Biggest "Hype jobs" that Sky got wrong

[Wales]

Frankie Gavin?

Dont think he ever got the hype from memory. He was excellent amateur but you could see from day 1 he wasnt a great pro.

Two great nicknames by promoters, albeit dont think sky hyped them

Roman "first billion dollar heavyweight" Greenburg - not sure he fought much if at all on sky

Scott "White George Foreman" Belshaw - he did but was never hyped by them, understandably

[Lenny]

Tony Jefferies

Also if you're adding Hare then you can add Kevin Anderson. Both fought very regularly on Sky before the wheels came off. Maybe a bit too regularly?

[mickey1975]

Tony Jefferies

Also if you're adding Hare then you can add Kevin Anderson. Both fought very regularly on Sky before the wheels came off. Maybe a bit too regularly?

These were not hype jobs. Just good, TV friendly fighters whom Sky liked.

[orbtastic]

Neville Browne
Chris Eubank 'Bum a month World Tour'
Colin McMillan
Nicky Piper

lol at the 'bum a month world tour' , I suppose you could say it gave us something to watch on a saturday night , but the likes of Dan Sherry were sub-standard world title contenders , to say the least !

Dan Sherry was a defence of his middleweight title. It was on ITV. Same as all his other fights up to the second Ray Close fight.

The SKY world tour was when he signed with them for an 8 fight deal for ~10m. The first fight was Mauricio Amaral.

[Finn]

David Price for me - he was built up as the next great heavy weight, they were talking about him fighting wlad, touring him around empty arenas to "soak up the future big fight atmosphere" blowing smoke up his arse. Yet 90% of people who knew anything about boxing knew his chin was suspect and he was an accident waiting to happen. Even after he lost to Thompson they put him as a huge favourite with the bookies for the rematch just on hype alone.

I fear the same thing is coming AJ's way, too much hype off the back of 0 quality opposition, his defense is not there, if the punch that cornish landed just before he got dropped was from someone with some power in their jab joshua would have been backed up and wouldnt have been able to counter. Other than raising his profile have any of these fights been of any benefit to him? I hope im wrong.

In my opinion fighters of such high pedigree should start as they mean to go on more like lomanchenko, AJ should have been fighting against guys like johnson, cornish and Whyte from the his first fight and building from there not smashing up 12 completely and hopelessly outclassed nobodies.

[Supremo]

Tony Jefferies

Also if you're adding Hare then you can add Kevin Anderson. Both fought very regularly on Sky before the wheels came off. Maybe a bit too regularly?

Kevin Anderson vs Young Muttley is probably the best domestic clash I've watched, and it was on a Wednesday night or something! we were absolutely spoiled in they days(compared to now) and we didn't even now it.

[Loftgroov]

Ryan Rhodes. Although he was a good fighter, but not what a lot of people thought he would be back in the day.

Good call. I was about to suggest him before seeing your post. Certainly early on and around the time of Naz I remember the hype around - "so who really is the best fighter in Sheffield??" - and a general level of hype surrounding him.

Good boxer, but definitely recall the hype disappearing pretty quickly after the Otis Grant fight.

[Lenny]

Tony Jefferies

Also if you're adding Hare then you can add Kevin Anderson. Both fought very regularly on Sky before the wheels came off. Maybe a bit too regularly?

Kevin Anderson vs Young Muttley is probably the best domestic clash I've watched, and it was on a Wednesday night or something! we were absolutely spoiled in they days(compared to now) and we didn't even now it.

Absolutely, those kind of fights in the domestic scene with the likes of Anderson, Moore, Walker, Pryce, Earl etc is exactly what is missing at the moment. There are very few fighters between the so called world class belt holders and the little known domestic guys. Exciting fighters who will reach Euro level at best just aren't given enough backing or kept in endless warm up fights. It's not a new problem but it's as bad as it's ever been. Rival promotors was bad enough, rival channels is killing it

[Coco]

Nicky Piper was over hyped terribly, in fairness a lot of it was done by himself! He still does it today! Which is a shame because it overshadows the fact he was a fine domestic fighter.

[whiteboy]

Larry O (warmachine) was getting quite the build up on sky
I even had guys in my work saying he looked good did you see how solid he was he could be the best out the current ( price/Harrison/Dallas ect ) - in Hindsight though ;;-)

end of thread!

[Supremo]

Nathan Cleverly was over hyped, was never going to be an elite fighter and was technically quite poor I always though but kept being promoted by Sky when he was a student.

[mickey1975]

Nathan Cleverly was over hyped, was never going to be an elite fighter and was technically quite poor I always though but kept being promoted by Sky when he was a student.

Clev has had a very good career. At least proportionate to the "hype" he got from Sky.

[charliebox324]

[quote="black panther"]I don't think anyone ever hyped up James Hare to be the next big thing. Nice chap and classy little boxer he was though. Loved his nickname; "The Lord of the Manor"

Richard Williams looked awesome on the way up but was de-railed by a certain Mr.Martinez who would go onto to become one of the best middleweight world champions in recent years. Not many people know why Williams didn't make it to the top with all his talent. A few do but won't tell because it's a secret.[/quote) Michael Alexander Boxing Referee Once Beat Richard Williams.

[lillywhite14]

Kevin Mitchell is a great shout. Hearing some people talk about him you'd be convinced that he was something special. He put up a great effort against Linares, and beat Murray in a thriller, but that's about as good as it got. Good wins against Prescott and Estrada but lets not forget that neither of those managed to reach the top either.

I've always felt if Mitchell wasn't a London lad he'd get a lot less leeway and a lot more criticism.

Being a popular East Londoner ( isn't he from Essex? ) is always good in British boxing. He had a big following from his am days, remember talk of him being a pro multi weight world champion even back then. Chuck in his surname ( fighting Mitchell brothers who are Eastenders ) and you could sense Sky wetting their pants.
Talented fighter though, no doubt about it, just not talented enough

I remember watching a Matthew Ellis fight, he came to the ring dressed in a tux to the James Bond theme and in the interview before the ring walk he was saying how he felt ready for Lennox Lewis. He then came out and suffered his first loss against some Eastern European journeyman!

[Wales]

Josh Warrington will be the next one! Loads of hype due to vast ticket sales, but is a loss waiting to happen

[Andrew]

Kevin Mitchell is a great shout. Hearing some people talk about him you'd be convinced that he was something special. He put up a great effort against Linares, and beat Murray in a thriller, but that's about as good as it got. Good wins against Prescott and Estrada but lets not forget that neither of those managed to reach the top either.

I've always felt if Mitchell wasn't a London lad he'd get a lot less leeway and a lot more criticism.

Being a popular East Londoner ( isn't he from Essex? ) is always good in British boxing. He had a big following from his am days, remember talk of him being a pro multi weight world champion even back then. Chuck in his surname ( fighting Mitchell brothers who are Eastenders ) and you could sense Sky wetting their pants.
Talented fighter though, no doubt about it, just not talented enough

I remember watching a Matthew Ellis fight, he came to the ring dressed in a tux to the James Bond theme and in the interview before the ring walk he was saying how he felt ready for Lennox Lewis. He then came out and suffered his first loss against some Eastern European journeyman!

Mitchell is from Daganeham like Nicky Cook

[mickey1975]

Josh Warrington will be the next one! Loads of hype due to vast ticket sales, but is a loss waiting to happen

Nobody is under any illusions about Josh's level. I'd say Sky/Hearn have got this right more than any other boxer they've got, exploiting the Leeds angle.

[deadpan]

Definitely Rhodes with all the 'Spice Boy' hoopla and Brendan Ingle declaring he'd win world titles up to Super Middleweight.

Alex Arthur.

[jw9170]

Chris Eubank Jr?

[Wales]

Josh Warrington will be the next one! Loads of hype due to vast ticket sales, but is a loss waiting to happen

Nobody is under any illusions about Josh's level. I'd say Sky/Hearn have got this right more than any other boxer they've got, exploiting the Leeds angle.

I think the x thousand of Leeds fans who turn out to see him are under illusions. Sky have finally found another fighter with a hatton-esque following

[brilo33]

Josh Warrington will be the next one! Loads of hype due to vast ticket sales, but is a loss waiting to happen

to be fair to josh , you need to have fans to be a hype job in the first place

[Wales]

to be fair to josh , you need to have fans to be a hype job in the first place

Not really, dont remember Larry O having a huge fan base.

Granted though it helps getting yourself on tv, and actually on a card in general. Prizefighter winner Tom Doran was pulled off a card the December before he won prizefighter for not selling enough tickets.

Also, to be fair to Josh, if he could punch he'd be a different proposition.

[brilo33]

to be fair to josh , you need to have fans to be a hype job in the first place

Not really, dont remember Larry O having a huge fan base.

LARRY o , who

[Wales]

to be fair to josh , you need to have fans to be a hype job in the first place

Not really, dont remember Larry O having a huge fan base.

LARRY o , who

WarMachine, Olubelwimo (sp). A few have mentions him in this thread. He was a heavyweight with a superb physique a few years ago... Blasted through 9 of his first 10 and sky were getting semi excited, then it was revealed how he got his superb physique and I think he's lost about 15 since!!

There have been a few without huge fan bases who get the hype.

[Wales]

John Fewkews was another sky fancied. Think the fireball was his own worst enemy though.