Saunders v Lee off?

[digzee]

Apparently they'd sold 15k tickets, surprised that they called it off if they did that without an undercard or much promotion, never going to sell out but they could have made it past 20k, which would still have been a good crowd.

If they had got Katie Taylor on the undercard they surely would have got it over 20k, don't you think?

[expe]

Apparently they'd sold 15k tickets, surprised that they called it off if they did that without an undercard or much promotion, never going to sell out but they could have made it past 20k, which would still have been a good crowd.

If they had got Katie Taylor on the undercard they surely would have got it over 20k, don't you think?

I think any sort of half decent undercard would have done it, O'Sullivan, Ormond, whoever, wouldn't have took a lot to sell another 5,000 tickets in the next 5 weeks. Taylor would have been ideal though, after Frank's comments on womens boxing and Billy Joe's on women in general the perfect response from Booth/Lee would have been to announce that Taylor was fighting on the undercard.

[digzee]

Apparently they'd sold 15k tickets, surprised that they called it off if they did that without an undercard or much promotion, never going to sell out but they could have made it past 20k, which would still have been a good crowd.

If they had got Katie Taylor on the undercard they surely would have got it over 20k, don't you think?

I think any sort of half decent undercard would have done it, O'Sullivan, Ormond, whoever, wouldn't have took a lot to sell another 5,000 tickets in the next 5 weeks. Taylor would have been ideal though, after Frank's comments on womens boxing and Billy Joe's on women in general the perfect response from Booth/Lee would have been to announce that Taylor was fighting on the undercard.

Maybe she turned them down because I know Lee really wanted her on it, I would have enjoyed watching her box.

Did they definitely sell 15k?

[garethhop]

Disappointed for anyone who loses out over this.

But could be a great night at the Manchester arena. I'm certainly going now.

Matthews/barroso, Flanagan defending the belt, and lee v Saunders is a hell of a show considering what we get most of the time.

I doubt they'll manage 18,000 though and no doubt fast car will be trying to sort the Crolla rematch asap.

[expe]

If they had got Katie Taylor on the undercard they surely would have got it over 20k, don't you think?

I think any sort of half decent undercard would have done it, O'Sullivan, Ormond, whoever, wouldn't have took a lot to sell another 5,000 tickets in the next 5 weeks. Taylor would have been ideal though, after Frank's comments on womens boxing and Billy Joe's on women in general the perfect response from Booth/Lee would have been to announce that Taylor was fighting on the undercard.

Maybe she turned them down because I know Lee really wanted her on it, I would have enjoyed watching her box.

Did they definitely sell 15k?

Think it might have been something to do with AIBA, Warren wasn't going to stand in the way of it, she wanted to be on there and Booth and Lee wanted her to fight on the show.

No idea, someone posted it on CHB and it hasn't been questioned yet, only number I've seen. He's put it on twitter now, put up a link earlier but it wouldn't open, think it was to a PM he'd been sent. https://twitter.com/AndyP792/status/631561354944638976

[freddydoesdallas]

Disappointed for anyone who loses out over this.

But could be a great night at the Manchester arena. I'm certainly going now.

Matthews/barroso, Flanagan defending the belt, and lee v Saunders is a hell of a show considering what we get most of the time.

I doubt they'll manage 18,000 though and no doubt fast car will be trying to sort the Crolla rematch asap.

I agree and hope nobody's lost money on flights etc for it.

Is this really a big fight in Manchester? Birmingham might sell it well but saunders hasn't caught the general publics imagination and despite what lee has done and the style he's done it in, neither has he.

Can't make the date myself

[Deno1986]

Gutted it's been moved from Limerick, it's not often we get big fights in the south of the country. I have to say though the promotion of the fight over here was piss poor and wasn't near enough to catch the attention of the so called casual fans. Katie Taylor would have been a big draw. It's as good excuse as any for a weekend away in Manchester though.

Limerick is a big rugby city and Irelands World Cup campaign starts on the same date as the original fight so possibly had an impact on sales.

[digzee]

To expe... That's very strange then, they wouldn't need to spend much money on the undercard to get it over 20k (as you said get a few Irish lads on), surely Lee and BJS wont get as much money being on the Manc show? Or maybe Frank offered Lee a few quid more to get the fight in England.

[expe]

To expe... That's very strange then, they wouldn't need to spend much money on the undercard to get it over 20k (as you said get a few Irish lads on), surely Lee and BJS wont get as much money being on the Manc show? Or maybe Frank offered Lee a few quid more to get the fight in England.

Fwank's just done an interview with IFL, said that the last time he asked for a figure he was told about 4k from over here and with the Irish added in it came to 12.5-13k. Don't know when that was though, obviously the on

No idea what's going on, Lee always wanted the fight in Limerick, they tried the money route and he wasn't going for it, Warren wanted it in England and had to make do with Ireland when he couldn't get a stadium, Booth was co-promoting so he comes into it too, doubt he would want to lose money on the fight.

[digzee]

To expe... That's very strange then, they wouldn't need to spend much money on the undercard to get it over 20k (as you said get a few Irish lads on), surely Lee and BJS wont get as much money being on the Manc show? Or maybe Frank offered Lee a few quid more to get the fight in England.

Fwank's just done an interview with IFL, said that the last time he asked for a figure he was told about 4k from over here and with the Irish added in it came to 12.5-13k. Don't know when that was though, obviously the on

No idea what's going on, Lee always wanted the fight in Limerick, they tried the money route and he wasn't going for it, Warren wanted it in England and had to make do with Ireland when he couldn't get a stadium, Booth was co-promoting so he comes into it too, doubt he would want to lose money on the fight.

All very strange this but as others have said this is going to be a fantastic card, if I ivied close I'd certainly go.

Have there been any names talked about for Flanagan?

[GlobalBox]

Possibly Diego Magdaleno for Flanagan, decent fight if they can pull it off

[expe]

To expe... That's very strange then, they wouldn't need to spend much money on the undercard to get it over 20k (as you said get a few Irish lads on), surely Lee and BJS wont get as much money being on the Manc show? Or maybe Frank offered Lee a few quid more to get the fight in England.

Fwank's just done an interview with IFL, said that the last time he asked for a figure he was told about 4k from over here and with the Irish added in it came to 12.5-13k. Don't know when that was though, obviously the on

No idea what's going on, Lee always wanted the fight in Limerick, they tried the money route and he wasn't going for it, Warren wanted it in England and had to make do with Ireland when he couldn't get a stadium, Booth was co-promoting so he comes into it too, doubt he would want to lose money on the fight.

All very strange this but as others have said this is going to be a fantastic card, if I ivied close I'd certainly go.

Have there been any names talked about for Flanagan?

Terry and his trainer Steve Maylett said that a fight with Derry Mathews was 99% done a couple of weeks ago on the Bunce hour, Derry has denied that. General suggestions is that we could be looking at Lee-Saunders, Flanagan fighting Diego Magdaleno, Liam Smith-Michel Soro for the vacant WBO title, presumably leaving Derry defending his WBA interim title against Ismael Barroso from Venezuela.

[digzee]

Would love to see Beefy finally step up as he's been loyal and had injury problems. I think Zlaticanin could have been a great fight for Terry, whose Magdaleno's promoter? I guess he's cheaper as Zlaticanin is with Haymon.

[expe]

Would love to see Beefy finally step up as he's been loyal and had injury problems. I think Zlaticanin could have been a great fight for Terry, whose Magdaleno's promoter? I guess he's cheaper as Zlaticanin is with Haymon.

Magdaleno's with Top Rank, his fight with Gonzalez was an eliminator and the WBO might have ordered the mandatory.

[digzee]

Would love to see Beefy finally step up as he's been loyal and had injury problems. I think Zlaticanin could have been a great fight for Terry, whose Magdaleno's promoter? I guess he's cheaper as Zlaticanin is with Haymon.

Magdaleno's with Top Rank, his fight with Gonzalez was an eliminator and the WBO might have ordered the mandatory.

Ah ok, so they can get the mandatory out the way in October and have the whole of next spring/summer to make a couple of big fights against domestic fighters, hopefully.

[Manchester Hitman]

What a load of bollocks. How the man sleeps at night I do not know.

This is franks fault?

Booth was lead promoter, he and Andy wanted the fight over there- they got their way but couldn't deliver it...franks now cleaning up the mess.

[JimJim2009]

To expe... That's very strange then, they wouldn't need to spend much money on the undercard to get it over 20k (as you said get a few Irish lads on), surely Lee and BJS wont get as much money being on the Manc show? Or maybe Frank offered Lee a few quid more to get the fight in England.

Fwank's just done an interview with IFL, said that the last time he asked for a figure he was told about 4k from over here and with the Irish added in it came to 12.5-13k. Don't know when that was though, obviously the on

No idea what's going on, Lee always wanted the fight in Limerick, they tried the money route and he wasn't going for it, Warren wanted it in England and had to make do with Ireland when he couldn't get a stadium, Booth was co-promoting so he comes into it too, doubt he would want to lose money on the fight.

So four thousand fans from the UK have bought tickets to attend the show in Limerick and they've scrapped it, wow that is rotten for the fans, it's not like Limerick is a couple of hours drive. Fwank would be better off, when he announces his shows, saying 'this fight MIGHT happen'. That would be more accurate.

[ste1983]

Obviously they totally over estimated the Irish support for this.

Get the feeling Fwank and co should have stuck to their guns and pushed for it in the UK to begin and not swallowed Lee's teams talk of thousands and thousands of Irish wanting to attend.

Great tool for the FW haters to use o bash him with but think the majority (not all) of blame has to lay elsewhere on this one. After all it was Adam Booth who was lead promoter not FW. But people like Booth and dislike FW so I'm sure they'll continue to convenitely forget that bit.

[mickey1975]

Why aren't the Irish backing him? Is it because he's English?

[Deno1986]

Why aren't the Irish backing him? Is it because he's English?

Nice try Mickey. D

In all seriousness though, the fight wasn't promoted properly over here for whatever reason. There were no billboards, newspaper adverts, TV appearances etc to try grab the mainstream publics attention. The biggest headlines around the fight in the media were Saunders "women are for sex" comments. Katie Taylor's withdrawal and the non existant undercard wouldn't have helped either.

[ste1983]

Why aren't the Irish backing him? Is it because he's English?

Nice try Mickey. D

In all seriousness though, the fight wasn't promoted properly over here for whatever reason. There were no billboards, newspaper adverts, TV appearances etc to try grab the mainstream publics attention. The biggest headlines around the fight in the media were Saunders "women are for sex" comments. Katie Taylor's withdrawal and the non existant undercard wouldn't have helped either.

I thought I heard it was main news on the main Irish radio station when it was announced? To be fair thats more mainstream attention than most bills in the UK get.

I just think some Irish eyes got a bit over excited and completely over estimated the support for Lee.

Shame because its a great fight and deserves a big crowd wherever it is, I'm just glad its still on.

[mickey1975]

Why aren't the Irish backing him? Is it because he's English?

Nice try Mickey. D

In all seriousness though, the fight wasn't promoted properly over here for whatever reason. There were no billboards, newspaper adverts, TV appearances etc to try grab the mainstream publics attention. The biggest headlines around the fight in the media were Saunders "women are for sex" comments. Katie Taylor's withdrawal and the non existant undercard wouldn't have helped either.

Wasn't trying anything. I saw him loads of times in the schoolboys boxing for Repton with his brother.

[danamba7]

Why aren't the Irish backing him? Is it because he's English?

Nice try Mickey. D

In all seriousness though, the fight wasn't promoted properly over here for whatever reason. There were no billboards, newspaper adverts, TV appearances etc to try grab the mainstream publics attention. The biggest headlines around the fight in the media were Saunders "women are for sex" comments. Katie Taylor's withdrawal and the non existant undercard wouldn't have helped either.

I don't doubt Ireland's love for boxing. But are we seeing the mainstream leaning more towards MMA Because of Mr McGregor? He's by far the biggest combat sportsman in Ireland.

[Andrew]

Should have had it in Dublin. Matt Macklin got a good crowd there and he isn't even Irish. September is a really bad time to have an outdoor fight and in Dublin more people near and more British fans would go over too I certainly would have.

Or on a good London card.

[Deno1986]

Why aren't the Irish backing him? Is it because he's English?

Nice try Mickey. D

In all seriousness though, the fight wasn't promoted properly over here for whatever reason. There were no billboards, newspaper adverts, TV appearances etc to try grab the mainstream publics attention. The biggest headlines around the fight in the media were Saunders "women are for sex" comments. Katie Taylor's withdrawal and the non existant undercard wouldn't have helped either.

I don't doubt Ireland's love for boxing. But are we seeing the mainstream leaning more towards MMA Because of Mr McGregor? He's by far the biggest combat sportsman in Ireland.

Absolutely. Even in my group of friends, who would have followed me to Bernard Dunnes, Casey's & Framptons fights in the past are now following McGregor around the world and it ain't cheap to hit Vegas twice in 6 months. The mainstream were just waiting for someone to take over Bernard Dunnes appeal whether it were boxing or MMA.

Personally I thought the 3Arena would have been a better shout for Lee - Saunders, 10000 would have been a sellout. It's a lot harder to sell out a stadium for realistically one fight in the middle of September.