The future of boxing on Sky Sports

[tony1234]

The women won't find much in the way of better offers, despite the SKY hype train the only one with a public profile is Jonas who has retired. The likes of Price are worth peanuts , nobody has a clue who they are and very few women are worth a big purse.
If SKY do chuck the towel in that only leaves DAZN and C5 showing boxing which is a bad thing

[maverick23]

It depends how much of a reduction they get.

They’re supposedly getting £8m a year currently. They give about 8 shows a year so call it £1m per show. If that’s reduced to say £750k per show then that should be more than enough to do 8 arena shows once added in to gate revenue and international rights fees.

It may mean though that Boxxer’s short term profit takes a hit and that they have to renegotiate fighters deals where they’re potentially being overpaid compared to their commercial worth.

I thought they were supposed to deliver much more than 8 shows a year though? I may be wrong. I have seen various comments etc that they've "fucked the budget" - maybe that's why less volume of shows last couple of years?

If they need to negotiate fighter purses down... Yeah good luck with that. Azim, Whittaker will receive bigger offers from other promoters just to poach them. Couldn't see them taking pay cuts to stick around.

Are they generating much in international rights fees? I'd have thought NBC Peacock was the most valuable but that seems to have gone.

This is all completely idle speculation of course.. None of us have an insight into the boxxer contracts or business.

Sky contract expires in a few weeks though so won't be long until news starts coming out.

If imagine they were meant to have been doing 10 and they’ve probably had that many - just not all U.K. based. Like they had Babic in Poland, CBS in Saudi etc.

Sky is still the best platform for getting fighters noticed. The only other competitor at the moment is DAZN and not enough people watch or know about it so whoever the promoter for Sky is should have the pull in that if they offer the same money or close then I’d be surprised if fighters don’t sign with Boxxer.

I thought all their fights were on Peacock? Could be wrong but if that did drop off then I don’t remember it being mentioned by anyone.

You’re right - won’t be long before we find out either way. I’d imagine it will be fight week of the Simpson show.

[keithmoonhangover]

I think Issrar Asif would do a much better job with SKY's money than Shalom.

[maverick23]

I actually think at the moment it’s the least interesting boxing has been on Sky Sports.

Part of me thinks we’d be better off going back to having one relatively low budget show every week or two. Obviously that can’t happen when you’ve got fighters on several hundred grand guarantees unless they’re able to do a big gate.

[veriton]

Zero interest in sky, dazn is the home of boxing now.

I used to get bt sports for fwank but now he's streaming then there's no need.

I get bored of people saying boxing is no good on a separate streaming platform, it's hardly done netflix any harm

[tony1234]

Zero interest in sky, dazn is the home of boxing now.

I used to get bt sports for fwank but now he's streaming then there's no need.

I get bored of people saying boxing is no good on a separate streaming platform, it's hardly done netflix any harm

I think times change, I would never had paid for DAZN but now they've got FW's shows and Matchroom it's worth it for me. SKY's coverage since they went with BOXXER has been terrible and I can't see how that is going to improve if they get a new deal

[maverick23]

Zero interest in sky, dazn is the home of boxing now.

I used to get bt sports for fwank but now he's streaming then there's no need.

I get bored of people saying boxing is no good on a separate streaming platform, it's hardly done netflix any harm

I don’t think anyone would say the boxing is no good on DAZN. It is good. However there isn’t much else on there so it’s highly unlikely they’ll attract many new fans to the sport which is needed to grow the sport.

[KiwiRider]

If you have never watched boxing before, and it's all on DAZN, how are you going to watch, and fall in love with boxing?
DAZN is the end game of boxing.
We all got into the sport because of free to air high caliber fights, not a paywall protected subscription service.

[veriton]

Hatton was arguably the first subscription superstar, but more recently AJ and Fury haven't done too badly without ever having major fights on terrestrial tv.

It's like saying Boxing News shouldn't exist, they should just put boxing on the bbc website so it has more exposure. There will always be a market for boxing and people will find it, as they did when it was just blokes stood in a field trying to evade the rozzers.

[Rezzer1967]

Hatton was arguably the first subscription superstar, but more recently AJ and Fury haven't done too badly without ever having major fights on terrestrial tv.

It's like saying Boxing News shouldn't exist, they should just put boxing on the bbc website so it has more exposure. There will always be a market for boxing and people will find it, as they did when it was just blokes stood in a field trying to evade the rozzers.

Very good post

[stujones]

Hatton was arguably the first subscription superstar, but more recently AJ and Fury haven't done too badly without ever having major fights on terrestrial tv.

It's like saying Boxing News shouldn't exist, they should just put boxing on the bbc website so it has more exposure. There will always be a market for boxing and people will find it, as they did when it was just blokes stood in a field trying to evade the rozzers.

AJ was a big star before he turned pro.

Fury had a back story that was played out in msm. Fury’s mental health issues, were played out and he was all over programmes like This Morning etc….plus he did start his career on very popular itv bills. But he was no ticket seller, he wasn’t selling for anything. I don’t Remeber Fury vs Klitschko breaking any records….then came the controversy (the Ennis comments etc) and then came the Mental Health back story.


Hatton for me was and still is a true uk phenomenon. I don’t know anyone who became a star without a main stream media back story before or since.

[maverick23]

Hatton was arguably the first subscription superstar, but more recently AJ and Fury haven't done too badly without ever having major fights on terrestrial tv.

It's like saying Boxing News shouldn't exist, they should just put boxing on the bbc website so it has more exposure. There will always be a market for boxing and people will find it, as they did when it was just blokes stood in a field trying to evade the rozzers.

Hatton was probably the first Sky Sports superstar. Maybe Naz before him. At that point millions of people were subscribed to Sky Sports and people didn’t have 10% of the viewing options that they have today.

I’d be surprised if DAzN had more than 200k subscribers in the U.K. If Sky Sports pull out then boxing will suffer.

[mickey1975]

Hatton was arguably the first subscription superstar, but more recently AJ and Fury haven't done too badly without ever having major fights on terrestrial tv.

It's like saying Boxing News shouldn't exist, they should just put boxing on the bbc website so it has more exposure. There will always be a market for boxing and people will find it, as they did when it was just blokes stood in a field trying to evade the rozzers.

Hatton was probably the first Sky Sports superstar. Maybe Naz before him. At that point millions of people were subscribed to Sky Sports and people didn’t have 10% of the viewing options that they have today.

I’d be surprised if DAzN had more than 200k subscribers in the U.K. If Sky Sports pull out then boxing will suffer.

I'd be surprised if they had half that.

[Ruthless-RKO]

90% of people subscribed to Sky Sports, the reason wasn’t boxing.

But they still watched it.

90’s and early 2000’s there was only 3 channels too.

It was good times tbh

[maverick23]

Hatton was arguably the first subscription superstar, but more recently AJ and Fury haven't done too badly without ever having major fights on terrestrial tv.

It's like saying Boxing News shouldn't exist, they should just put boxing on the bbc website so it has more exposure. There will always be a market for boxing and people will find it, as they did when it was just blokes stood in a field trying to evade the rozzers.

Hatton was probably the first Sky Sports superstar. Maybe Naz before him. At that point millions of people were subscribed to Sky Sports and people didn’t have 10% of the viewing options that they have today.

I’d be surprised if DAzN had more than 200k subscribers in the U.K. If Sky Sports pull out then boxing will suffer.

I'd be surprised if they had half that.

Same. And that’s subscribers, not viewers.

I can’t see how a sport can grow if the only network properly pushing is a relatively niche network.

It’s fine for diehards. Just like allegedly was great.

[rd350lc]

If you have never watched boxing before, and it's all on DAZN, how are you going to watch, and fall in love with boxing?
DAZN is the end game of boxing.
We all got into the sport because of free to air high caliber fights, not a paywall protected subscription service.

Football has gone exactly the same way .
Haven't watched any in donkeys years , but I thought I'd keep an eye on the score in the lesser European final last night .
Put the TV on regular channels, nowhere to be seen . It will catch up with the sport eventually.

[KiwiRider]

If you have never watched boxing before, and it's all on DAZN, how are you going to watch, and fall in love with boxing?
DAZN is the end game of boxing.
We all got into the sport because of free to air high caliber fights, not a paywall protected subscription service.

Football has gone exactly the same way .
Haven't watched any in donkeys years , but I thought I'd keep an eye on the score in the lesser European final last night .
Put the TV on regular channels, nowhere to be seen . It will catch up with the sport eventually.

At least Football is played in schools and in parks. That's where a love of the sport can be nurtured.
Boxing happens in closed gyms or clubs and now behind pay walls.

[tony1234]

Hatton was arguably the first subscription superstar, but more recently AJ and Fury haven't done too badly without ever having major fights on terrestrial tv.

It's like saying Boxing News shouldn't exist, they should just put boxing on the bbc website so it has more exposure. There will always be a market for boxing and people will find it, as they did when it was just blokes stood in a field trying to evade the rozzers.

AJ was a big star before he turned pro.

Fury had a back story that was played out in msm. Fury’s mental health issues, were played out and he was all over programmes like This Morning etc….plus he did start his career on very popular itv bills. But he was no ticket seller, he wasn’t selling for anything. I don’t Remeber Fury vs Klitschko breaking any records….then came the controversy (the Ennis comments etc) and then came the Mental Health back story.


Hatton for me was and still is a true uk phenomenon. I don’t know anyone who became a star without a main stream media back story before or since.

Wasn't Fury on C5 at the start ? I remember the Price name calling being on C5

[Ruthless-RKO]

Yh he was on C5..

Froch was too. Eubank started there too I think.

[rd350lc]

If you have never watched boxing before, and it's all on DAZN, how are you going to watch, and fall in love with boxing?
DAZN is the end game of boxing.
We all got into the sport because of free to air high caliber fights, not a paywall protected subscription service.

Football has gone exactly the same way .
Haven't watched any in donkeys years , but I thought I'd keep an eye on the score in the lesser European final last night .
Put the TV on regular channels, nowhere to be seen . It will catch up with the sport eventually.

At least Football is played in schools and in parks. That's where a love of the sport can be nurtured.
Boxing happens in closed gyms or clubs and now behind pay walls.

It's dying out in parks kiwi , organised stuff is still flying, but jumpers for goalposts stuff like when I was a kid is rarely seen nowadays .

[mickey1975]

Yh he was on C5..

Froch was too. Eubank started there too I think.

He was on ITV first. He turned pro on Froch v Pascal.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Yh he was on C5..

Froch was too. Eubank started there too I think.

He was on ITV first. He turned pro on Froch v Pascal.

Was a Hennessy card wasn’t it?

I think Fury turned pro on Froch vs. pascal. Not Eubank.

[mickey1975]

Yh he was on C5..

Froch was too. Eubank started there too I think.

He was on ITV first. He turned pro on Froch v Pascal.

Was a Hennessy card wasn’t it?

I think Fury turned pro on Froch vs. pascal. Not Eubank.

Oh, I was on about Tyson...my mistake.

[Coco]

Yh he was on C5..

Froch was too. Eubank started there too I think.

Very early on Froch was part of the real class of 2002, which was on the BBC with Hennessy

One of the reasons Fury was with Hennessy was because his dad was in nick and could only watch terrestrial tv

[CaptainSpacerod]

Wasn't Fury on C5 at the start ? I remember the Price name calling being on C5