Comments Thread For: Boxxer agrees on 'historic' broadcast deal with BBC

[NotIron]

I wonder if younger fighters will see this as a good platform to get exposure before moving onto those who can drive the big PPV fights?

Boxxer might have found a nice little niche here.

Although Shalom might also screw it up.

BBC prime time I think is definitely a good deal for them.

[BoxerWriter]

Well, this is a pleasant surprise. The BBC getting back into boxing is a positive no matter how you look at it. Their sports coverage remains among the best in the world and between their flagship terrestrial channels and iPlayer, they're accessible by pretty much every household in the UK (as well as anyone with access to iPlayer internationally). It could be a huge platform for Boxxer's stable of fighters if it works out. I really hope the BBC gets behind the idea and supports it properly, and I really hope Boxxer can get it right too - they're really going to have to focus on quality fights as they're not going to get a slot every weekend so they'll need to make their opportunities count with genuinely competitive, entertaining fights. Their stable isn't bad when you consider they've got Ben Whitaker, Frazer Clarke, Chris Billam-Smith, Callum Simpson, Adam Azim, Lauren Price, Caroline Dubois, Martin Bakole, Viddall Riley, and Fran Hennessey. If they can build shows around those fighters and put them in 50-50 fights then they could be onto something. The key would be putting as many of those names on one card together as they can on a regular basis to deliver a genuinely strong 2-3 hours of boxing rather than individual shows headlined by each of them with forgettable no-name undercards. That may depend on the time slot that the BBC gives them though. As someone else said, Frazer Clarke vs TKV seems an obvious first fight. I'd definitely look to put Whitaker or Azim on the undercard though. The BBC will also likely be able to draft in the the likes of Steve Bunce and Richie Woodhall on presenting duty, since they both regularly work for the BBC (Buncey's BBC podcast could easily be turned into a weekly preview / review show on iPlayer as well as retaining its podcast format). I wonder if they might bring Mike Costello back too on commentary. The whole thing has a lot of potential - and it will be free to air which is another bonus for fans. As an aside, I wonder what this means for Sky? They have a lot of good boxing people on their books - Andy Clarke, Andy Scott, Johnny Nelson etc, but now no boxing. That feels like the end of an era, even if the return of the BBC feels like the start of a new one.

[BoxerWriter]

I just read that Boxxer's PPV shows will be shown by another broadcaster. That's unusual. They don't really have any PPVs stars other than Eubank Jr so they could have easily put their entire stable on the BBC for free. It's a little disappointing they'll still be doing PPVs but I suppose it's the financial reality and they sometimes need to happen to pay for certain fights. I just hope they'd kept to a minimum and most of their shows go on the BBC.

[BoxerWriter]

I keep hearing that some of Boxxer's stable are signed to Sky so it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out and who stays with Boxxer. Obviously Buatsi is already gone. Perhaps that's the real reason for the two broadcaster arrangement and certain fighters will only appear on Sky Box Office shows as a result?