Matchroom

[maverick23]

Is it me or have Matchroom really upped their game this year?

I’m loving the Joshua v Parker card and they seem to be taking more risks with their prospects than previously (Okolie/Chamberlain, Gamal Yafai last weekend, the Josh Kelly fight).

I think FW linking up with BT Sports has made them raise their game and, for me, they have done. What does everyone else think?

[nobleart1978]

In a word - NO

[mullenman]

100% yes. Forum here is against matchroom. I still remember boxing pre Eddie and that was a bad place

[ewenhay]

I don't think it's a conscious effort to put on more competitive fights, it's just the stage of career that his fighters are at. More a case of some stars aligning at the same time.

Haye v Bellew 2 on ppv pretty much sums Hearn up. He'll try and make Haye v Bellew 3 on ppv if Haye wins. He's no better or worse than any other promoter with an exclusive TV deal though.

It's a no from me.

[garethhop]

In the first 3 months of 2018, Sky Sports and Matchroom will have run 2 Saturday evening boxing shows .

In the first, there was the excellent Yafai/McDonnell matchup but the other two offerings were shams, and we do have a couple of reasonable fights set for the 02.

They will follow that up with another sham in Khan/LeGreco, and that's the first 1/3 of the year gone.

If that's upping their game, then Jesus.....

[Boxerbeetle]

In the first 3 months of 2018, Sky Sports and Matchroom will have run 2 Saturday evening boxing shows .

This was my initial reaction. There’s barely been any boxing on Sky for about 4 months, so seems a bit of an odd time to start saying Matchroom have upped their game.

[jamamb]

mullenman watches each promoter through a hole in the wall and can personally say that eddies the hardest working man in the uk

[TheCobra]

Exactly what the others have said. End of the day we're into march and how many shows have there been?

It's such a poor output now from Sky in terms of number and real quality of shows, they've shown a lack of real commitment to boxing for the last few years.

It's become an all or nothing type sport, you're either at the top getting bummed by the Sky hype machine, or your a nobody nothing struggling to get on any shows. I know to an extent it's always been like that, but it felt like 10 years ago there was still a small hall 'scene' to speak of that was supported by Sky.

[ElJefe]

I think at least some of it is down to him having a bit of a void in terms of fighters that can headline a regular Saturday Fight Night.

2-3 years ago he had the likes of Bellew for Liverpool supported with the Smiths, the Quigg/Crolla duo for Manchester, Coyle/Campbell would do OK in Hull, Brook in Sheffield, Burns up in Scotland, Warrington in Leeds, going back a bit further there was Frampton over in Belfast.

Now Bellew will only be on PPV. Crolla probably still does OK in Manchester but there's less buzz around Quigg (esp. with the move to America). The initial buzz in Hull surrounding Campbell after the Olympics has probably wore off a bit and Coyle is entering the gatekeeper phase. We saw Brook the other night which was fine I suppose. Burns is almost finished. The likes of Warrington, Frampton, Selby, DeGale, Groves, Eubank etc. that he used to work with have either moved away, surpassed Saturday Fight Night level or both.

The only ones who've come through since then that can sell and draw decent numbers for a Saturday Fight Night are Whyte in London and Burnett in Belfast. So he's probably wanting to push guys like Okolie and Kelly a bit quicker than he'd like so he's got a few more that can headline around the country. Ritson/Kelly could be the new Quigg/Crolla or Coyle/Campbell up in Newcastle in a year or 2.

[TheGingerBomber]

In terms of boxing news, they're on fire these past couple of weeks, think Eddie is the type of personality that, when he's in a good mood due to being in form by signing top prospects and making good fights, it affects hype. His positivity is only good for boxing fans, intrigued to see the Kazakh in the pros and really can't wait to see Ritson fight Cardle and McDonnell fight Inoue.

[jamamb]

cant say ive really noticed there game being better then usual tbh

[mullenman]

BT got the biggest deal in boxing..
What the duck have they done
There output is appalling so far

[jamamb]

ya good point, but is there a bt stepped it up thread? it would fit there

it doesnt really make the suggestions in here more or less valid since this isnt about bt. personally i hadnt noticed matchroom any getter or worse then usual tbh

[keirw]

I think at least some of it is down to him having a bit of a void in terms of fighters that can headline a regular Saturday Fight Night.

2-3 years ago he had the likes of Bellew for Liverpool supported with the Smiths, the Quigg/Crolla duo for Manchester, Coyle/Campbell would do OK in Hull, Brook in Sheffield, Burns up in Scotland, Warrington in Leeds, going back a bit further there was Frampton over in Belfast.

Now Bellew will only be on PPV. Crolla probably still does OK in Manchester but there's less buzz around Quigg (esp. with the move to America). The initial buzz in Hull surrounding Campbell after the Olympics has probably wore off a bit and Coyle is entering the gatekeeper phase. We saw Brook the other night which was fine I suppose. Burns is almost finished. The likes of Warrington, Frampton, Selby, DeGale, Groves, Eubank etc. that he used to work with have either moved away, surpassed Saturday Fight Night level or both.

The only ones who've come through since then that can sell and draw decent numbers for a Saturday Fight Night are Whyte in London and Burnett in Belfast. So he's probably wanting to push guys like Okolie and Kelly a bit quicker than he'd like so he's got a few more that can headline around the country. Ritson/Kelly could be the new Quigg/Crolla or Coyle/Campbell up in Newcastle in a year or 2.

Exactly this, it seems he has been using his fighters to pack out PPVs so much that he is behind in terms of building them locally. Whyte and Kal Yafai are prime examples.

In fact I can't even remember the last time Kal (or any matchroom fighter) fought in Birmingham. I can see the same happening with Cordina, as he has shown no interest in doing a saturday fight night show in Wales in a long time (probably so it doesn't eat into AJs numbers).

[Lenny]

Agree with most of what has been said. He could really do with some small hall Friday night British title fights. The type you’d see Jono Thaxton, David Walker types having a tear up.

Feature local younger fighters on the undercard and get them time on sky. I can’t believe they have too many other sport shows on Friday evenings on one of their many sports channels that would do better viewing figures.

Then you build up your future stable whilst keeping people engaged. Camp Eddie has been blinded by the PPV stadium sell out millions.

[dirk2686]

I like some of the matchups. Joshua Parker is a unification, I think Brook and Khan are in the sort of fights you have to realistically expect after multiple losses and a considerable layoff. Bellew Haye II was signed ages ago. Beyond those names I think putting the likes of Yafai and McDonnell and Okolie and Chamberlain together is a positive.

Admittedly there hasn't been a lot on by the end of March but then again, how much is taking place across the board? In terms of FW, by the end of March (if we're using that as an arbitrary measure) none of Frampton, Saunders, Skeete, Warrington, Davies or Flanagan will have fought either.

[Counter-puncher]

Agree with most of what has been said. He could really do with some small hall Friday night British title fights. The type you’d see Jono Thaxton, David Walker types having a tear up.

Feature local younger fighters on the undercard and get them time on sky. I can’t believe they have too many other sport shows on Friday evenings on one of their many sports channels that would do better viewing figures.

I don't think small hall cards have the kind of 'buzz' that camp Eddie is looking for. they're just not rascal enough for him. he wants those stadium nights where people can say 'I was there' and selfies from a packed crowd of thousands, etc etc etc.

[Stuffs]

He's trying Small Hall with his NxtGEN stuff.

Can say that those cards have been awful, and they have, however the standard of Small Hall across the board seems to have really dropped in the last 6 months or so. Rarely see a card I'm vaguely interested in now.

[TheCobra]

Agree with most of what has been said. He could really do with some small hall Friday night British title fights. The type you’d see Jono Thaxton, David Walker types having a tear up.

Feature local younger fighters on the undercard and get them time on sky. I can’t believe they have too many other sport shows on Friday evenings on one of their many sports channels that would do better viewing figures.

I don't think small hall cards have the kind of 'buzz' that camp Eddie is looking for. they're just not rascal enough for him. he wants those stadium nights where people can say 'I was there' and selfies from a packed crowd of thousands, etc etc etc.

Yeh I don't really think Eddie wants to get out of bed for anything that's selling less than 5,000 tickets nowadays and even those are seen as build ups to bigger PPV shows.

The NxtGEN stuff is good I suppose for young fighters but lacks any real interest, it's not British titles on the line is it.