BoxRec

He might have been at Len Harvey and Jock McAvoy?

mickey1975 wrote:Go on then, which ones? Biggest attendance I've been in was Hatton-Lazcano or Calzaghe-Kessler. Fair play to you if you was at Chavez-Haugen.

i said bigger fights,not bigger attendance

Benn v Eubank 2

Bruno v witherspoon

Hearns v Leonard 2

Its the most hyped fight ever in Britain

bigjack wrote:

mickey1975 wrote:Go on then, which ones? Biggest attendance I've been in was Hatton-Lazcano or Calzaghe-Kessler. Fair play to you if you was at Chavez-Haugen.

i said bigger fights,not bigger attendance

Benn v Eubank 2

Bruno v witherspoon

Hearns v Leonard 2

So none bigger?

expe wrote: Biggest gate number post war, no idea on PPV buys but it certainly won't beat Hatton-Mayweather, although that was in the US. This isn't the sort of thing that can be determined by numbers though, it's a very subjective thing, all down to opinion really.

Like you say Hatton v Mayweather wasn't UK, talking biggest bout in the UK.
I get the opinion argument, but surely the public spoke when 60k tickets went in no time flat.

DMA1987 wrote:

expe wrote: Biggest gate number post war, no idea on PPV buys but it certainly won't beat Hatton-Mayweather, although that was in the US. This isn't the sort of thing that can be determined by numbers though, it's a very subjective thing, all down to opinion really.

Like you say Hatton v Mayweather wasn't UK, talking biggest bout in the UK.
I get the opinion argument, but surely the public spoke when 60k tickets went in no time flat.

The 60k tickets thing was bollocks, the demand was there, but not in that space of time, thousands were put aside for Club Wembley members and the fighters, think that knocked it down to around 48,000 and there was thousands more available on various sites at prices well above face value, I'd say at least half of the 60k went to touts.

And sold...

dr_devious wrote:Its the most hyped fight ever in Britain

No chance Lewis v Bruno went mental no one had quite taken to Lewis yet Joe public saw that he won gold for Canada and spoke with Canadian accent , Bruno was still the nations darling and making his 3rd attempt at the title, there was bad blood between them too with lawsuits flying about which appeared on front and backpages of the newspapers, so along with the fact that this was the first time 2 Brits had contested a HW world title helped create a fight that the whole of Britain (America couldn't care less) was talking about.

littlepug wrote:

dr_devious wrote:Its the most hyped fight ever in Britain

No chance Lewis v Bruno went mental no one had quite taken to Lewis yet Joe public saw that he won gold for Canada and spoke with Canadian accent , Bruno was still the nations darling and making his 3rd attempt at the title, there was bad blood between them too with lawsuits flying about which appeared on front and backpages of the newspapers, so along with the fact that this was the first time 2 Brits had contested a HW world title helped create a fight that the whole of Britain (America couldn't care less) was talking about.

They didn't even sell out, in Wales, and a much smaller percentage had Sky.

mickey1975 wrote:

littlepug wrote:

dr_devious wrote:Its the most hyped fight ever in Britain

No chance Lewis v Bruno went mental no one had quite taken to Lewis yet Joe public saw that he won gold for Canada and spoke with Canadian accent , Bruno was still the nations darling and making his 3rd attempt at the title, there was bad blood between them too with lawsuits flying about which appeared on front and backpages of the newspapers, so along with the fact that this was the first time 2 Brits had contested a HW world title helped create a fight that the whole of Britain (America couldn't care less) was talking about.

They didn't even sell out, in Wales, and a much smaller percentage had Sky.

Fair enough but I remember at the time every man and his dog trying to find a pub that was showing it, and these were non boxing fans, its the mood of the nation I was getting at rather than viewing figures or attendances.

In terms of attendance it's the biggest fight since WWII (to my knowledge) so yes, it's the biggest fight of the modern era.

In terms of public interest, probably not but who can actually tell

In my lifetime I remember McGuigan Pedroza, Benn Watson (that one was a biggie - Sunday night in a tent on Finsbury Park free tv), Benn Eubank I & II, Bruno Lewis. All of these were big public events.

I don't live in the UK anymore but I'm well aware of how many people are talking about Froch Groves II.

Prior to my lifetime but fights I remember reading about as being huge were the Boon-Danahar-Roderick bouts which absolutely took over everyones conversations (from what I've gleaned) and appeared to be much bigger than anything in my lifetime.

And I also remember reading about Jack Petersen vs Len Harvey who fought back in the 1930's. Petersen was a 'dashing' (the word of the era) young (22) heavyweight from Wales who had won the title in front of a massive crowd and was defending it against 13 year pro (and ex FLYWEIGHT) Len Harvey from Cornwall - who then shocked the boxing world with a 15 round points win.

THEIR rematch is the one people talk about as the biggest ever when they fought in front of 90,000 (some say more) at White City with Petersen gaining revenge. I read about this bout plenty when I was a kid in the 70's as there were plenty of reporters & fans still around who had been there. From my fuzzy memories they seemed to think this bypassed anything of the modern era - although it's not the same world today, is it. Then you may have to wait days for any update whereas now I get instant tweets from the combatants and I'm halfway around the world.

Saw 2 lads I went to school with in the pub the other night & had a bit of a chat with them. Dropped in the fact that I was going down to London for Froch/Groves this weekend & neither of them had a clue what I was talking about. They didn't even know who Carl Froch was, let alone George Groves.

I guess once you're taken out of your boxing bubble, it reminds you where the sport actually lies in the grand scheme of things.

There are an extra ten million souls in the country than when Eubank fought Benn, there are in excess of 20 million more than when Henry Cooper was doing his thing, so comparing attendance numbers and viewing figures 1 to 1 is misleading on a number of levels.

What percentage of the population will be watching or listening to this fight? This is a big fight and a great match but if you aren't on Twitter and don't have Sky it'll pass you by without a murmor.

In terms of capacity ofcourse it is!

McGuigan v Pedroza was shown live on BBC1 prime time Saturday night and I remember out clubbing that night and everyone watching the contest on the TV's rather than worry about the music etc.

Must have only been a 20000 attendance at Loftus Road but the TV viewing figures were huge.

It will be the biggest in terms of attendence but as a fight that captures the nations imagination and as a talking point it wouldnt make the top 5. Not that it isn't a great fight but Froch and Groves are not the household names that Bruno, Eubank, Benn, McGuigan or even Hamed or Calzaghe were.

littlepug wrote:An uncle told me that when mcguigan fought pedroza the country practically came to a standstill !

It did. I watched it at home with my nan. There wasn't a person in the country who didn't know who Barry was.

hurlock wrote:In terms of capacity ofcourse it is!

Petersen Harvey II had 90,000+.

GooalaShooola wrote:Saw 2 lads I went to school with in the pub the other night & had a bit of a chat with them. Dropped in the fact that I was going down to London for Froch/Groves this weekend & neither of them had a clue what I was talking about. They didn't even know who Carl Froch was, let alone George Groves.

I guess once you're taken out of your boxing bubble, it reminds you where the sport actually lies in the grand scheme of things.

Reminds me of back when Nigel Benn was about to fight Michael Watson & I said to a work colleague "I can't wait for the boxing this weekend."

"I love boxing" he said "Who's fighting?"

"Benn Watson"

"Who against?"

Taansend wrote:

hurlock wrote:In terms of capacity ofcourse it is!

Petersen Harvey II had 90,000+.

60k capacity get it right

hurlock wrote:

Taansend wrote:

hurlock wrote:In terms of capacity ofcourse it is!

Petersen Harvey II had 90,000+.

60k capacity get it right

I'm not sure what you mean, mate? Get what right?

mickey1975 wrote:

bigjack wrote:

mickey1975 wrote:Go on then, which ones? Biggest attendance I've been in was Hatton-Lazcano or Calzaghe-Kessler. Fair play to you if you was at Chavez-Haugen.

i said bigger fights,not bigger attendance

Benn v Eubank 2

Bruno v witherspoon

Hearns v Leonard 2

So none bigger?

It's obvious that we have a different idea as to what ' biggest ever' is, by attendance then you are probably correct,but as for the whole nation talking about it or planning to watch it,then it's well down the list,as other posters have said,some people haven't even heard of Froch,never mind Groves,Bruno,Eubank etc were household names and when they fought,especially the big fights,then it was a huge talking point,people recognised them,Froch and Groves would be lucky to get noticed by anyone other than a big boxing fan.

For me Bruno v Mcall was bigger along with

Benn v Watson (in terms 'the fight' not the purse)

Benn v Eubank

lets not forget Henry Cooper v Clay

Lennox lewis v Bruno

I think it would be a big event on free-to-air, but unfortunately those who run boxing care more about lining their own pockets than serving it for its future good. PPV (for an increasingly niche sport) has always been a bad idea down the road, but today's promoters'll be long gone by the time they've destroyed boxing.

Promoters were necessary in the old days to attract crowds to fund high-level fights, but these days, the bulk of their former purpose is covered by free Internet hype. We just can't watch the blimmin' stuff!

The modern promoter's role is - as ever was - that of a gambler: putting up money before ticket and PPV sales are in. The risk is their reward; I realise that. But we have independent rankings, and you don't have to be a genius to know what fights the majority of fans want to see. If it has to be PPV, then - for main events - I quite like the idea of us punters stating who we want our money to go to - one, the other, or 50:50. It's a pipedream in workable terms, but it'd be nice to end the squabbling over who's the main draw every time.

Puts to bed both the attendance argument and the home viewing. It is not the biggest ever on either front.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/27629565