyle. There's a load of fights I'v named over the last 18 months or so (and I'm not going through every single one) that aren't clear mismatches and took place in the UK. Not all fights took off (Bellew v Chilemba for example) but that's the way some fights go, I wouldn't call Fury v Chisora a bad fight just because it ended up being boring, it was still a top 15-20 heavyweight vs a top 15-20 heavyweight, like DeGale v Periban or Gonzalez was at S-middle. The fact DeGale blew those guys out of there doesn't change that. If Mayweather blows Pacquiao away in 1 is that a sh1t fight all of a sudden?

[ashedward]

Also on Matchroom shows since the start of the September we have had Eggington-Vassel,Nurse-Ryan Goddjohn-Boylan,Macklin-Heiland which were all competitive and Selby-Brunker which was decent on paper,I would like Hearn to step it up but overall and bar the odd exception(a couple of the recent Liverpool shows were poor) he consistently puts on better cards then his opposition but I will get dismissed as a Matchroom fanboy for saying so.

[Boxerbeetle]

Mate come on. There's massive difference in your tone on each rbr. Saying 'this is running late, it will overlap Crawford v Beltran lol' is slightly different to what we had on a regular the week before. We'll call a spade a spade by saying the Matchroom show was a poor PPV, but let's do it the other way too and not call 'pretty much every fight competitive.'

Which fights weren't competitive last night? Fury vs Chisora obviously wasn't, but I'd say the rest were. For all their faults, I'd rather watch Gavin & Skeete in a relatively close 12 rounder than watch any number of the Matchroom boys blow through lesser opposition.

I'd agree my tone was different in each rbr, simply because I didn't enjoy most of the Matchroom card, whereas I did enjoy most of the FW card.

If every FW card from now on ends up being like the last one in terms of the matchups then I'll be surprised. Thus far this year that was the 1 show out of everything from them that had a really good top 3 fights where everything came off. The PPV show was the one show where everyone to a man was outraged, AND it had a main event that didn't take off and now you're making out like it's been like that all year and the Matchroom guys have been facing nothing but mismatches while the other shows are nothing but 50-50s. Come on, Walsh's and Buglioni's fights (to name 2) were close affairs were they? Burns v Beltran and Crawford. Froch v Kessler and Groves x 2. Mitchell v Maduma. Bellew v Chillemba x 2. DeGale v Gonzalez and Periban. Crolla v Murray. Mathews v Coyle. There's a load of fights I'v named over the last 18 months or so (and I'm not going through every single one) that aren't clear mismatches and took place in the UK. Not all fights took off (Bellew v Chilemba for example) but that's the way some fights go, I wouldn't call Fury v Chisora a bad fight just because it ended up being boring, it was still a top 15-20 heavyweight vs a top 15-20 heavyweight, like DeGale v Periban or Gonzalez was at S-middle. The fact DeGale blew those guys out of there doesn't change that. If Mayweather blows Pacquiao away in 1 is that a sh1t fight all of a sudden?

Mate, I'm not sure if you've got me confused with someone else tbh. Before last week's PPV I hardly ever criticised Matchroom (or particularly praised FW), I just call it how I see it. I didn't say the Walsh or Buglioni fights were close, but they were competitive. Last week's PPV was an insult to boxing fans from the start, a card built on 'names' rather than fights. FW's card, although far from being perfect, was built on fights, and it got cut a lot more slack simply because we weren't charged an extra 17 quid for it. That's all there is to it, no channel or promoter bias here.

[jameswilson]

Which fights weren't competitive last night? Fury vs Chisora obviously wasn't, but I'd say the rest were. For all their faults, I'd rather watch Gavin & Skeete in a relatively close 12 rounder than watch any number of the Matchroom boys blow through lesser opposition.

I'd agree my tone was different in each rbr, simply because I didn't enjoy most of the Matchroom card, whereas I did enjoy most of the FW card.

If every FW card from now on ends up being like the last one in terms of the matchups then I'll be surprised. Thus far this year that was the 1 show out of everything from them that had a really good top 3 fights where everything came off. The PPV show was the one show where everyone to a man was outraged, AND it had a main event that didn't take off and now you're making out like it's been like that all year and the Matchroom guys have been facing nothing but mismatches while the other shows are nothing but 50-50s. Come on, Walsh's and Buglioni's fights (to name 2) were close affairs were they? Burns v Beltran and Crawford. Froch v Kessler and Groves x 2. Mitchell v Maduma. Bellew v Chillemba x 2. DeGale v Gonzalez and Periban. Crolla v Murray. Mathews v Coyle. There's a load of fights I'v named over the last 18 months or so (and I'm not going through every single one) that aren't clear mismatches and took place in the UK. Not all fights took off (Bellew v Chilemba for example) but that's the way some fights go, I wouldn't call Fury v Chisora a bad fight just because it ended up being boring, it was still a top 15-20 heavyweight vs a top 15-20 heavyweight, like DeGale v Periban or Gonzalez was at S-middle. The fact DeGale blew those guys out of there doesn't change that. If Mayweather blows Pacquiao away in 1 is that a sh1t fight all of a sudden?

Mate, I'm not sure if you've got me confused with someone else tbh. Before last week's PPV I hardly ever criticised Matchroom (or particularly praised FW), I just call it how I see it. I didn't say the Walsh or Buglioni fights were close, but they were competitive. Last week's PPV was an insult to boxing fans from the start, a card built on 'names' rather than fights. FW's card, although far from being perfect, was built on fights, and it got cut a lot more slack simply because we weren't charged an extra 17 quid for it. That's all there is to it, no channel or promoter bias here.

No no. I wasn't saying you were being like that before. Just that in my opinion (And you obviously have the opposite opinion) there was very little between both cards in terms of stuff to complain about if you remove the PPV aspect (which I was pissed at.) I think there were several fights on the PPV card that we were all expecting to be good fights and they ended up not living up to it. I don't think we should slate the matchmaking because they ended up not being. Likewise before Gavin v Skeete I was expecting it to be a boring wide victory for Gavin. Just because it wasn't I wouldn't want a rematch.

[magwitch]

Serious question - has anyone actually been impressed in the last ten years by a visiting Latvian or whatever?

Jackson Asiku was one badass Latvian, or "Lett" as I believe they are called, who I definitely wouldn't have liked to mess with.

[Cyclops]

I'm going to get some stick for this, but I pissed into my pint cup because the toilets were half a mile across the venue. It's stupid to have an event where most people are drinking and then have one toilet, nowhere near the action. At the same venue when they had the olympic boxing there were toilets actually inside the arena, a three minute walk from my seat. I also talked in a thread before the fight about the policy of not letting people in with beers as causing more trouble than when you do, because if you do then people will get pissed but in their own time. If you say to people walking in "you have to down them or throw them away, despite the fact you've just bought them from us" you'll get a load of people downing drinks, getting much drunker than they should have been, and then hating you for making them do it.

For the record I didn't see any fights in the crowd and everyone was quite friendly. The main problem everyone is highlighting is people needing a wee, and there being no toilets. It's not normal for people to piss everywhere at the 02, or any other big boxing match. It happened there for a reason. Everyone was herded around like animals in a big crappy atmosphere-less cattle shed, you couldn't see anything, loads of people missed their train home (including me) and then what do you do? Walk for a few miles in the fog into Canning Town (lovely area) and just jump on any bus in the hope it'll take you somewhere where thousands of other people aren't trying to get a cab at the same time.

It was awful.