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Signed Setanta? -
Haye signs with Setanta – Warren ‘very angry’
by Ian McNeilly
May 25th 2008
Setanta Sports will reveal at a press conference on Tuesday that they have signed the man who might become the biggest commodity in world boxing - David Haye.
Haye will not be promoted by Sports Network though and Frank Warren, who recently signed his own deal with the satellite broadcaster, is far from being a happy bunny with the situation.
As I said in my recent piece 'Boxing and TV Part Four - Setanta Sports', the broadcaster mentioned that their deal with Warren's Sports Network was an 'exclusive' one. This puzzled me greatly seeing as Amir Khan was still contracted to ITV and Setanta were showing fights from other promoters. So where was the exclusivity, on either side?
If it was exclusive in the sense that only Sports Network fighters would make up the Setanta roster (let's say in British terms), then David Haye must have signed with him, yes? No, that isn't the case.
If it was exclusive in the sense that Sports Network fighters can only appear on Setanta, then surely Amir Khan must be coming over to Setanta (or leaving the promotional nest)? Nothing on either of those fronts - not at the time Setanta revealed details of the deal nor in the intervening weeks to date.
Perhaps it was just sloppy writing.
As Alan Hubbard reveals exclusively (!) in his excellent 'Inside Lines' column in today's 'Independent on Sunday', Warren is seething at the signing of Haye by Setanta.
"I am very unhappy. This has echoes of the Audley Harrison deal with the BBC, when he called all the shots and picked his own opponents. What a disaster that turned out to be. Boxers promoting themselves doesn't work. I am very angry with Setanta over this."
Warren is said to be 'reviewing his future relationship with Setanta' though it's unsure how far any review could go if the Setanta press releases were right at the time in saying Sports Network had signed a contract with the broadcaster until December 2010.
Frank Warren is correct in saying that Harrison's attempts to promote himself were an unmitigated disaster - and Harrison himself admits as much and, ironically, is now promoted by Sports Network. But Haye is at a completely different stage of his career and has proved himself a much more clever cookie than Harrison ever was. Perhaps he's taking a risk - but that's what the man is all about.
As I said in my aforementioned TV piece, it is my opinion that contracts which are exclusive in favour of promoters (i.e. only a single promoter's shows will be aired by a broadcaster) are not good news for fans as by definition it limits the range of fighters fans get to see. Ergo, a broadcaster who has the freedom to sign fights with whomever they wish can bring the best boxers to their viewers' screens - whomever they might be promoted by.
For me, David Haye is the most exciting fighter in Britain - if not the world - at the moment and any deal with Setanta should prove great news for those who subscribe to the channel.
Alan Hubbard says in his column that Haye will be 'acting as his own promoter'. This might effectively be the case but perhaps not in technical terms. A source informs me that Haye and his manager/trainer/best mate Adam Booth might well take advantage of an existing licence in use by a current promoter.
All will be revealed on Tuesday afternoon.Comment
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I heard about that, but it's really not "MASSIVE" is it?Comment
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Hardly.
also weren't some of it about his self promoting, I thought I read?Comment
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One of the big problems of boxing, especially a few years ago, was fighters signing exclusive contracts with networks, thus allowing them to handpick soft opponents. Hopefully Haye doesn't do that.Comment
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Why didn't he sign with ITV?Comment
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I wonder if he will sign with HBO too.Comment
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