When was the last time a pro bout was shown on free to air?

Collins2000 · Post by **Collins2000** » 04 Mar 2007, 17:10

It's been 10+ years hasn't it?

No wonder your average sports fan has no idea Australia is doing quite well on the international scene.

Sweet P · Post by **Sweet P** » 05 Mar 2007, 02:24

I have to agree with you, It is getting pretty bad when guys like Katsidis win a interim world title and there isn't 1 mention in any form of the media. There is always talk on Mundine and a little on Green but apart from them 2 no one really knows any of our top fighters.

comeinspinner · Post by **comeinspinner** » 05 Mar 2007, 03:01

I am 27 and have been working in pubs since i was 18 and I have never seen a pro fight on FTA in that whole time. Come to think of it, I have never seen any fight FTA.
Its just lucky that i have FoxSports on at home. At least I get to see my mate fight on Friday nights without having to pay a fortune to the main event channel to watch him fight.
Does anyone here know of him. His name is Jamie Pittman.

Sweet P · Post by **Sweet P** » 05 Mar 2007, 05:14

comeinspinner wrote:I am 27 and have been working in pubs since i was 18 and I have never seen a pro fight on FTA in that whole time. Come to think of it, I have never seen any fight FTA.
Its just lucky that i have FoxSports on at home. At least I get to see my mate fight on Friday nights without having to pay a fortune to the main event channel to watch him fight.
Does anyone here know of him. His name is Jamie Pittman.

Yeah i have seen Jamie fighjt a few times, He had a good win over Sherrington if i remember corectlly. He seems like a decent prospect and there are plenty of tough fighters around his division to really test him.

ryan711 · Post by **ryan711** » 05 Mar 2007, 06:41

i think there was a replay of some 1's fight at the dome in melb on fta.

bollox · Post by **bollox** » 05 Mar 2007, 13:34

I'm old enough to have been around in the mid 80's when boxing had a resurgence and they showed loads of live fights on free tv. One night in '85 I had to keep switching between channels to keep up with Lester Ellis defending his title on one channel and Jeff Fenech winning his first title on the other channel

p.s. does anyone here remember a fighter named Pat Leglise? His career looked like it was going places until he ran into ex world titleholder Charlie 'choo choo' Brown and was viciously KO'd on national tv

Collins2000 · Post by **Collins2000** » 05 Mar 2007, 17:48

bollox wrote:I'm old enough to have been around in the mid 80's when boxing had a resurgence and they showed loads of live fights on free tv. One night in '85 I had to keep switching between channels to keep up with Lester Ellis defending his title on one channel and Jeff Fenech winning his first title on the other channel

p.s. does anyone here remember a fighter named Pat Leglise? His career looked like it was going places until he ran into ex world titleholder Charlie 'choo choo' Brown and was viciously KO'd on national tv

Yes, I remember that. Leglise had just beaten (easily) Jeff Malcolm for the national title and the Brown fight looked a safe bet for Pat. Choo Choo didn't read the script, obviously. Brutal KO.

BoxBuzz · Post by **BoxBuzz** » 05 Mar 2007, 18:10

Were any of Kostya's fights ever broadcast to the public in Australia? Or was every one a pay event.

Marlin · Post by **Marlin** » 05 Mar 2007, 18:29

BoxBuzz wrote:Were any of Kostya's fights ever broadcast to the public in Australia? Or was every one a pay event.

As far as I know they were all pay events. Kostya was a great fighter and Champion but he is also 'great' with money and I'm sure he would do everything to maximise his profit and the fact was that enough people were willing to pay to see him fight (with good reason I might add).

Collins2000 · Post by **Collins2000** » 05 Mar 2007, 20:29

BoxBuzz wrote:Were any of Kostya's fights ever broadcast to the public in Australia? Or was every one a pay event.

A few days after I arrived in Australia, I watched Kostya vs Hector Lopez on TV in a pub in Fortitude Valley. I believe it was on FTA but not 100% certain; it might have been on that weird SKY network. If I recall correctly it was a Friday Night Fights show from the USA network. It was a good learning fight for Tsyzu though; Lopez was a tough dude who set Kostya a few problems to solve.

bollox · Post by **bollox** » 05 Mar 2007, 21:52

Collins2000 wrote:
bollox wrote:I'm old enough to have been around in the mid 80's when boxing had a resurgence and they showed loads of live fights on free tv. One night in '85 I had to keep switching between channels to keep up with Lester Ellis defending his title on one channel and Jeff Fenech winning his first title on the other channel

p.s. does anyone here remember a fighter named Pat Leglise? His career looked like it was going places until he ran into ex world titleholder Charlie 'choo choo' Brown and was viciously KO'd on national tv
Yes, I remember that. Leglise had just beaten (easily) Jeff Malcolm for the national title and the Brown fight looked a safe bet for Pat. Choo Choo didn't read the script, obviously. Brutal KO.

I'm stunned that anyone remembers this one

. Poor Leglise was out on his feet basically KO'd already, when the final one landed

Collins2000 · Post by **Collins2000** » 05 Mar 2007, 22:39

bollox wrote:
Collins2000 wrote:
bollox wrote:I'm old enough to have been around in the mid 80's when boxing had a resurgence and they showed loads of live fights on free tv. One night in '85 I had to keep switching between channels to keep up with Lester Ellis defending his title on one channel and Jeff Fenech winning his first title on the other channel

p.s. does anyone here remember a fighter named Pat Leglise? His career looked like it was going places until he ran into ex world titleholder Charlie 'choo choo' Brown and was viciously KO'd on national tv
Yes, I remember that. Leglise had just beaten (easily) Jeff Malcolm for the national title and the Brown fight looked a safe bet for Pat. Choo Choo didn't read the script, obviously. Brutal KO.
I'm stunned that anyone remembers this one . Poor Leglise was out on his feet basically KO'd already, when the final one landed

Another Leglise bout that was televised was the draw with Brian Janssen. That was a very good fight.

I had the 3 fights on tape.

Keats · Post by **Keats** » 05 Mar 2007, 23:34

The last free to air fights in Australia I ever saw were of Jimmy Thunders fights before he headed off overseas.
I remember watching him fight J B Williamson while on the same card Craig Peterson fought. That would be the last free to air fight I saw live. I still have this somewhere at home. It was shown on the Sunday lunch time/afternoon on one of the sports shows and that was 14/07/1990.

Kostyas 1st fight in Austrlia was on the undercard to Fenech/Nelson so he has never fought on free to air here.

bollox · Post by **bollox** » 06 Mar 2007, 03:26

Brian Janssen was a pretty exciting fighter in his day and a big drawcard at Festival Hall up there in QLD. Brian beat (controversially from memory, one Kirkland Laing). Just looked up his record and there's some good local names in there - Andy Broome, Frank Ropis, Graeme Looker

I always thought Mark Janssen had more ability but after a couple of dozen fights undefeated he seemed to simply vanish. I sttil remember the writeup of his fight with Roy Alexander (who's a top trainer these days). Mark cracked his jaw and the sound echoed around the arena like a gunshot

Tszyu's debut - I was there that day. Good beginning for Tyszu but the start of the end for Fenech

In early 86 I went to the see an Aus feather title fight between Paul Ferrari and Tony 'Mad Dog' Miller. Great night of fighting but outside the arena (a town hall) there was a massive sign saying "no alcohol to be taken in" and every second person carrying a slab under their arm

Hurricane Hank · Post by **Hurricane Hank** » 06 Mar 2007, 03:42

The last free to air fight that was shown was Kostya Tszyu V Jesse James Leija. It was shown live on PPV but replayed later that night by Channel 7.

ChrisQ · Post by **ChrisQ** » 07 Mar 2007, 00:23

Ben Keilty wrote:I have to agree with you, It is getting pretty bad when guys like Katsidis win a interim world title and there isn't 1 mention in any form of the media. There is always talk on Mundine and a little on Green but apart from them 2 no one really knows any of our top fighters.

I'm pretty sure there was an article in both the Herald Sun & The Age (Melb) about Katsidis' win.

Half a page article?

But yeh i agree with what everyone is saying none the less.

walford · Post by **walford** » 12 Jul 2007, 00:13

Hurricane Hank wrote:The last free to air fight that was shown was Kostya Tszyu V Jesse James Leija. It was shown live on PPV but replayed later that night by Channel 7.

I'm glad someone brought that up.

I was at that fight and had to set up the timer on the VCR to tape it. I thought it was live on free to air in Melbourne???? I might be wrong.

Cap · Post by **Cap** » 12 Jul 2007, 08:05

Up here in Canada we have boxing on TSN, a cable network. Unfortunately, we rarely see Canadian boxers because most of the cards are broadcast from the United States. Canadian cards are hardly ever shown, I suppose it's to protect the live gate. Most stations in this country have a poor opinion of boxing.

Cap

Joe Corona · Post by **Joe Corona** » 12 Jul 2007, 19:17

Freaky! Just last week I was converting some VHS to DVD and happend to come across the Leglise-Malcom tape! Im sure I have the Leglise-Brown one too somewhere.

Oh the good old days.

But forget Free to Air with boxing in the future - even major sports in this country and dieing on FTA, heck I think FTA is going the way of the dodo. Once HD recorders become the norm (TIVO launches here in about 6 months), who is going to pay for ads?

Already Rugby Union and Soccer is exclusive to Foxtel. 75% of RUgby League games, and half of AFL is foxtel.

Brute · Post by **Brute** » 22 Jul 2007, 20:18

The nearest you will get to Free to Air fights is Foxtel or Optus sports. the free to air commercial channels do not have the money needed to compete.