Mick Hennessy,Poor promoter?

[greenyox3]

MH seems like a good guy and yes he was man-loved by ITV, but he just doesn't carry much clout.

At the start of Super 6, Primetime showed an extended preview which included the story of how the tournament was put together. One scene showed all the promoters around a table thrashing out the deals. I don't think he uttered a word. In a room full of heavyweight promoters (e.g. Di Bella, Shaw), he was a shrinking violet.

[bruthead]

Agreed that you need an angle but you have to use a bit of gumption to find an angle and sell it. Take Froch-Abraham, it could have been sold as England vs. Germany. Get that on Sky and get that slimy Kalle Sauerland on TV and everyone would be rooting for Froch in a second. National pride is always a big seller...why do you think Don King always carries those little flags around with him? Don King will do anything to sell a fight and he knows how to sell! Hennessy on the other hand...

some of the posts here are getting ridiculous such as this one. so froch-abraham should have been sol as england v germany? abraham is armenian! and the basil fawlty mentality went out in the 1970s.....froch and abraham was a clash between two of the absolute toughest men in world boxing, come forward power punchers with iron chins, and two of the absolute best at the middleweights to suggest such a matchup would need a ridiculous england v germany slant to it and the fact it didnt....makes hennessey a bad promoter well......pathetic post is all i can say.....

btw don king doesnt drag patriotism out of his black arssee every fight involving a foreigner, don knows how to sell. he has the mini flags for his personal "only in america"man gimmick not cos of which fighters fighting

I don't think playing on nationalism/jingoism is very edifying but if you don't think it would work as a boxing promotion...well...it would. Abraham was born in Armenia, sure, but he had the German national anthem playing when he fought Froch. Why? Because there's more money for him fighting for Germany than Armenia. In the same way there's more money for Froch fighting in a "England vs. Germany" promotion than in a promotion billed as a clash between two tough fighters. There are clashes between two tough fighters ALL THE TIME. Is that going to get the public interested? Err, well it didn't, did it?

Moving on, the Basil Fawlty mentality went out in the 1970s? Err, no it didn't. Did you somehow manage to miss all the media coverage of the World Cup, England vs. Germany match? It was the same old stuff.

Don King does drag patriotism out for every fight. You're just plain wrong. Any time he's been on British TV he's saying "God Save the Queen," quoting Shakespeare and saying how much he loves England. He carries the little flags for WHICHEVER COUNTRY HE IS IN. He is completely transparent in what he is doing but it works! Don King promotes the hell out of his events.

Again, I'm not saying playing the England-Germany card is particularly nice but it would work. That's a fact. Pretty much you're whole post was based on false assertions. But my post was "ridiculous" and "pathetic." Hmm, okay...

[hurlock]

well he has a shirt button missing & a hole in his stained farrah's

[Bricks]

Agreed that you need an angle but you have to use a bit of gumption to find an angle and sell it. Take Froch-Abraham, it could have been sold as England vs. Germany. Get that on Sky and get that slimy Kalle Sauerland on TV and everyone would be rooting for Froch in a second. National pride is always a big seller...why do you think Don King always carries those little flags around with him? Don King will do anything to sell a fight and he knows how to sell! Hennessy on the other hand...

some of the posts here are getting ridiculous such as this one. so froch-abraham should have been sol as england v germany? abraham is armenian! and the basil fawlty mentality went out in the 1970s.....froch and abraham was a clash between two of the absolute toughest men in world boxing, come forward power punchers with iron chins, and two of the absolute best at the middleweights to suggest such a matchup would need a ridiculous england v germany slant to it and the fact it
didnt....makes hennessey a bad promoter well......pathetic post is all i can say.....


btw don king doesnt drag patriotism out of his black arssee every fight involving a foreigner, don knows how to sell. he has the mini flags for his personal "only in america"man gimmick not cos of which fighters fighting

I don't think playing on nationalism/jingoism is very edifying but if you don't think it would work as a boxing promotion...well...it would. Abraham was born in Armenia, sure, but he had the German national anthem playing when he fought Froch. Why? Because there's more money for him fighting for Germany than Armenia. In the same way there's more money for Froch fighting in a "England vs. Germany" promotion than in a promotion billed as a clash between two tough fighters. There are clashes between two tough fighters ALL THE TIME. Is that going to get the public interested? Err, well it didn't, did it?

Moving on, the Basil Fawlty mentality went out in the 1970s? Err, no it didn't. Did you somehow manage to miss all the media coverage of the World Cup, England vs. Germany match? It was the same old stuff.

Don King does drag patriotism out for every fight. You're just plain wrong. Any time he's been on British TV he's saying "God Save the Queen," quoting Shakespeare and saying how much he loves England. He carries the little flags for WHICHEVER COUNTRY HE IS IN. He is completely transparent in what he is doing but it works! Don King promotes the hell out of his events.

Again, I'm not saying playing the England-Germany card is particularly nice but it would work. That's a fact. Pretty much you're whole post was based on false assertions. But my post was "ridiculous" and "pathetic." Hmm, okay...

do u know what the basil fawlty mentality is? Its turning a simple dinner which happens to involve germans holidaying in england into dunkirk revisited. Its irrelevent and stupid. Just like your suggestion that an armenian against a british boxer be turned into the battle of the somme in its promotion.

In football the rivalry is historic and relavent and more to do with 1966 and all the time germans have beaten us in important matches.they can get away with it in football as it is relavent. Abraham-froch being manafactured into world war 2 isnt relavent.

The fight fyi was a huge success, it has bought froch american network acclaim and put him in a tremendous position to be super 6 champ. The fight was a huge success in germany too. Just cos it isnt on sky and sky spitefully dont report on froch doesnt mean this fight and his other hennessey promoted ones wont cement froch as one of the dozen greatest british fighters ever.

As for don king, his reciting cosy platitudes to england on visits here doesnt mean he is "dragging nationalism out of his black arssee" it just means he is being in his mind charming.
He has reserved race and nationalism matters where they have been relavent and hasnt clutched at straws which is what you are doing. Because of the melting pot nature of america something it has been since the early days of american boxing (arguably boxing in america started cos of nationalism between italians,irish,jews etc) king hasnt needed to draw attention to something that has been obvious eg cooney-holmes, chavez v camacho. Even when hopkins did it with trinidad it was highly relavent as hopkins knew the fight was in newyork which has a huge puerto rican boxing fanbase.

Somehow froch-abraham doesnt seem as worthy a addition to since last i heard ethnic turkic armenia doesnt have a historical or relavent gripe with britain! The way u think maybe if hennessey was promoting amir khan youd say hennessey should have had amir holding up a falklands is british flag before the fight.....

As for your comment about " there are fights between two tough fighters all the time"....i think this shows you know little about boxing.fights involving a power punching long time 160lbs champion who fought through a broken jaw to win, and a teak tough crowd pleasing puncher like froch dont happen "all the time". Thats why u and i are still talking about it and froch as this fight and promotion has been such a success it has taken froch to a new level of stardom

[bruthead]

mugabi, reading your post was an epiphany. I have learned so much:

1. There is no rivalry between England and Germany. None. In fact most English people have never even heard of Germany.
2. The Armenian fighter Avetik Abrahamyan would not even consider renouncing his Armenian citizenship. He couldn’t be accused of taking German citizenship, nor of growing up in Germany and he most certainly hasn’t changed his name to something more Teutonic, like, as an example off the top of my head, Arthur Abraham.
3. Carl Froch is a huge star, not just in the UK, but in Germany and in the US too. The only question is whether it will be the 02 Arena or the MGM Grand for his next fight, but then, I hear they want it in Mannheim as well!
4. The only reason the BBC didn’t nominate Froch for Sports Personality of the Year was that they feared his fans all voting at the same time would jam the switchboards, possibly setting off a chain reaction that would destroy the internet, the national grid and civilisation as we know it.
5. This is all thanks to the genius of Mick Hennessy. His masterstroke of not getting Froch on a major TV channel has really paid off.
6. Boxing started in the US because of nationalism.
7. Don King is a charming man who would never tap into prejudices to sell a boxing match.
8. Marcos Maidana’s entourage absolutely, positively, did not carry a flag to the ring for his fight against Khan which said the Falklands belong to Argentina.
9. Mick Hennessy is slim, handsome and charismatic so it is no surprise that he is one of the most persuasive men on the planet.
10. I was wrong about everything. I have sinned and I must repent.

mugabi, I cannot thank you enough. You have shown me the light and I will go forth and preach the truth to the world from now on.

[Andypittcov]

Bruthead I've enjoyed Reading your posts today and I'd have to agree with you 100% on your little don king debate

[lefty]

I agree with Macho - if you haven't got a major story or some angle then it will be difficult.

No doubt he would be on TV - but box office?

Glenn Catley, hell even Robin Reid - were they big headliners. Were all of Glenns world title fights even on TV?

Ricky Burns, Alex Arthur, Nicky Cook - all world champions.... None of them what we could call big box office attractions thus far.

Look at Munroe - he's attracted some headlines on Sky - Sky love him to bits..got a great story. Did they put up the money for Maloney to try and get the fight in the UK? No.

Froch has beaten alot higher level of opposition that the likes of burns,cook,arthur,reid and catley though!I reckon that without out a doubt if froch was with allegedly then he'd be a bigger star than he is and making more money probably.The downside is he probably wouldnt of had to of fought such a high level of opposition back to back.

[lefty]

If you lost a fight Hennessey would probably put his arm around you and console you in defeat.

FW would probably walk off in a huff!

Micks job isnt to be a fighters friend though,its to promote them.

[lefty]

mugabi, reading your post was an epiphany. I have learned so much:

1. There is no rivalry between England and Germany. None. In fact most English people have never even heard of Germany.
2. The Armenian fighter Avetik Abrahamyan would not even consider renouncing his Armenian citizenship. He couldn’t be accused of taking German citizenship, nor of growing up in Germany and he most certainly hasn’t changed his name to something more Teutonic, like, as an example off the top of my head, Arthur Abraham.
3. Carl Froch is a huge star, not just in the UK, but in Germany and in the US too. The only question is whether it will be the 02 Arena or the MGM Grand for his next fight, but then, I hear they want it in Mannheim as well!
4. The only reason the BBC didn’t nominate Froch for Sports Personality of the Year was that they feared his fans all voting at the same time would jam the switchboards, possibly setting off a chain reaction that would destroy the internet, the national grid and civilisation as we know it.
5. This is all thanks to the genius of Mick Hennessy. His masterstroke of not getting Froch on a major TV channel has really paid off.
6. Boxing started in the US because of nationalism.
7. Don King is a charming man who would never tap into prejudices to sell a boxing match.
8. Marcos Maidana’s entourage absolutely, positively, did not carry a flag to the ring for his fight against Khan which said the Falklands belong to Argentina.
9. Mick Hennessy is slim, handsome and charismatic so it is no surprise that he is one of the most persuasive men on the planet.
10. I was wrong about everything. I have sinned and I must repent.

mugabi, I cannot thank you enough. You have shown me the light and I will go forth and preach the truth to the world from now on.

I agree mate on this i have to say.

[lefty]

If you lost a fight Hennessey would probably put his arm around you and console you in defeat.

FW would probably walk off in a huff!

I disagree with that,ive been a big critic of fw's due to some of the cards he's put on over the years but they've improved quite abit lately so you have to give credit where its due,Ive never got the impression that warren is the kind of guy that would walk off in a huff if you lost,the only time id see him doing that is if he didnt really get on with the fighter before hand!I mean look at enzo mac,he's given him quite a few chances now and has stuck by him.

[biglefthook]

not poor just unlucky

[Bricks]

mugabi, reading your post was an epiphany. I have learned so much:

1. There is no rivalry between England and Germany. None. In fact most English people have never even heard of Germany.
2. The Armenian fighter Avetik Abrahamyan would not even consider renouncing his Armenian citizenship. He couldn’t be accused of taking German citizenship, nor of growing up in Germany and he most certainly hasn’t changed his name to something more Teutonic, like, as an example off the top of my head, Arthur Abraham.
3. Carl Froch is a huge star, not just in the UK, but in Germany and in the US too. The only question is whether it will be the 02 Arena or the MGM Grand for his next fight, but then, I hear they want it in Mannheim as well!
4. The only reason the BBC didn’t nominate Froch for Sports Personality of the Year was that they feared his fans all voting at the same time would jam the switchboards, possibly setting off a chain reaction that would destroy the internet, the national grid and civilisation as we know it.
5. This is all thanks to the genius of Mick Hennessy. His masterstroke of not getting Froch on a major TV channel has really paid off.
6. Boxing started in the US because of nationalism.
7. Don King is a charming man who would never tap into prejudices to sell a boxing match.
8. Marcos Maidana’s entourage absolutely, positively, did not carry a flag to the ring for his fight against Khan which said the Falklands belong to Argentina.
9. Mick Hennessy is slim, handsome and charismatic so it is no surprise that he is one of the most persuasive men on the planet.
10. I was wrong about everything. I have sinned and I must repent.

mugabi, I cannot thank you enough. You have shown me the light and I will go forth and preach the truth to the world from now on.

hey its all part of the service you're clearly a man who doesnt bother in subtleties and sees the world only in black and white. To quote basil fawlty again (a man u remind me of!)thats how nazi germany started!
Hehe lefty can be your albert scheer!

[Fatsam]

I don't see that carl froch is a hard sell to the general public, if there was some good footage of him shown on sky he could get people hyped i reckon.

Pisses me off that i had 1 text msg the day after the froch fight asking about it and like 7/8 different people texting me the night of the fraudley/haye fight, takes the piss.

[Nightmare Roy]

There's no doubt that Carl Froch would have so much more exposure had he been with allegedly. It staggers me that such a good British fighter in such a competitive division has such a low profile among casual fans. There is no doubt in my mind that had Froch regularly been on Sky throughout his career, he could have a profile close to Khan/Haye.

It saddens me that his punch perfect performance against Abraham was only seen by a few on Primetime.

ditto, one of the best fighters in the country and joe public hasn't got a clue who he is.

[hurlock]

If you lost a fight Hennessey would probably put his arm around you and console you in defeat.

FW would probably walk off in a huff!

Micks job isnt to be a fighters friend though,its to promote them.

what aload of bs :!: were do people draw up such pictures :!:

st mick david walker was his friend before he got into promoting, he looked after him well hennesy lingerd around fisher a.b.c took there best & threw them in the deep end because he needed a quick return. he aint no charity & all this st mick sh1t is pathetic.he's on his own now but was basically panix.

[lefty]

If you lost a fight Hennessey would probably put his arm around you and console you in defeat.

FW would probably walk off in a huff!

Micks job isnt to be a fighters friend though,its to promote them.

what aload of bs :!: were do people draw up such pictures :!:

st mick david walker was his friend before he got into promoting, he looked after him well hennesy lingerd around fisher a.b.c took there best & threw them in the deep end because he needed a quick return. he aint no charity & all this st mick sh1t is pathetic.he's on his own now but was basically panix.

You agreeing with me or not then?Im struggling to tell?!

[hurlock]

Micks job isnt to be a fighters friend though,its to promote them.

what aload of bs :!: were do people draw up such pictures :!:

st mick david walker was his friend before he got into promoting, he looked after him well hennesy lingerd around fisher a.b.c took there best & threw them in the deep end because he needed a quick return. he aint no charity & all this st mick sh1t is pathetic.he's on his own now but was basically panix.

You agreeing with me or not then?Im struggling to tell?!

im disagreeing with other post & clearing up the friend bs.the man wouldnt of lasted aslong as he has if he wasnt ruthless.
no boxer get's looked after they either get used or robbed & most times both D

[lefty]

what aload of bs :!: were do people draw up such pictures :!:

st mick david walker was his friend before he got into promoting, he looked after him well hennesy lingerd around fisher a.b.c took there best & threw them in the deep end because he needed a quick return. he aint no charity & all this st mick sh1t is pathetic.he's on his own now but was basically panix.

You agreeing with me or not then?Im struggling to tell?!

im disagreeing with other post & clearing up the friend bs.the man wouldnt of lasted aslong as he has if he wasnt ruthless.
no boxer get's looked after they either get used or robbed & most times both D

Well thats what i basically saying,mick doesnt get payed to be a fighters friend,he gets payed to get the fighter known to a wider audience.

[scrap iron]

There's no doubt that Carl Froch would have so much more exposure had he been with allegedly. It staggers me that such a good British fighter in such a competitive division has such a low profile among casual fans. There is no doubt in my mind that had Froch regularly been on Sky throughout his career, he could have a profile close to Khan/Haye.

It saddens me that his punch perfect performance against Abraham was only seen by a few on Primetime.

If Carl had been with allegedly he would have been fighting Tocker Pudwill and Will McIntyre, not Arthur Abraham and Mikkel Kessler.

[UpperCrust]

I don't see that carl froch is a hard sell to the general public, if there was some good footage of him shown on sky he could get people hyped i reckon.

Pisses me off that i had 1 text msg the day after the froch fight asking about it and like 7/8 different people texting me the night of the fraudley/haye fight, takes the piss.

I'll raise your 7/8 to about 10/11 texts from casual boxing mates commenting on that joke fight compared to 0 following Froch-Abraham.

Disgrace

[don't call it a comeback]

how much is froch earning from the primetime fights? More than he would get from sky presumably but is it a big enough gap to justify the lack of exposure that is crippling his long term earning power?

Sometimes the smart move is to take less for bigger exposure and then negotiate from a position of strength.

At the end of the day price is dictated by demand, the longer that froch continues to be unknown the less likely is that sky will stump up the big bucks or joe public will fork out for a ppv.

Warren, for all his many many faults, does at least understand this.

[Bricks]

There's no doubt that Carl Froch would have so much more exposure had he been with allegedly. It staggers me that such a good British fighter in such a competitive division has such a low profile among casual fans. There is no doubt in my mind that had Froch regularly been on Sky throughout his career, he could have a profile close to Khan/Haye.

It saddens me that his punch perfect performance against Abraham was only seen by a few on Primetime.

If Carl had been with allegedly he would have been fighting Tocker Pudwill and Will McIntyre, not Arthur Abraham and Mikkel Kessler.

true but at the same time froch would be earning for less risk. whatever people say about warren and ive said plenty over the years, he is a decent decent man, who tries to allow his fighters to make as much money for the least risk. i was up in arms over the whole early 2000s period when we had all this hype about a bunch of second rate light middleweights under warren who never seemed to fight each other.....yet warren made them money and got them hype.....so that by the time they did start to have a fight at a real level and got exposed............warren had made them money.

[whiskey]

Degale would have to fight Paul Smith 15 times to earn what Froch did against Abraham. He was also beamed into the homes of several million American boxing fan's living rooms.

Say what you like about Mick, but the reality is he has a solid, respectful relationship with Ken Hershman / Showtime and that will pay dividends in due course. Sky pay £110k for a fight card ? Showtime pay between 8-15 times that.

Tyson Fury was on the undercard for Pascal vs Hopkins and Mick's hooked him up for sparring with Klitschko under Manny Steward. Barker is due back from injury shortly and Odonnell was on Shobox the other month.

Let's not forget Murray was offered a spot on shobox against Litzau or similar which was organised by Mick, but elected to hang fire for his Euro shot, which was his perogative.

Fact is, nobody knew who calzaghe was for a bloody decade despite being champion - and his rise to public popularity was riding the coat tails of a post-warren Ricky Hatton. Carl won his title 24 months ago and has already headlined American TV with a defence, brought 4 mill in for Pascal on ITV.

[don't call it a comeback]

Degale would have to fight Paul Smith 15 times to earn what Froch did against Abraham. He was also beamed into the homes of several million American boxing fan's living rooms.

Say what you like about Mick, but the reality is he has a solid, respectful relationship with Ken Hershman / Showtime and that will pay dividends in due course. Sky pay £110k for a fight card ? Showtime pay between 8-15 times that.

Tyson Fury was on the undercard for Pascal vs Hopkins and Mick's hooked him up for sparring with Klitschko under Manny Steward. Barker is due back from injury shortly and Odonnell was on Shobox the other month.

Let's not forget Murray was offered a spot on shobox against Litzau or similar which was organised by Mick, but elected to hang fire for his Euro shot, which was his perogative.

Fact is, nobody knew who calzaghe was for a bloody decade despite being champion - and his rise to public popularity was riding the coat tails of a post-warren Ricky Hatton. Carl won his title 24 months ago and has already headlined American TV with a defence, brought 4 mill in for Pascal on ITV.

You make it sound like Hennessy is better off being frozen out of sky.

A quick bit of research suggests that Froch made 750k for abraham. for the fight of his career at the age of 33. Thats not enough really is it. and the comparison with Calzaghe just reinforces that.

[bruthead]

G0mez: are you seriously bothering to compare the earnings of DeGale, a nine fight novice, with Froch, a two-time world champion?

Hennessy has done well for Froch in the US but Froch is a UK fighter - the UK is his market! Look at the numbers Kessler does in Denmark, or Abraham in Germany, or Bute in Canada. If you're not a star in your own country something is going wrong. Do you really think Showtime will care about Froch if Andre Ward continues his success?

Calzaghe's career was perhaps handled a little tentatively but he was built up slowly but surely against low risk opponents, always making good money, until he cashed out towards the end of the career. He ended up 46-0 and a rich man...hardly bad going.