What's next for Irish boxing?

Cannibal · Post by **Cannibal** » 25 Aug 2007, 19:41

The current rise that has been seen in Irish boxing has pretty much been built on Dunne's back, with RTE pinning everything on him.

Now that the Dunne bubble has been burst, what's next?

Do RTE...

A - Stay by Dunne and hope he bounces back and hope he keeps the viewing figures he's been getting.

B - Shift the focus onto Andy Lee or John Duddy who have yet to really catch fire like Dunne did with the home support.

C - Continue to broadcast but not advertise as heavily, giving it a graveyard timeslot.

D - Dump boxing and leave Setanta to it.

BigEars · Post by **BigEars** » 25 Aug 2007, 20:04

Move it onto Andy Lee and John Duddy , did you see the crowds reaction to Lee , no one other than Dunne has got anything like that in the Point .

Manny Steward wants him to fight in Limerick on the 17th of November , which is very interesting and I think RTE would cover it if it comes through .

They will also follow Duddy for a while too .
In a way a positive of this is that more boxers such as Lee , Duddy and McCloskey will be brought to national attention .

Thanks to Dunne we have professional boxing alive and well here in Ireland , but now it's time to move away from Bernard Dunne being backed heavily and towards boxing as a whole in Ireland being backed heavily .

We've some quality fighters coming through , and RTE should take note of that . Duddy and Lee will be able to draw similar audiences to what Dunne has within a while . All it needs is a little promotion .

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 25 Aug 2007, 20:29

If Scott Belshaw comes through his knee rehab OK he could be a man to watch out for at heavy in the future - he is big enough and can certainly bang, although his boxing skills need sharpening..

Albert · Post by **Albert** » 25 Aug 2007, 20:37

Don't know what the panic is.

Dunne got beaten by a decent boxer.

Irish boxing are doing okay. Lee and Duddy seem to be going along the right lines.

Us Brits can gloat but who do we have once Hatton and Calzaghe have gone.

Froch or Haye??

Please don't say Amir Khan after his last performance, it will be years before W arren lets him off the leash again.

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 25 Aug 2007, 20:42

Albert wrote:Don't know what the panic is.

Dunne got beaten by a decent boxer.

Irish boxing are doing okay. Lee and Duddy seem to be going along the right lines.

THE Irish scene is a WHOLE lot healthier since Brian Peters came along and breathed life back into it... The venues are packed and the atmosphere is fantastic for his shows.

The 90s were mostly a dark era for live boxing in the south of Ireland.

Cannibal · Post by **Cannibal** » 25 Aug 2007, 21:28

I don't think any of them can grab the same kind of attention as Dunne though.

Dunne played the PR game beautifully. He learned his trade in America, but once he came to Ireland, he was focused on Ireland and we saw him everywhere, GAA matches, soccer matches, etc.

Lee and Duddy I think still are sort of wandering about between different locations. Like, Lee has 2 fights planned before even thinking of coming back to Ireland.

I also think the fact that Dunne was a Dub helped him alot when marketing himself. Dunne put a lot of effort into portraying himself as an Irish fighter fighting for the nation kind of thing, I can't see Lee or Duddy putting the same kind of effort into their public persona.

I think you can expect a decline in the next RTE broadcast unless it's a world title fight or something.

BigEars · Post by **BigEars** » 25 Aug 2007, 21:33

Cannibal wrote:I don't think any of them can grab the same kind of attention as Dunne though.

Dunne played the PR game beautifully. He learned his trade in America, but once he came to Ireland, he was focused on Ireland and we saw him everywhere, GAA matches, football matches, etc.

Lee and Duddy I think still are sort of wandering about between different locations. Like, Lee has 2 fights planned before even thinking of coming back to Ireland.

I also think the fact that Dunne was a Dub helped him alot when marketing himself. Dunne put a lot of effort into portraying himself as an Irish fighter fighting for the nation kind of thing, I can't see Lee or Duddy putting the same kind of effort into their public persona.

I think you can expect a decline in the next RTE broadcast unless it's a world title fight or something.

RTE will want to show some pro boxing whether it involves Dunne or not . The figures they get for it are huge and they were very happy with the numbers when Dunne first came back(before he was a name) and would be willing to promote someone like McCloskey in the same vein if he is the only fighter available to do so .

RTE have seen that there is a desire there from the Irish people to watch boxing , they'll find someone provide the goods .

WayoftheCass · Post by **WayoftheCass** » 25 Aug 2007, 23:58

Cannibal wrote:The current rise that has been seen in Irish boxing has pretty much been built on Dunne's back, with RTE pinning everything on him.

Now that the Dunne bubble has been burst, what's next?

Do RTE...

A - Stay by Dunne and hope he bounces back and hope he keeps the viewing figures he's been getting.

B - Shift the focus onto Andy Lee or John Duddy who have yet to really catch fire like Dunne did with the home support.

C - Continue to broadcast but not advertise as heavily, giving it a graveyard timeslot.

D - Dump boxing and leave Setanta to it.

Andy Lee is the pick of the bunch IMO. I'd move it over to him. Duddy is tough but limited. Poor Ben though. :( That must have been really embarrassing for him. God only knows how he is feeling right now. I mean 86 seconds. Jeeeees.

WayoftheCass · Post by **WayoftheCass** » 26 Aug 2007, 00:02

TerribleTerry wrote:If Scott Belshaw comes through his knee rehab OK he could be a man to watch out for at heavy in the future - he is big enough and can certainly bang, although his boxing skills need sharpening..

Scott certainly has the size and the heavies are so poor who knows. But so far I'm getting a strong wiff of a second Kevin McBride sadly who looked good against stiffs but hapless against anyone half decent. Interestingly he was also originally managed by Maloney to.

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 26 Aug 2007, 04:33

WayoftheCass wrote:
TerribleTerry wrote:If Scott Belshaw comes through his knee rehab OK he could be a man to watch out for at heavy in the future - he is big enough and can certainly bang, although his boxing skills need sharpening..
Scott certainly has the size and the heavies are so poor who knows. But so far I'm getting a strong wiff of a second Kevin McBride sadly who looked good against stiffs but hapless against anyone half decent. Interestingly he was also originally managed by Maloney to.

He can't be as bad as McBride, surely not??

Belshaw's punches may be wide swinging clumps at this early stage in his career, but at least he doesn't look like he is punching underwater as McBride often does..

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 26 Aug 2007, 04:46

Albert wrote:Don't know what the panic is.

Dunne got beaten by a decent boxer.

Irish boxing are doing okay. Lee and Duddy seem to be going along the right lines.

Us Brits can gloat but who do we have once Hatton and Calzaghe have gone.

Froch or Haye??

Please don't say Amir Khan after his last performance, it will be years before W arren lets him off the leash again.

I don't know what you're getting at. Britain's doing very well for world title holders (Hatton, Calzaghe, Witter, Maccarinelli, Rees), world class contenders (Froch, Haye, Jamie Moore), Euro level fighters (Cook, Arthur, Johanesson, Francis), and world class prospects (Olusegun, Munyai, Khan, Murray).

Lee looks like he can be the business.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 26 Aug 2007, 04:59

Andy Lee Is ok.

Great body puncher and stiff shots.

Great Power though too.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 26 Aug 2007, 05:16

I damn well hope that, with his German connections (he's fought there 2x on Wlad K undercards), Lee will challenge Abraham or Sturm if they're still around in a couple of years' time.

Won't be much for him in America, with Wright, Taylor and Pavlik all outgrowing the division.

IMO Lee will be a super middle for the most of his career but I reckon in ten fights' time he wins a major belt.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 26 Aug 2007, 06:23

Put fights on outside Dublin. That place is a boxing jinx.

Cannibal · Post by **Cannibal** » 26 Aug 2007, 08:00

Does anyone think that Lee is a bit too upright though? He doesn't seem to be making much effort to work that out of his game.

He has decent power and is awkward to get at but that's against lower level opposition, you think he can impose himself at world?

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 26 Aug 2007, 08:43

Think Big Ears is correct, RTE must need to show maintain their interest in boxing. The interest is there. It was pleasing to see the arena so full for the Magee vs Oakey fight (okay a big undercard fight, but still look at the O2 for Nicky Cook's world title tilt).

The crowd whilst a bit dissapointed seemed to be quite intelligent in the way they applauded Martinez. Whilst the majority were there for Dunne, I think they were there also cause BOXING can be such a great night out.

When there is support for the Sport that strong, one defeat is far from the be all and end all... and someone will come along to fill in the gap.

They'll have still got Duddy, Macklin, Magee, and Lee as people to watch.

lowersmiths · Post by **lowersmiths** » 26 Aug 2007, 08:55

one defeat and people are writing him off already. what a joke.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 26 Aug 2007, 08:59

Dunne is still good. He overwhelmed Pickering for at least 9 rounds, with those fast hands. That was a good win.

Can't wait to see more of Martinez, whether in a rematch or on Hobson's British shows.

Lee has more star power than Dunne, IMO. He won't have the same committment to Irish boxing. But he can make more international impact. More opportunities to do big things and have learnign fights on major shows. Hopefully Irish TV pick up his fights from Germany and America when he fights there.

Cannibal · Post by **Cannibal** » 26 Aug 2007, 09:16

lowersmiths wrote:one defeat and people are writing him off already. what a joke.

I'm not writing Dunne off, I think he can bounce back with or without RTE. What I'm worried about is if his loss will have a negative impact on boxing coverage/attendence in Ireland since all of it was built around Dunne as the marquee name.

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 27 Aug 2007, 03:17

Dunne has always had questions over his chin at the highest level. This was answered on Saturday.

I blame his trainers, how can he not keep his hands up when everyone, even my dog, knows hes opened to a puncher.

On Saturday he was in the ring with 'mini mike tyson' (thats what the spaniards call him) who, were so confident that he would win in a round that they put 10k on it at 66-1. Thats winnings of 660k!!!! and a little birdy told me that they wanted his purse before the fight so they could lump that on it too!!!!!WOW THATS CONFIENCE!

All is not lost however, that little mighty atom martinez is signed to team Magee for 3 fights or so, so his next few defenses will be in Belfast.

This is good fir Irish boxing!!!
CMON KIKO!

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 27 Aug 2007, 09:30

I thought he was signed with Hobson?

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 27 Aug 2007, 09:40

Autobarn wrote:I thought he was signed with Hobson?

In conjunction with Team Magee.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 27 Aug 2007, 10:25

Ted wrote:
Autobarn wrote:I thought he was signed with Hobson?
In conjunction with Team Magee.

looks like Irish and English will get to see Martinez, because Hobson had a 5 or 6 fight deal with Setanta.

What's next for Irish boxing?

What's next for Irish boxing?

Re: What's next for Irish boxing?