BoxRec

Watched the Bunce hour earlier tonight with Warren in the studio. Warren suggested he is still on good terms with Groves and Booth. Warren also suggested that Groves has only joined Matchroom on a 2 fight deal. Warren then went on to say he has agreed to speak with Groves in September about his boxing future. If true, this seems fairly strange.

Could it be that Groves got wind last week that the Burns and Vazquez fight was off. Groves then approached Frank concerned about money and his own fight potentially being cancelled. Did Warren give his full blessing for Groves to go away and make his money elsewhere for 6 months until things become more certain? Why September? BT Sports is due to go live on the 1st of August. Could it be that the rumoured sale of allegedly to BT is close which would see Warrens suggested cashflow problem eradicated? It's no secret that BT want to push SKY for Sports customers. It's reported that BT still have hundreds of millions of pounds available for more sports rights and carriage deals for TV channels.

How much would BT need to throw at boxing to be able to surpass SKY's output? Probably not as much as we think. By buying ESPN they already have the rights to ESPN Friday Night Fights. If they snap up allegedly and throw money at Warren, Hatton Promotions and Amir Khan the tables could quickly turn on SKY and Matchroom.

Wow I've managed to go way, way off topic in the first post DD

Sounds like a little loan deal to matchroom ?

Maybe Fwanky simply gets on with George and Booth?

It's a decent deal for George. Why tie yourself down long term to any promoter? Having Booth and Haye on hand to give advice etc can only help

Sounds like a savvy boxer-manager combination aware of their value. Rather than committing to one group for a long term, surely it makes more sense to go for a short term deal and get the Promoter to prove his worth. Matchroom now has 3 fights (rather than 2?) to prove that they are the best for George's career. If they deliver a decent opponent as the chief support to Froch and then a World Title in September (as stated by Eddie on SSN yesterday), then Team Groves would look favourably on continuing the partnership. I don't understand why more boxers don't take more active control of their careers like this.

If this is the case I will be signing up to BT

If true, this is potentially great for boxing:

1. We complain British boxers are not active enough. Hatton's fighters are bored at the mo. If they could fight on a Warren, coldwell, Maloney, Hearn show or whatever, it solves that problems
2. Boxers won't be tied to one promoter, more freedom to fight whoever, do whatever
3. More TV exposure (ie allegedly subscribers will see Groves, as will Sky Sports subscribers)
4. Promoters will have to put on more attrative shows, prospects etc to attract fighters

If that is true of course

Looks like Groves is fighting this Saturday on the Barker undercard against some bloke I`ve never heard of.

forcefraser wrote:Looks like Groves is fighting this Saturday on the Barker undercard against some bloke I`ve never heard of.

I like Groves. Good honest fighter.

lillywhite14 wrote:Maybe Fwanky simply gets on with George and Booth?

It's a decent deal for George. Why tie yourself down long term to any promoter? Having Booth and Haye on hand to give advice etc can only help

Maybe Booth is very savvy and doesnt sign anything without knowing the ins and outs of it first.

So why did he persuade Groves to sign with Wazza rather than Hearn in the first place ?

Weird two fight deal he's having 3 in next 6 months

Saturday
Froch vs Kessler
headline a show in September

Parson Cross wrote:So why did he persuade Groves to sign with Wazza rather than Hearn in the first place ?

Better deal? Haye signed for the Chisora fight and got paid good money in the biggest fight of last year.

To be fair this is plausible, who an when was the last top fighter Warren let go without burning brdges?

i dont think George was ever a true FW fighter... he always seemed sort of independant... like subcontractorisc

I was curious what the FW deal was and when, I seemed to think it was prior to DeGale but he signed after and for 3 years. I'd imagine that he was never really that happy fighting for him and I'm sure Hearn dangled an IBF bauble for him and he's signed on his standard 3 fight contract?