The BBC's response to the Cuban TV Coverage..........

Tarquin Tarpaulin IV · Post by **Tarquin Tarpaulin IV** » 12 Apr 2005, 20:10

Following some heated debate on our Forum I e-mailed the head of BBC's boxing dept .................

Mike,

I felt that some feedback from the amateur boxing community should be
passed to you following the screening of the Cuba v Four Nations match
on Sunday afternoon.

In brief comments such as 'what are the BBC doing promoting a rival
companies forthcoming professional fights (Hatton v Tszyu), why show
very little action and fill time showing Steve Bunce inteviewing Andy
Lee when more actual boxing is what people tuned in to see, why have 4
credible boxing people waffling in the studio covering age old topics
such as what is Amir Khans next move to be!!? There is a thread running
on my forum at http://www.warriorboxing.com expressing people's dismay and your
comments would be most welcome.

Amateur Boxing is being pulled left right and centre with talk of links
to the professionals, Amir Khans latest decision, Sport Englands
reduction in funding and all at a time when the sport is growing again.
But all amateur boxing people really want is to see more boxing on
terrestrial TV! Everything else will fall into place after that.

Regard

Tarquin

and received the following reply earlier today............

Dear Tarquin,
Thank you for your e-mail.I am sorry that you were disappointed with the
coverage of the amateur boxing on Grandstand last Sunday.
Because the Masters Golf was so badly hit by rain,the final day started
much earlier than usual and coverage had to be accomodated into
Grandstand so a couple of scheduled fights had to be dropped at the last
minute in order to make that happen.Decisions were being made "on the
hoof" with the result that the overall airtime for the boxing was
reduced.
It is also the case that when boxing goes into a general sport programme
rather than a stand-alone show,we do think it is important to set the
event into context and provide information to help the viewers who may
not be boxing experts.
Please keep watching though because there is plenty more amateur boxing
to come on the BBC.
Regards
Mike

dondada · Post by **dondada** » 13 Apr 2005, 02:49

Decent response I think.

J · Post by J » 13 Apr 2005, 04:32

iu do think Mike Lewis is doing what he can in honesty, think its lilke pushing water uphill though, whenever ive had contact he does seem to be enthusiastic and would like to get more coverage.

thats the impression i get anyway.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 13 Apr 2005, 05:25

Supports a lot of what I thought, they are trying to set the context for the shows amidst the rest of the sports coverage.

Priff · Post by **Priff** » 13 Apr 2005, 06:58

That's a great answer really.
I think the Cuban boxing documentary and discussions afterwards could have attracted general sports fans and maybe made them think about tuning in again.

A couple more bouts on the other hand would probably just satisfy boxing fans.

That documentary was good.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:02

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't that dissapointed with the coverage - It would have been extended by over 30 minutes if it wasn't for the Masters being delayed. The Masters is one of THE sporting events in the world and it was bound to get more attention.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:20

Needed more talk with Savon on it. I can't believe Savon was only Heavy instead of Super Heavy if he was 6ft 6!

knockout · Post by **knockout** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:21

Max Molyneux wrote:Needed more talk with Savon on it. I can't believe Savon was only Heavy instead of Super Heavy if he was 6ft 6!

he wasnt a lazy pudendum like most of the pro heavies.... thats why..... i met him at park lane hilton... not entirely convinced he was 6 6......

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:37

True he definately wasn't lazy but he looked massive framed. What Park Lane is that? What was he like?

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:39

knockout wrote:
Max Molyneux wrote:Needed more talk with Savon on it. I can't believe Savon was only Heavy instead of Super Heavy if he was 6ft 6!
he wasnt a lazy pudendum like most of the pro heavies.... thats why..... i met him at park lane hilton... not entirely convinced he was 6 6......

It's true, a lot of fighters exaggerate their height. If Shane Mosley is 5'10" I'm Kareem Abdul Jabbar the hutt.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:41

Tefilio Stevenson had a good dig though when they showed a little bit of him fighting an American on the documentry.

knockout · Post by **knockout** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:44

jamesmcdonnell wrote:
knockout wrote:
Max Molyneux wrote:Needed more talk with Savon on it. I can't believe Savon was only Heavy instead of Super Heavy if he was 6ft 6!
he wasnt a lazy pudendum like most of the pro heavies.... thats why..... i met him at park lane hilton... not entirely convinced he was 6 6......
It's true, a lot of fighters exaggerate their height. If Shane Mosley is 5'10" I'm Kareem Abdul Jabbar the hutt.

lennox and the Klits both seem even bigger than they are listed as ... monsters

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:46

This says Savon is 6ft 4.

http://www.terra.com/sydney2000/articul ... yd1582.htm

knockout · Post by **knockout** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:53

Max Molyneux wrote:This says Savon is 6ft 4.

http://www.terra.com/sydney2000/articul ... yd1582.htm

that seems about right, i am about 6 4 and there didnt seem much difference between us...... his shoulders are huge though.. pretty much a johnny nelson physique

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 13 Apr 2005, 07:57

When I last saw Johnny Nelson, I was in pretty good nick, had been working out etc, and I was about 14 stone. I stood chatting to Nelson, and I looked at him and thought, "how in christ's name did this bloke ever make 190?" Admittedly he was in better shape than me, but he looked so much bigger than I do.

knockout · Post by **knockout** » 13 Apr 2005, 08:04

jamesmcdonnell wrote:When I last saw Johnny Nelson, I was in pretty good nick, had been working out etc, and I was about 14 stone. I stood chatting to Nelson, and I looked at him and thought, "how in christ's name did this bloke ever make 190?" Admittedly he was in better shape than me, but he looked so much bigger than I do.

you cannot even use the normal black guy explaination and say Johnny has skinny legs, because he doesnt.... he has a tiny waist, thats where he saves the weight, his upper body and legs are big....

of course he put on about a stone from weigh in to fight so chances are when you spoke to him he was close to 15 stone.

he probably has a 32inch waist

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 13 Apr 2005, 08:05

I lost weight last year from 16 to 14 stone!

I got it back up slowy though and im now 15 stone 4.

silkov · Post by **silkov** » 13 Apr 2005, 08:23

The coverage was incompetent and crap! simple as that!. If they were so short of time why not shut Bunce and Inverdale up for 20 mins and fit in more fights and show them in full!.
Far too much yap and not enougth action!.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 13 Apr 2005, 09:13

knockout wrote:
jamesmcdonnell wrote:When I last saw Johnny Nelson, I was in pretty good nick, had been working out etc, and I was about 14 stone. I stood chatting to Nelson, and I looked at him and thought, "how in christ's name did this bloke ever make 190?" Admittedly he was in better shape than me, but he looked so much bigger than I do.
you cannot even use the normal black guy explaination and say Johnny has skinny legs, because he doesnt.... he has a tiny waist, thats where he saves the weight, his upper body and legs are big....

of course he put on about a stone from weigh in to fight so chances are when you spoke to him he was close to 15 stone.

he probably has a 32inch waist

I'm only a 34 waist though, it's not like I'm a weeble.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 13 Apr 2005, 13:26

jamesmcdonnell wrote:It's true, a lot of fighters exaggerate their height.

Why do you think they do that? I can't see the point of it.

dondada · Post by **dondada** » 13 Apr 2005, 14:43

silkov wrote:The coverage was incompetent and crap! simple as that!. If they were so short of time why not shut Bunce and Inverdale up for 20 mins and fit in more fights and show them in full!.
Far too much yap and not enougth action!.

Did you actually read the Beeb's bloke response? Because it was in a general sports show so they felt it important to set the context, ie more yap and less action than the obsessive fight fan would want.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 13 Apr 2005, 15:24

I usually knock an inch or two off the tale of the tape that comes on the TV. The modern day HBO coverage is usually pretty good (also like the arm length measure they use), but on older tapes - paricularly from obscure networks - the stats can be way off.

cslater · Post by **cslater** » 13 Apr 2005, 19:39

Showtime's stats man mike "the greek" checks every fighter with a tape measure before shows. He's the only guy on any network I know that does that. I've seen Danny Williams listed as 6'3" for years. He's a fraction over 6'1"

Tarquin Tarpaulin IV · Post by **Tarquin Tarpaulin IV** » 13 Apr 2005, 20:24

Did you actually read the Beeb's bloke response? Because it was in a general sports show so they felt it important to set the context, ie more yap and less action than the obsessive fight fan would want.

There's some merit in that argument but who other than an obsessive fight fan would want to see Steve Bunce interview Andy Lee? The Cuban documentary, yes, fine, a bit of studio chat fine.................but why have Ricky Hatton in the studio to promote his SKY TV fight?

Having worked in the media I know that thinking on your feet is par for the course and sometimes it's difficult making things come together to suit everyone but it seems the 'why, oh why' gun has been aimed at the Beeb for it's boxing coverage for many years and sometimes the excuses, any excuses wear a bit thin!

Back to the point raised in your response Ian. I can't think of any sporting event where the scene setting so greatly outweighs the action, can you?

dondada · Post by **dondada** » 14 Apr 2005, 02:59

Tarquin Tarpaulin IV wrote:
Did you actually read the Beeb's bloke response? Because it was in a general sports show so they felt it important to set the context, ie more yap and less action than the obsessive fight fan would want.
There's some merit in that argument but who other than an obsessive fight fan would want to see Steve Bunce interview Andy Lee? The Cuban documentary, yes, fine, a bit of studio chat fine.................but why have Ricky Hatton in the studio to promote his SKY TV fight?

Having worked in the media I know that thinking on your feet is par for the course and sometimes it's difficult making things come together to suit everyone but it seems the 'why, oh why' gun has been aimed at the Beeb for it's boxing coverage for many years and sometimes the excuses, any excuses wear a bit thin!

Back to the point raised in your response Ian. I can't think of any sporting event where the scene setting so greatly outweighs the action, can you?

I think for your general sports fan an interview with Andy Lee is worthy because if there wasn't much background offered on him it would be Andy Who? when they saw the action...and he is one of the most special out there and a definite future pro champ.

As for having Hatton on...the Beeb can't seem to win with this one! I remember when the footy was nicked from them and they were criticized for neglecting coverage, flashing results up without warning, etc, basically spoiling the coverage for the other channels. Surely it's of interest to the sport in general to get Hatton some terrestrial air time?

I didn't actually see the Cuban coverage so I'm in the dark a bit. But about scene setting outweighing the action...if you are talking about the Beeb, horse racing is a classic. Four hours of fornicating build up for the Grand National and plenty for every other racing card they have.