BoxRec

I know alot has been said of the new deal with ITV but a question I liked to ask is what does this do for Sky's Friday night fights. Sky have announced (I believe) that they will be cherry picking future bouts and will be looking at broadcasting more (hopefully live) US bouts. So far, early signs suggest they are good to their word - however, where does this leave the Friday Night Fights.

Whilst we complained it was a poor schedule, one doesn't suspect Boxing will be shifting to Prime time Saturday on Sky (due to the football) one also suspects that the Friday schedule is still available (what else have they got to fill it).

Does this mean a HUGE opportunity to other promoters to get live boxing on the box. I certainly hope so.

What do you think will happen to the Friday night schedule with Warren exclusive to ITV.

another question, with Warren going to ITV will they be showing boxing every week like sky did?

mrbassie wrote:another question, with Warren going to ITV will they be showing boxing every week like sky did?

He's signed for 20 cards, isn't he? That's less than 1 every other week. Is the deal exclusive? If not, I wouldn't mind seeing some smaller SN shows on a friday night.

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm sure SN are signed for 20 shows over 2 years on ITV. Which makes it a show every 5 weeks.

In his column in the NOTW it sounded like an exclusive deal but kept only mentioning his world champions plus Khan.

Having said that, it definately gave the impression that Sky will not be involved again. He like thanked them for their service but said the move to Friday signalled the end.

He did say he has signed a two year deal and they will show a MINIMUn of 20 fights - that word minimun could be critical. I very much doubt we'll have weekly fights on ITV 1, but if ratings is good I'm sure some of the lesser fights will be on ITV 2 or 3.

Yes, I can't see Frank dealing with Sky for the next few years. Good points about ITV 2/3, Stu. Is it possible that the 20 fight deal encompasses only Warren's prestige fighters, i.e. Hatton/Calzaghe? If it does, it means we're seeing top fights fairly regularly, at least more often than on SKY.

And as you say, it may also mean that we see the likes of Minter/Matt Hatton on lower profile ITV 2/3 bills.

I did think that 20 shows over 2 years would be a bit tight for SN. They've been used to more shows than that. Of course, Frank may also be trimming his stable to cope with such a reduction. An interesting time for boxing in this country, no doubt. Were we all jumping the gun by assuming things were heading back to the 'good old days'?

I think we are heading back to the good old days.

The big fight are for on terrestial tv and people might have to actually go to small hall events as opposed to see them on the TV - this is how it was in the Mid 90's.

Also there is this friday night slot that other promoters should be looking at and pursuing a deal.

At least Warren answered the questions over Ricky Hatton's future - it will be on ITV, so I very much doubt PPV.

I've been playing Devil's advocate, Stu, so I'll continue for a second, if you don't mind: If Hatton is on ITV, does it mean no huge match-up with someone like Mayweather for at least 2 years? Surely that fight demands either A. PPV, or B. a 2am slot, to fit the American market. Will ITV be prepared to do that?

I'm just offering another, probably cynical view there. I do think it's an interesting time for boxing in this country. And things look a damn sight better than this time last year, when we were all just about ready to throw in the towel.

The key factors are Khan, and, as you say, Hatton on ITV. I'm delighted about that, for two reasons: 1: I think he deserves to be recognised by the public at large, and 2: If any fighter can recapture the publics imagination in the way that, say, Nigel Benn did, it's Hatton. The guy is a class act both inside and outside the ring. Not to mention the fact that his style is perfect for the non-boxing audience.

Sky will probably show other british promoters on Friday with occasional delayed highlights of american fights. Plus live big fights from USA.
Also they will only show better domestic matches, having an exclusive contract we saw some poor match up.


Also if fw stable is exclusive with itv like some papers have indicated. I imagine hennessy sports future fights could be shown on sky

stujones wrote:At least Warren answered the questions over Ricky Hatton's future - it will be on ITV, so I very much doubt PPV.

Hatton - Maussa on ITV


Hatton - Mayweather on PPV

stujones wrote:The big fight are for on terrestial tv and people might have to actually go to small hall events as opposed to see them on the TV - this is how it was in the Mid 90's.l.

I would love to 'actually' go to small hall shows but there are never any in Leicester.

Yeah, same situation here in Northampton. I really should move back to London.

Coconut wrote:

stujones wrote:At least Warren answered the questions over Ricky Hatton's future - it will be on ITV, so I very much doubt PPV.

Hatton - Maussa on ITV


Hatton - Mayweather on PPV

I've asked this question before but if Hatton vs Mayweather is live on terrestial TV then why does it need to be a PPV. Surely the advertising revenue more the equates to the PPV sales.

Hatton vs Mayweather at PPV your looking at 100,000 buys at a push (my estimate not exactly sure). Hatton vs Mayweather on terrestial (especially prime time) your looking at 8-10 million people.

FW said he needed PPV and a Saturday slot to make a super fight on Sky, but would that be necessary on terrestial TV.

I was reading Warren NOTW column on the plane back from my stag weekend on Sunday (had to drop that in) and totally diagreed with what he said on many things.

Going on about how great it is for the country to have boxing back on terrestrial tv, it's him that sold it out to Sky in the first place!

Secondly he also said that Hatton proves you can build a big star on Sky to which I say bollox.

Despite his mega win Ricky could still walk down the street and only get stopped or gawked by a fraction of the people that a Benn/Eubank/Hamed, I suspect even Mcuigan would.

He's a big money generator because of his phenomenal Machester support but if his career had been cultivated on terrestrial he would be far bigger and would be (for example) a decent bet to win BBC Sports personality of the year this year but I doubt he'll make the top 3.

hope you had a good one goz!!!!

BELOW FROM SPORTING LIFE

KHAN TO SPEARHEAD ITV RETURN
Amir Khan will lead British boxing back into terrestrial television when he makes his professional debut against David Bailey in Bolton later this month.

Khan's eagerly-awaited professional bow on July 16 will represent the start of a two-year, 20-fight deal agreed by promoter allegedly and ITV.

The network were sufficiently impressed with the 6.3million viewing figures that Khan's Olympic rematch with Mario Kindelan attracted in May.

And they will expect even bigger numbers when Warren's star names including Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Scott Harrison fight in their prime-time Saturday night slots.

Warren said: "I feel the sport can now go from strength to strength and with so many new stars coming through, this is going to be a long-term plan.

"I am delighted to rejoin ITV where I spent 14 happy years delivering them the best fights in (Nigel) Benn, (Frank) Bruno and (Naseem) Hamed when the station was known as the home of British boxing.

"I am obviously sad to be leaving Sky after 10 years but I felt it was time for a change."

Warren had been in negotiations with interested parties for a number of months with his existing contract with Sky drawing to a close.

Clearly unhappy with the satellite channel's decision to move many fights to Friday nights, Warren's prospective turn back to terrestrial TV gained momentum.

Now he will relish the opportunity of building on the bigger platform provided for those star names like Khan and Hatton.

Warren added: "From ITV, I then spent 10 great years with Sky Sports and developed Ricky Hatton to public prominence through satellite television when many people said that it could not be done.

"We saw the huge potential of boxing on ITV when we promoted the Amir Khan-Mario Kindelan rematch in May and it delivered fantastic TV ratings that beat everything else that night and is the biggest Saturday night viewership this year.

"Just imagine what kind of figures exciting fighters like Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe will pull in."

ITV will broadcast Junior Witter's European light-welterweight title defence against Andreas Kotelnik live from Nottingham next Saturday.

But afterwards the network will enter into its exclusive deal with Warren - starting with the Khan fight on the undercard of Matt Skelton's British heavyweight title fight against Danny Williams.

Khan has been handed a decent test against the 24-year-old Bailey, who has won three of his seven professional fights and is trained and managed in London by Eugene Maloney.

Bailey, who is yet to be stopped in his career, is considered a decent test for Khan's eagerly-awaited professional debut in his home town.

Maloney said: "I am surprised they took this fight because he is a tough and durable kid.

"David has looked good in sparring and he certainly has not taken this fight to fall over. He has ordered 100 tickets and he has taken this fight to win it."

Goz wrote:I was reading Warren NOTW column on the plane back from my stag weekend on Sunday (had to drop that in) and totally diagreed with what he said on many things.

Going on about how great it is for the country to have boxing back on terrestrial tv, it's him that sold it out to Sky in the first place!

Secondly he also said that Hatton proves you can build a big star on Sky to which I say bollox.

Despite his mega win Ricky could still walk down the street and only get stopped or gawked by a fraction of the people that a Benn/Eubank/Hamed, I suspect even Mcuigan would.

He's a big money generator because of his phenomenal Machester support but if his career had been cultivated on terrestrial he would be far bigger and would be (for example) a decent bet to win BBC Sports personality of the year this year but I doubt he'll make the top 3.

Part of the reason that Warren left ITV, was that they kept cutting back the money on offer for fights, I've been told by someone who was around at the time, that at one point they were offering ridiculously small money even for the Naseem fights.

ITV had started cutting back on their scheduling, perhaps due to the Benn McClellan fight, which surely must have had some influence.

As a promoter, Warren as an obligation to make money for himself and his fighters, and Sky were offering a hell of a lot more money.

Frankly speaking - who was the person that took boxing to Sky in the first place.

Also - I do not believe one word of anything that certain people say.

Don't forget that Hatton has Witter in his cintract within 3 fights! Bullshit!

SN better not serve up the crap on itv that they did with sky ( allegedly)

At least we get to see good USA fight instead of poor main events on SKY.

ITV should do the same thing - cherry pick the best and ditch the rest!

Warren building Hatton on Sky was a masterstroke, in my view. The best premiership football coverage is shown on Sky, and many times I've seen Ricky's fights advertised on a Saturday during the football.

The bulk of Ricky's fans are City supporters and without them I'm sure Warren would have treated his career differently.

If Frank had built Ricky on ITV he would have been under more pressure to protect Ricky less (due to the internet influence on the modern boxing media), and he could well have been defeated before he cashed in with Tsyzu.

Manos de Oro wrote:Warren building Hatton on Sky was a masterstroke, in my view. The best premiership football coverage is shown on Sky, and many times I've seen Ricky's fights advertised on a Saturday during the football.

The bulk of Ricky's fans are City supporters and without them I'm sure Warren would have treated his career differently.

If Frank had built Ricky on ITV he would have been under more pressure to protect Ricky less (due to the internet influence on the modern boxing media), and he could well have been defeated before he cashed in with Tsyzu.

How is that good for BOXING?.

Good for Hatton- Warren and the Mancs -not boxing!

DG. wrote:

Manos de Oro wrote:Warren building Hatton on Sky was a masterstroke, in my view. The best premiership football coverage is shown on Sky, and many times I've seen Ricky's fights advertised on a Saturday during the football.

The bulk of Ricky's fans are City supporters and without them I'm sure Warren would have treated his career differently.

If Frank had built Ricky on ITV he would have been under more pressure to protect Ricky less (due to the internet influence on the modern boxing media), and he could well have been defeated before he cashed in with Tsyzu.

How is that good for BOXING?.

Good for Hatton- Warren and the Mancs -not boxing!

Never said it was good for boxing. Was a masterstroke in terms of promoting.