Why couldn't tonight's Hennessy show be on Sky?

[leforge]

Barkers promoter had a date for him that was at least 10 weeks before the Martinez fight, so a prep fight would have been easy to work into the deal.

Yes, but a clash of heads could open a cut or a DQ could happen. Why risk his chance to beat 'the man'.

The date was before Martinez fight came up as Keith said why risk it.

[TheCobra]

The one thing Barker needed more than anything in the world was another fight against a southpaw to prepare him a little more for this impossible task.
His team should have pushed for this big time instead of throwing him straight in to the lions den in my opinion.

So this would lead me to believe that Sky didn't want to go up against channel 5 because there ratings would look ridiculous in comparison to 5 s.
And the 3m viewing figure that has just been announced has just proved that.

3m versus 100k is pretty ridiculous isn't it! It just shows what a specialist provider Sky Sports really is and that in these tough times loads of people probably don't bother with it.

There's also the fact that most boxing bouts get zero publicity these days. The Ringside programme is a step in the right direction but Sky doesn't have enough boxing on its schedules methinks.

[leforge]

The one thing Barker needed more than anything in the world was another fight against a southpaw to prepare him a little more for this impossible task.
His team should have pushed for this big time instead of throwing him straight in to the lions den in my opinion.

So this would lead me to believe that Sky didn't want to go up against channel 5 because there ratings would look ridiculous in comparison to 5 s.
And the 3m viewing figure that has just been announced has just proved that.

3m versus 100k is pretty ridiculous isn't it! It just shows what a specialist provider Sky Sports really is and that in these tough times loads of people probably don't bother with it.

There's also the fact that most boxing bouts get zero publicity these days. The Ringside programme is a step in the right direction but Sky doesn't have enough boxing on its schedules methinks.

I think if anything sky will get rid of boxing full stop. Does not get the viewers compared to other sports.

[Glyn Leach]

I think if anything sky will get rid of boxing full stop. Does not get the viewers compared to other sports.

Agree totally. More and more I get the feeling that the Sky execs just don't want the hands-on element that dealing with boxing brings. Too labour intensive for them.

[leforge]

I think if anything sky will get rid of boxing full stop. Does not get the viewers compared to other sports.

Agree totally. More and more I get the feeling that the Sky execs just don't want the hands-on element that dealing with boxing brings. Too labour intensive for them.

Which we be a big blow for Boxing in the UK, as ESPN are not interested they have more premier league football after next deal football deal which is due in Autumn I think. Will be very interesting to see what happens after the next season when contracts finish July 2012.

[TheCobra]

I think if anything sky will get rid of boxing full stop. Does not get the viewers compared to other sports.

Agree totally. More and more I get the feeling that the Sky execs just don't want the hands-on element that dealing with boxing brings. Too labour intensive for them.

Which we be a big blow for Boxing in the UK, as ESPN are not interested they have more premier league football after next deal football deal which is due in Autumn I think. Will be very interesting to see what happens after the next season when contracts finish July 2012.

That would be pretty disastrous for UK boxing unless terrestrial TV can come to the rescue. I can't imagine no boxing on Sky to be honest, but who knows what they will do in the future, I can see them maybe toning it down and not having something every week more or less.

[foxwoods]

Why the fuss if sky pull out? what would it actually mean? you'd just have to get off your fat arse and go and watch a show - buy a fkin ticket like the rest of us! get some fights on channel 5 to stir interest but boxing will live on without sky, in fact without them driving the prices up with the PPV etc it could become more realistically priced for everyone. fighters pay packets will take a hit but that will mean they will need to fight more often - no more one big WBU fight a year on the subscriptions!