Sky Sports and BOXXER - 4 Year Deal

[Offthehook]

Pretty much means every promoter will get a go at putting on a show through boxxxer, which is good news for fighters, since sky will be picking up lots of cards from various promotions that will be Ken to impress on the on the biggest network (with respect to bt). You got mtk still putting on a quality product regularly on YouTube and espn. They could be dark horses to take over in the future because they have the financial muscle and astute boxing people involved in the company.

i hope that's the case, dont like it when good fighters basically get put to the side cuz the big networks only work with 1 promoter

That and the fact U could have a promoter who pushes worse fighters instead. This is why fighters take off with some promoters. With this it’s almost like ur not being held to ransom because loads of promoters will have tv opportunities now, on the biggest channel of them all.

[maverick23]

Pretty much means every promoter will get a go at putting on a show through boxxxer, which is good news for fighters, since sky will be picking up lots of cards from various promotions that will be Ken to impress on the on the biggest network (with respect to bt). You got mtk still putting on a quality product regularly on YouTube and espn. They could be dark horses to take over in the future because they have the financial muscle and astute boxing people involved in the company.

i hope that's the case, dont like it when good fighters basically get put to the side cuz the big networks only work with 1 promoter

That and the fact U could have a promoter who pushes worse fighters instead. This is why fighters take off with some promoters. With this it’s almost like ur not being held to ransom because loads of promoters will have tv opportunities now, on the biggest channel of them all.

I just don’t see how it works and will give cards with depth. I’d they do start to work with lots of smaller promoters then they may be able to put on one good fight but the undercards will likely be poor. If we go back 15 years there were loads of shows with a commonwealth title fight as the main event with the vast bulk (or all) of the undercard being prospects vs journeyman who aren’t trying to win. Will any of the smaller promoters have depth of stable to put on good cards? Outside of MTK, I’d say no.

[Offthehook]

i hope that's the case, dont like it when good fighters basically get put to the side cuz the big networks only work with 1 promoter

That and the fact U could have a promoter who pushes worse fighters instead. This is why fighters take off with some promoters. With this it’s almost like ur not being held to ransom because loads of promoters will have tv opportunities now, on the biggest channel of them all.

I just don’t see how it works and will give cards with depth. I’d they do start to work with lots of smaller promoters then they may be able to put on one good fight but the undercards will likely be poor. If we go back 15 years there were loads of shows with a commonwealth title fight as the main event with the vast bulk (or all) of the undercard being prospects vs journeyman who aren’t trying to win. Will any of the smaller promoters have depth of stable to put on good cards? Outside of MTK, I’d say no.

Prospects vs journeyman have been happening on every show from terrestrial to sky. Difference is sky can put on 3 or 4 fights that are matched decent usually. Small hall promoters will be able to put on good fights because of the budget they will get from sky to work with, and the fact they will try and carve out their own connections. I think if it comes off ur be pleasantly surprised.

[maverick23]

That and the fact U could have a promoter who pushes worse fighters instead. This is why fighters take off with some promoters. With this it’s almost like ur not being held to ransom because loads of promoters will have tv opportunities now, on the biggest channel of them all.

I just don’t see how it works and will give cards with depth. I’d they do start to work with lots of smaller promoters then they may be able to put on one good fight but the undercards will likely be poor. If we go back 15 years there were loads of shows with a commonwealth title fight as the main event with the vast bulk (or all) of the undercard being prospects vs journeyman who aren’t trying to win. Will any of the smaller promoters have depth of stable to put on good cards? Outside of MTK, I’d say no.

Prospects vs journeyman have been happening on every show from terrestrial to sky. Difference is sky can put on 3 or 4 fights that are matched decent usually. Small hall promoters will be able to put on good fights because of the budget they will get from sky to work with, and the fact they will try and carve out their own connections. I think if it comes off ur be pleasantly surprised.

I get prospect vs journeyman have always happened but if we get to a point where we gave the following...

Matchroom on DAZN
FW on BT
Hennessy on 5
Hobson on FightZone
Several promoters on Sky

I just can’t see how the individual promoters can have enough depth to put on good shows on Sky. They might get bigger budgets but there aren’t dozens of top fighters who aren’t signed by one of the above promoters (outside of MTK).

Back when Sky worked with several promoters, apart from FW flirting with ITV and Setanta and Hennessy having some shows on terrestrial, all the big promoters were with Sky and we, fairly consistently got average shows, mostly in leisure centres. Obviously there was the occasional really good fight/show but the majority were average (particularly by Matchroom back then). How’s it going to be different now when there’s even less available talent for promoters to go at?

[Offthehook]

I just don’t see how it works and will give cards with depth. I’d they do start to work with lots of smaller promoters then they may be able to put on one good fight but the undercards will likely be poor. If we go back 15 years there were loads of shows with a commonwealth title fight as the main event with the vast bulk (or all) of the undercard being prospects vs journeyman who aren’t trying to win. Will any of the smaller promoters have depth of stable to put on good cards? Outside of MTK, I’d say no.

Prospects vs journeyman have been happening on every show from terrestrial to sky. Difference is sky can put on 3 or 4 fights that are matched decent usually. Small hall promoters will be able to put on good fights because of the budget they will get from sky to work with, and the fact they will try and carve out their own connections. I think if it comes off ur be pleasantly surprised.

I get prospect vs journeyman have always happened but if we get to a point where we gave the following...

Matchroom on DAZN
FW on BT
Hennessy on 5
Hobson on FightZone
Several promoters on Sky

I just can’t see how the individual promoters can have enough depth to put on good shows on Sky. They might get bigger budgets but there aren’t dozens of top fighters who aren’t signed by one of the above promoters (outside of MTK).

Back when Sky worked with several promoters, apart from FW flirting with ITV and Setanta and Hennessy having some shows on terrestrial, all the big promoters were with Sky and we, fairly consistently got average shows, mostly in leisure centres. Obviously there was the occasional really good fight/show but the majority were average (particularly by Matchroom back then). How’s it going to be different now when there’s even less available talent for promoters to go at?

There’s a lot of fighters with contracts that are expiring, and when the talent is at mtk fw and Hearn u will have fighters that will want to be part of a new setup, especially since those three have possibly “too much” on their books. Boxxxer wouldn’t have got sky if they didn’t have things up their sleeve along with the rest.

[maverick23]

Prospects vs journeyman have been happening on every show from terrestrial to sky. Difference is sky can put on 3 or 4 fights that are matched decent usually. Small hall promoters will be able to put on good fights because of the budget they will get from sky to work with, and the fact they will try and carve out their own connections. I think if it comes off ur be pleasantly surprised.

I get prospect vs journeyman have always happened but if we get to a point where we gave the following...

Matchroom on DAZN
FW on BT
Hennessy on 5
Hobson on FightZone
Several promoters on Sky

I just can’t see how the individual promoters can have enough depth to put on good shows on Sky. They might get bigger budgets but there aren’t dozens of top fighters who aren’t signed by one of the above promoters (outside of MTK).

Back when Sky worked with several promoters, apart from FW flirting with ITV and Setanta and Hennessy having some shows on terrestrial, all the big promoters were with Sky and we, fairly consistently got average shows, mostly in leisure centres. Obviously there was the occasional really good fight/show but the majority were average (particularly by Matchroom back then). How’s it going to be different now when there’s even less available talent for promoters to go at?

There’s a lot of fighters with contracts that are expiring, and when the talent is at mtk fw and Hearn u will have fighters that will want to be part of a new setup, especially since those three have possibly “too much” on their books. Boxxxer wouldn’t have got sky if they didn’t have things up their sleeve along with the rest.

I’d be more confident if it was just one U.K. promoter doing shows on Sky as they could scoop up the best unsigned talent and could be a genuine competitor. That may be the way it ends up with Boxxer.

I just don’t think inviting several smaller U.K. promoters to have shows on Sky will help as individually they may not have the depth of fighters to put on good shows. This is what happened on Sky 15 years ago when we often had really poor shows (albeit more shows in total).

Also re: the money available to them if it’s the same sized pot of cash Eddie had available to him (I would have thought it would be less given they’ll likely be having less PPVs), then a good chunk of that cash will go on the Top Rank deal/shows so it will leave less available for the U.K. shows.

I’d love to be wrong on this though!

[Ruthless-RKO]

What BOXXER’s four-year deal with Sky Sports is worth

Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing surprisingly departed Sky Sports in 2021 to sign a five-year deal with DAZN that was reportedly worth more than $100m.

DAZN would become the exclusive global broadcaster of 16 UK-based Matchroom Boxing events per year with an established stable of domestic talent that included Anthony Joshua, Katie Taylor, Callum Smith, Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington amongst others.

After a long association with boxing, Sky Sports had a difficult decision to make; whether they would start again and team up with a new promoter or to leave boxing altogether.

And they chose the former. Sky Sports signed four-year deals with Bob Arum’s Top Rank in the U.S. and Ben Shalom’s BOXXER in the UK.

According to The Times, BOXXER’s four-year deal with Sky Sports is worth £32,000,000 which is £8m/year.

The lucrative deal is significantly less than Matchroom’s contract with DAZN, however, which is reported to be worth well over $100m across the five years, according to The Athletic.

TNT Sports is another major broadcaster involved in boxing in the UK and the value of their deal with allegedly’s Queensberry Promotions is unknown.

BOXXER has notable fighters such as Joshua Buatsi, Chris Billam-Smith and Natasha Jonas in a still-developing stable.

Later this year, a new crop of British Olympic talent will be available to sign after the Paris 2024 Games. This a topic of much discussion after Tokyo 2020 where BOXXER surprisingly picked up five Olympians and only two initially went to Matchroom (although they now have four).

[stujones]

Boxing on Sky needs a face - they are really missing Adam Smith if you ask me. Love him or hate him, Sky need a new person with a similar role to Smith.

I liked Ben Shalom when he first started, but it was good cos he was working along side a face of boxing - now though I just feel he is business man first, boxing fan second - something you never really get from Eddie and Frank - even if it is true.

I think it is actually better to have someone who actually hasn't boxed as the face of boxing on Sky - if they promoted someone like Johnny Nelson to someone beyond "analyst" - I think there would be questions marks over potential bias and the business side of things. But at the moment domestic boxing looks a bit lost on Sky.

[maverick23]

Boxing on Sky needs a face - they are really missing Adam Smith if you ask me. Love him or hate him, Sky need a new person with a similar role to Smith.

I liked Ben Shalom when he first started, but it was good cos he was working along side a face of boxing - now though I just feel he is business man first, boxing fan second - something you never really get from Eddie and Frank - even if it is true.

I think it is actually better to have someone who actually hasn't boxed as the face of boxing on Sky - if they promoted someone like Johnny Nelson to someone beyond "analyst" - I think there would be questions marks over potential bias and the business side of things. But at the moment domestic boxing looks a bit lost on Sky.

When Adam was still with Sky it seemed they like had a good thing going. The quality was decent (excellent run at the start of 2022) but the quality has noticeably dropped off since Adam left. Adam also acted like a bit of promotional support. He’d do interviews and he’d push the fights as well as Ben doing the same and I’m sure Adam would have been pushing boxing internally at Sky to give more promotion on sister channels.

Since Adam left it’s as though Boxxer aren’t being held to account for the quality of the shows. The first 2 this year are good but they he majority last year were poor. Shalom has also come across poorly and rather than fronting up and improving he’s seemingly gone quiet and only does Sky Sports or TalkSPORT press. He shouldn’t already be at a stage where he can’t stop himself from lying about things.

[stujones]

Boxing on Sky needs a face - they are really missing Adam Smith if you ask me. Love him or hate him, Sky need a new person with a similar role to Smith.

I liked Ben Shalom when he first started, but it was good cos he was working along side a face of boxing - now though I just feel he is business man first, boxing fan second - something you never really get from Eddie and Frank - even if it is true.

I think it is actually better to have someone who actually hasn't boxed as the face of boxing on Sky - if they promoted someone like Johnny Nelson to someone beyond "analyst" - I think there would be questions marks over potential bias and the business side of things. But at the moment domestic boxing looks a bit lost on Sky.

When Adam was still with Sky it seemed they like had a good thing going. The quality was decent (excellent run at the start of 2022) but the quality has noticeably dropped off since Adam left. Adam also acted like a bit of promotional support. He’d do interviews and he’d push the fights as well as Ben doing the same and I’m sure Adam would have been pushing boxing internally at Sky to give more promotion on sister channels.

Since Adam left it’s as though Boxxer aren’t being held to account for the quality of the shows. The first 2 this year are good but they he majority last year were poor. Shalom has also come across poorly and rather than fronting up and improving he’s seemingly gone quiet and only does Sky Sports or TalkSPORT press. He shouldn’t already be at a stage where he can’t stop himself from lying about things.

Absolutely and it is such a shame as fair play to Adam Smith - he would promote and they would sometimes even film press conferences of non sky shows - which gave the impression of a boxing fan first, business man second. Don't think I have seen Shalom at a Matchroom / Queensbury presser.

All of it gave air time to the sport on platforms like Sky Sports News and even if it just had a "next boxing on Sky is in 2 weeks" at the end of it, it was still promoting. Now though, it seems to be only about the PPVs with Shalom. I cannot really remember the last time Sky Sports News had a good chat about boxing - outside of PPVs.

[Coco]

Imagine if Shalom installed himself as a commentator....

[jameswilson]

Ooof.

[maverick23]

Ooof.

Hard to disagree with anything in that video.

[SeanBrennan]

Ooof.

Hard to disagree with anything in that video.

watched this today, Propa despite being hilarious is genuinely insightful. Anyone know who Propa is?

[margaret thatcher]

oh wow the fraud is out of his depth, i wouldnt have guessed

[Coco]

oh wow the fraud is out of his depth, i wouldnt have guessed

Peter McDonagh

[margaret thatcher]

when natasha jonas is your star boxer. what a guy 'student night' shalom is

[SeanBrennan]

oh wow the fraud is out of his depth, i wouldnt have guessed

Peter McDonagh

sorry to be thick, what do you mean re Mcdonagh? Not making shitty comments just don't know what you mean Coco.

[SeanBrennan]

when natasha jonas is your star boxer. what a guy 'student night' shalom is

this should be his official moniker.

[Coco]

oh wow the fraud is out of his depth, i wouldnt have guessed

Peter McDonagh

sorry to be thick, what do you mean re Mcdonagh? Not making shitty comments just don't know what you mean Coco.

Sorry, someone asked who was Propa, I quoted the wrong one.
Good fighter

[SeanBrennan]

Peter McDonagh

sorry to be thick, what do you mean re Mcdonagh? Not making shitty comments just don't know what you mean Coco.

Sorry, someone asked who was Propa, I quoted the wrong one.
Good fighter

no worries mate, thanks for responding.

[Coco]

sorry to be thick, what do you mean re Mcdonagh? Not making shitty comments just don't know what you mean Coco.

Sorry, someone asked who was Propa, I quoted the wrong one.
Good fighter

no worries mate, thanks for responding.

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/107478

Fought a proper who's who, beat Gomez and Purdy too

[SeanBrennan]

Sorry, someone asked who was Propa, I quoted the wrong one.
Good fighter

no worries mate, thanks for responding.

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/107478

Fought a proper who's who, beat Gomez and Purdy too

thanks, I know who Mcdonagh was, I just didnt know why he got quoted sorry mate. I remember Gomez throwing a fight vs him and him getting paid MTK money to become their cheerleader even though Daniel Kinahan mocked him in recorded police coverage. Mcdonagh is one of the most pathetic MTK stooges.

[The_Don1]

Ooof.

Pretty much spot on this, although there is a lot of a rose tinted glasses wearing about Matchroom and Sky, a lot of the content Matchroom were delivering was pretty sub standard once they got in bed with DAZN from the Canelo-Fielding fight

[The_Don1]

Boxing on Sky needs a face - they are really missing Adam Smith if you ask me. Love him or hate him, Sky need a new person with a similar role to Smith.

I liked Ben Shalom when he first started, but it was good cos he was working along side a face of boxing - now though I just feel he is business man first, boxing fan second - something you never really get from Eddie and Frank - even if it is true.

I think it is actually better to have someone who actually hasn't boxed as the face of boxing on Sky - if they promoted someone like Johnny Nelson to someone beyond "analyst" - I think there would be questions marks over potential bias and the business side of things. But at the moment domestic boxing looks a bit lost on Sky.

100% agree with this, the first year of Boxxer on Sky was good, since Smith's departure it's fallen off a cliff. I'm guessing Shalom isn't doing interviews with 'boxing media' anymore is because he got sick of being baited with questions about Eddie and Matchroom, can't blame him too much for that, but I guess it's part of the job. Shalom is not a front man in any way, they need to get someone in who can attempt to sell a fight, they had that Savage Dan in and around the scenes for a while, but he seems to have disappeared too.