Sky's Adam Smith

[jamesmcdonnell]

This is why in many circles, boxing is considered something of a joke sport, the total and utter lack of objectivity damages the reputation of the sport in the long term, there's only so many times you can mug people off by making huge claims that people are about to watch some amazing barnburner, only for someone to get flattened by the first serious punch landed.

Sadly the structure of boxing with promoters touting their wares, backed up by broadcasters and their yes men helping to peddle any old shite as shinola, results in poor product being oversold, which bad long term in any business, when your competitors (in this case UFC for instance) deliver consistently good product that lives up to billing.

[Supremo]

Any supposedly serious boxing journalist should read this forum so I hope he sees this.

You're a fvcking disgrace mate. I've no doubt you love the game but you do it a huge disservice by pretending that the late pantomime showing of Haye v Bellew is a serious fight. Haye is years past his best and Bellew is a plodding also ran at world level. Your comment that Bellew is " one of the biggest punchers in world boxing" is risible.

Sky's link up with Matchroom has seen the amount of absurd hyperbole around fights and fighters grow exponentially to a barely tolerable level for any fan with even a modicum of knowledge but if the initial offerings are any indicator the build up to this fight will hit a new nadir. The paying public aren't as stupid as Sky would like to think. Every time a non event fight involving Joshua is made PPV and presented to the audience as a legitimate world championship level fight boxing's reputation nosedives. Every time you interview Eddie Hearn after one of his stable has fought and he claims we've just seen a world class operator in action when we haven't and you don't pull him up on this you're doing boxing a disservice. Every time an elaborately staged and wholly manufactured "beef" between fighters is reported as genuine enmity, boxing is the loser.

I don't blame Hearn - his job is to earn money for himself and his fighters. Your job is to report news to boxing fans and offer informative, intelligent analysis and opinions on boxing matters to your paying audience and you don't.

Where's your journalistic integrity mate ?

The business model adopted by TV companies is definitely to blame. Exclusive TV deals with one promoter has damaged boxing even more than multiple governing bodies in my mind. Sky followed the flawed us model adopted by hbo and showtime. If TV companies said they had x number of slots available and it was up to promoters to table the best fights for the spaces then we would soon see individual promoters offering better fights and rival promoters working together to offer better matches. TV companies need to show some balls and things would change pretty quickly.

Eddie Hearn even admits this in boxing news himself this week! He says he's got fighters refusing to fight other live opponents as the risk is too high and he has to give in as their in a position of strength as there is no credible alternative options. He even says that Frank's new TV deal will force them to up their game.

[lefty]

That's hardly the main point though is it???

To be fair though- just because it was the fan man incident that piqued his initial interest in the sport; that doesn't mean he isn't a true boxing fan now. Obviously he's an executive for sky so his job as head of boxing for sky is to maximise revenues for the boxing department.

You can hate the system, but he's just a small cog in the scheme of things. Barney Francis who is head of sports probably makes the ultimate decision on a lot of these matchups in regards to whether they end up on regular sky sports or Sky box office. I wouldn't be shocked if there was pressure put on Smith to make these kind of fights because they generate a lot of income versus regular sky sports cards.

Are you Adam Smith's close relative??? He's involved in this, he cannot be absolved from investigation / guilt

No. I'm just making a logical argument. Not one based on emotion.

[lefty]

This is why in many circles, boxing is considered something of a joke sport, the total and utter lack of objectivity damages the reputation of the sport in the long term, there's only so many times you can mug people off by making huge claims that people are about to watch some amazing barnburner, only for someone to get flattened by the first serious punch landed.

Sadly the structure of boxing with promoters touting their wares, backed up by broadcasters and their yes men helping to peddle any old shite as shinola, results in poor product being oversold, which bad long term in any business, when your competitors (in this case UFC for instance) deliver consistently good product that lives up to billing.

The problem is though James- if the consumer (the casual viewer) continues to pay for that poor product and subsequently demand is still there- then the garbage is going to continue to be served up. The public are just as guilty (if not more) than the likes of Hearn and Sky. Market forces are what dictates whether we continue to get served this shite or not. If nobody bought these PPV's they wouldn't bother.

[veriton]

Any?

Robinson is dreadful in front of the camera, and whilst a genuine boxing man, has become a Sky goblin.

trying to watch stalker evans 3 and just spat my beer everywhere reading that description. seriously had me in tears, laughing so hard. no idea if it's true but that's a cracking description!

[Nightmare Roy]

Worst commentator ever.

Bring back Nick Halling.

I actually get all misty eyed thinking about the days when Paul Dempsey used to present and Ian Darke was main commentator. And, at the time, I thought they were far from perfect.

used to love the big nights with those two , it's all dog shite nowadays and Smith is facking woeful.

[dalcumly]

Listen

Golovkin v Brook. = Manchester City v Rochdale
Joshua v Molina. = Chelsea v Orient
Haye v Bellew. = Leeds United v Tranmere

Would anyone care to pay an additional £16.99 to watch these matches?
Of course Rochdale, Orient and Tranmere might win , but pigs might fly.
This is the reality.

[SteveDow]

Listen

Golovkin v Brook. = Manchester City v Rochdale
Joshua v Molina. = Chelsea v Orient
Haye v Bellew. = Leeds United v Tranmere

Would anyone care to pay an additional £16.99 to watch these matches?
Of course Rochdale, Orient and Tranmere might win , but pigs might fly.
This is the reality.

You leave Tranmere out of this! That's my local team!

[milpool]

Listen

Golovkin v Brook. = Manchester City v Rochdale
Joshua v Molina. = Chelsea v Orient
Haye v Bellew. = Leeds United v Tranmere

Would anyone care to pay an additional £16.99 to watch these matches?
Of course Rochdale, Orient and Tranmere might win , but pigs might fly.
This is the reality.

If Leeds played Tranmere at the moment I'd probably have a cheeky fiver on the draw...

[Anzi]

Sorry but Smith has bought us some fantastic nights of boxing over the years, I think he is OK, no problem with him at all. Haye vs Bellew will go down a storm and IMO will see Haye retired from the sport after this beating which won't be a bad thing for everyone.

Are you serious ? Haye will be too big, too strong and too powerful for Bellew you can't surely believe at fighter who has failed to knock out light heavies will knock out a heavyweight like Haye, Bellew a fighter who has been down himself, so many times, from smaller guys.

[boxingknockout]

love is better than hate

[Bricks]

Any supposedly serious boxing journalist should read this forum so I hope he sees this.

You're a fvcking disgrace mate. I've no doubt you love the game but you do it a huge disservice by pretending that the late pantomime showing of Haye v Bellew is a serious fight. Haye is years past his best and Bellew is a plodding also ran at world level. Your comment that Bellew is " one of the biggest punchers in world boxing" is risible.

Sky's link up with Matchroom has seen the amount of absurd hyperbole around fights and fighters grow exponentially to a barely tolerable level for any fan with even a modicum of knowledge but if the initial offerings are any indicator the build up to this fight will hit a new nadir. The paying public aren't as stupid as Sky would like to think. Every time a non event fight involving Joshua is made PPV and presented to the audience as a legitimate world championship level fight boxing's reputation nosedives. Every time you interview Eddie Hearn after one of his stable has fought and he claims we've just seen a world class operator in action when we haven't and you don't pull him up on this you're doing boxing a disservice. Every time an elaborately staged and wholly manufactured "beef" between fighters is reported as genuine enmity, boxing is the loser.

I don't blame Hearn - his job is to earn money for himself and his fighters. Your job is to report news to boxing fans and offer informative, intelligent analysis and opinions on boxing matters to your paying audience and you don't.

Where's your journalistic integrity mate ?

Smith is utterly useless

As a commentator he lacks basic training on how to comment on a fight, add to the picture or say nothing. All he does once the first bell goes is growl and rant incessantly about pre fight stuff and records rather than commentate on the fight

As a matchmaker he is a joke. He only knows one way of matching up- the haye-audley, bellew-haye type novelty matches.
The whole ringside tv show was garbage and gave boxing a very small provincial (liverpudlian feel)

He needs to go.

[TheGman]

Calm down everyone. There's much worse in Ireland and Australia.

That's like saying Dog poo is worse than Cat poo. It's still poo at the end of the day.

Hahahaha good point lefty haha

[TheGman]

Any supposedly serious boxing journalist should read this forum so I hope he sees this.

You're a fvcking disgrace mate. I've no doubt you love the game but you do it a huge disservice by pretending that the late pantomime showing of Haye v Bellew is a serious fight. Haye is years past his best and Bellew is a plodding also ran at world level. Your comment that Bellew is " one of the biggest punchers in world boxing" is risible.

Sky's link up with Matchroom has seen the amount of absurd hyperbole around fights and fighters grow exponentially to a barely tolerable level for any fan with even a modicum of knowledge but if the initial offerings are any indicator the build up to this fight will hit a new nadir. The paying public aren't as stupid as Sky would like to think. Every time a non event fight involving Joshua is made PPV and presented to the audience as a legitimate world championship level fight boxing's reputation nosedives. Every time you interview Eddie Hearn after one of his stable has fought and he claims we've just seen a world class operator in action when we haven't and you don't pull him up on this you're doing boxing a disservice. Every time an elaborately staged and wholly manufactured "beef" between fighters is reported as genuine enmity, boxing is the loser.

I don't blame Hearn - his job is to earn money for himself and his fighters. Your job is to report news to boxing fans and offer informative, intelligent analysis and opinions on boxing matters to your paying audience and you don't.

Where's your journalistic integrity mate ?

I cant stand the moron,he looks like a constipated ferret and always brings up shite that us REAL boxing fans already know or dont give a damn about,when commentating commentate on what is going on in the fight not what happened years ago or what someone else has done or what the fans have tweeted just commentate and stop feeding us fans garbage and saying is caviar

[CaptainSpacerod]

The whole ringside tv show was garbage and gave boxing a very small provincial (liverpudlian feel)

I didn't mind Ringside to be honest and was pissed off when they pulled it. Aside from Smith's excessive fawning over any and every boxer I thought it was a decent show with some good features. The shows where they'd invite two rivals on to discuss an upcoming fight e.g Froch Groves, Khan Brook etc were riveting.

[TheGman]

Imagine them putting someone who knows absolutley nothing about the premier league on soccer saturday? The country would be in uproar,its bullshit,us boxing fans get a raw deal from every angle from sky

[Rexob]

The whole ringside tv show was garbage and gave boxing a very small provincial (liverpudlian feel)

I didn't mind Ringside to be honest and was pissed off when they pulled it. Aside from Smith's excessive fawning over any and every boxer I thought it was a decent show with some good features. The shows where they'd invite two rivals on to discuss an upcoming fight e.g Froch Groves, Khan Brook etc were riveting.

Yes I enjoyed it I'd rather watch something than nothing at all it wasn't that bad ? Just don't get these moaners nothing better else to do I suppose.

[TheLeprechaun]

He honestly comes across as a bad, annoying comedy act. The way he overuses adjectives is horrific to hear. This is a juicy, meaty, sizzling match Up!!!!!!!

He's simply never been good enough for the job. I don't care if he's a nice chap. I'm a nice chap.

He's dreadful at his job and if he had an ounce of integrity he would throw in the towel. Certainly needs to never ever commentate, if he has any respect for the fans

[Rexob]

He honestly comes across as a bad, annoying comedy act. The way he overuses adjectives is horrific to hear. This is a juicy, meaty, sizzling match Up!!!!!!!

He's simply never been good enough for the job. I don't care if he's a nice chap. I'm a nice chap.

He's dreadful at his job and if he had an ounce of integrity he would throw in the towel. Certainly needs to never ever commentate, if he has any respect for the fans

the comedy value alone was worth reading that tosh.

[boxingknockout]

Imagine them putting someone who knows absolutley nothing about the premier league on soccer saturday? The country would be in uproar,its bullshit,us boxing fans get a raw deal from every angle from sky

Great point. And that's one of the reasons boxing is a sideshow. I mean does anyone really think Adam Smith and the Sky Goblin would have a job presenting if they were working on a mainstream sport????

[Horse]

the comedy value alone was worth reading that tosh.

Why's it tosh?

Pretty accurate, I'd say.

[banjo]

Imagine them putting someone who knows absolutley nothing about the premier league on soccer saturday? The country would be in uproar,its bullshit,us boxing fans get a raw deal from every angle from sky

That does happen, a bunch of ex-pros saying stuff like "he should've tested the keeper there" or "Your Rooneys, your Messis, your Chelseas, your Barcas" or my old favourite "No disrespect to Palace/Sunderland/Burnley" before going and disrespecting them. You can hear all that talk from white van man in the pub only he's not on a multi-million pound salary to come out with such nuggets of wisdom.

Quite how having taken part in the sport makes you an expert on it I don't know, top level sportsmen are creatures of habit, everything they do is instinctive and they can't really explain it which is why you rarely see great players make great managers as it requires a different brain. Thierry Henry talking tactics is hilarious because he knows jack about it, I'm surprised managers put up with the criticism sometimes, I mean if your car broke down you wouldn't ask Damon Hill to fix it would you? So why ask Andy Townsend what Jose Mourinho's doing wrong?

Producers don't care about intelligent analysis they just want recognisable faces to tell the public that the Premier League is the best in the world and that GGG vs Brook is the new Hagler vs Hearns.

[Rexob]

the comedy value alone was worth reading that tosh.

Why's it tosh?

Pretty accurate, I'd say.

An ounce of integrity, he would give his job up or the fans what complete waffle. The guy has brought us some of the best nights boxing ever, get a grip just cuz he is well spoken posh boy you don't like him. Give up your job for the fans brilliant.

[coneye]

Its always happenned and its not going to stop , there job is to build up the fight , and make money simple really ,, realisticly , you don't expect them to say .

And in the red corner we have Bullshit , not has good has he thinks but he'll win this one , because him and his manager refuse to fight anyone with a 50 -50 chance of winning , and we had to handpick the opponent because bullshit buts bums on seats .

And in the Blue corner we have dopey arse ,, now he's called dopey arse , because he's a bit of a tosser really , he knows he's gonna get his head punched in , but heh , he does'nt care he knows he'll do anything for a quid , .

[Horse]

An ounce of integrity, he would give his job up or the fans what complete waffle. The guy has brought us some of the best nights boxing ever, get a grip just cuz he is well spoken posh boy you don't like him. Give up your job for the fans brilliant.

As far as commentary goes he is horrendous and he should quit or get a lot better very quickly.

What have I said that suggests that I dislike him because he is posh? Is he even that posh sounding?