By Liam Santiago: I was very disappointed to find out that not one British television company had decided to broadcast tonight’s massive boxing event, with a double main event. Witter vs Devon and Campbell vs Bradley just did not seem big enough for them. What will they screen except Hatton, Khan and Haye? It is as though sky and other British channels think all British boxing fans take an interest in is them three boxers.
Personally, I would much rather watch this event rather than the last Khan bill. Even our own world champion Carl Froch didn’t make our screens live in his bout with Jermaine Taylor, which had to be one of the fights of the year.
I imagine I am not alone in thinking this. As it happens, I did manage to find a website that screened the fight live. It was bad quality but, hey, it was better than nothing. However, many British boxing fans will not have known about this and missed the action packed bill. However, forget that internet site, this is the twenty first century and we can’t watch one the best boxing events of the year on our televisions. Yet, on Eurosport, at the same time as the main event, they screened ‘teleshopping’. Wow. Sky sports screened an old golf game or something like that. What worries me most is the fact that British fans will probably see a lot more of this happening as time goes on. With Setanta going to the wall and the credit crunch holding tv companies off from big spending, we are likely to only see Khan, Hatton and Haye in main event bouts ; or anyone else on box office.
What really gets to me about this whole situation is that the British companies do not feel the need to screen any fighters other than Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan and David Haye in main event bouts. Yes, they have the fan bases and draw in the big money. But at the moment boxing fans are the worst treated fans of any sport in the world and in my opinion, it’s a disgrace. We can’t watch big events such as tonight’s. The events we do see, such as Khan, Hatton and Haye, we have to pay £15 on box office. Watching 54 seconds of main event action on the Khan bill against Prescott is a good example for my argument. Why did we pay £15 to watch that? Do all of these fighters deserve box office viewing? Ricky Hatton certainly does ; he has the biggest fan base in British history. Amir Khan? He has a lot of people that would pay to watch him but maybe for the wrong reasons. David Haye? I do not feel he yet deserves box office. It is not a question of his fan base. You don’t want to watch a bout neccasarily because you are a fan. He is going to be in some good fights in the future but I do not feel he yet deserves box office viewing.
The loss of Setanta Sports has had a big affect on British boxing. Setanta screened many fights including Miguel Cotto, Arthur Abraham, Joe Calzaghe, Nate Campbell etc. The gap left by Setanta is obviously huge. However, you would expect Sky to take advantage of this situation and attempt to take full control of boxing ; considering ITV announced it will not screen any boxing after this year. If they would rather screen old shoots of golf or water sports then that’s fine. I was a massive fan of Setanta and really appreciated its services. Not only do we miss the fights they displayed, we also miss Buncey – the saviour of British boxing. With his chat show, Buncey’s boxing hour, he revitalised boxing on British shores and was a breath of fresh air in comparison to the likes of Sky’s presenter’s that seem rather uncomfortable in the studio.
Will the situation change? I doubt it will in the near future but we can hope. Apparently ESPN is introducing a channel in Britain and I am told it will screen some fights on a delayed basis. That seems hopeful. I hope I am not alone in wanting to see more than Hatton, Khan and Haye. Yes, we get the under cards of those events but is that ever worth it? I have absolutely no interest in watching any of the olympians bar Tony Jeffries. We know what the result of the bout will be. After another 15 fights, I imagine I would love watching them, although I doubt I will ever love watching young Joe Murray if he is anything like his brother John. With Jeffries I make an exception. He fights like an experienced pro and has great power. He has also fought a prospect rather than a journeyman which meant we could not decide the result before the bout.
I would have much preferred to watch tonight’s bill with Campbell, Bradley, Witter and Devon rather than Khan’s last bill. Yet the television companies seem to aim for what the non-boxing fans want, rather than the true, die-hard fans.
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