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Hearn - Khan has failed screen test


WelshDevilRob

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HEARN - KHAN HAS FAILED SCREEN TEST

 

Amir Khan's world title defence against Paul McCloskey on Saturday is being overshadowed by an ongoing row about a lack of mainstream television coverage, with the champion's team being accused of "operational incompetence" and "commercial suicide".

 

The WBA light-welterweight champion's voluntary defence against unbeaten McCloskey in Manchester will be shown on the low-profile Primetime TV channel after a fall-out with Sky Sports.

 

McCloskey's promoter Eddie Hearn claims his fighter is now earning more from the fight than the champion and accused Khan's team of "total commercial suicide" and "operational incompetence" on Thursday.

 

Khan's American promoter Oscar De La Hoya and the fighter himself rejected the criticism, claiming they will enjoy a significant pay-day from American TV giant HBO.

 

The MEN Arena bill was due to be on Sky Box Office before being downgraded to Sky Sports 3 by the broadcasting giant, who decided to exert a degree of quality control. It is understood Khan's team then took umbrage at not being on Sky Sports 1 or 2 and therefore threw their lot in with the minor pay-per-view outfit Primetime.

 

Hearn, of Matchroom Sport, said: "If we keep doing things like this, we'll kill the game.

 

"Don't be stubborn and stupid and kill your relationship with Sky. It shows stubbornness and a lack of understanding of the TV market.

 

"There's not one person who thinks this was the right decision."

 

Hearn's man has not been affected financially, having negotiated a lump sum, but he will miss out on exposure by not being on normal subscription television.

 

"Revenge is a dish best served cold," Hearn said. "I don't think we've ever seen goings on like the last week before in British boxing.

 

"I have nothing but full respect for Amir Khan and I wonder how the loss of probably a million and a half pounds through the operational incompetence of his team will affect him on the night.

 

"Of course we had problems, of which it is not my right to go into, and this fight was taken off pay-per-view. We all know the undercard which was put together was not accepted by the broadcaster.

 

"In 20 years of working in the fight game, we've never experienced that kind of action.

 

"I think what has been done here has probably killed Amir's credibility in the UK, certainly with our leading sports broadcaster.

 

"As for the fight, we can't wait. The money goes out the window. We all know now that Paul McCloskey will be receiving more money for this fight than Amir Khan but it's not about money, it's about a lad from Dungiven who is coming here with an army of Irish fans and a dream from a very young age to become a world champion."

 

American ring legend and Golden Boy Promotions president De La Hoya rejected Hearn's criticism, however.

 

He countered: "When Khan decided to go to Primetime, people are saying 'what are you doing, you're crazy!'

 

"Well years from now we're going to see who is crazy.

 

"HBO didn't pick up this fight for free. If you think Amir Khan is not making money, you've got another thing coming."

 

Hearn, though, responded: "I respect you totally but I do not respect your knowledge of boxing in the UK and the television market. To say that it is about the fans and take it off the biggest platform in the UK and put it on a small channel with about 5,000 viewers is total commercial suicide.

 

"To cost your client £1.5million is unacceptable to any sportsman."

 

Source:

www.sportinglife.com

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I think alot has changed at Sky with the knowledgeable Adam Smith taking over the reigns. Trouble is he is still tied to his predecessors contract which ends in June - so fights upto that date and contracts with promoters etc are out of Smiths hands.

Though he seems to have seen that Khan vs Mcloskey wasn't viable as a PPV, especially when no creditable undercard fight could be made when others fell through.

Sky offered SkySports 3, as an alternative which initself has limitations, as I think alot of people don't have that channel.

It was Khans handlers and not Hatton promotions who rejected the idea of Sky 3 and chose the alternative route of PPV on Primetime.

 

Only time will see how it works out but this fight IMO is never a PPV. Also, Khan's comments of bringing the big fights to the UK fans is laughable as he surely can't believe this is a big fight.

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Just when I thought that SKY were going to change things for the better in regards to PPV, they have just gone and stuck Degale vs Groves on it.

 

I think thats partly due to Cleverly v Breahmer...

 

It is. But Nathan Cleverly PPV material? I don't think so.

 

PPV should be reserved for elite fighters, just like how it used to be when PPV first started. We shouldn't have to pay extra to watch upstarts like Gavin.

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Just when I thought that SKY were going to change things for the better in regards to PPV, they have just gone and stuck Degale vs Groves on it.

 

I think thats partly due to Cleverly v Breahmer...

 

It is. But Nathan Cleverly PPV material? I don't think so.

 

PPV should be reserved for elite fighters, just like how it used to be when PPV first started. We shouldn't have to pay extra to watch upstarts like Gavin.

 

Whilst I agree, Sky know there will be a decent undercard on there with 2 pretty exciting looking fights, not a single noteworthy fight.

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Just when I thought that SKY were going to change things for the better in regards to PPV, they have just gone and stuck Degale vs Groves on it.

 

I think thats partly due to Cleverly v Breahmer...

 

It is. But Nathan Cleverly PPV material? I don't think so.

 

PPV should be reserved for elite fighters, just like how it used to be when PPV first started. We shouldn't have to pay extra to watch upstarts like Gavin.

 

Skav-

 

I'm a product of the Closed Circuit Days and I think that's made me very anti-PPV with regard to what is offered up today. In the CC days we might go an entire year with nothing being available to us and you'd be doing well have any year in which there would be as many as three offerings. Because of the cost involved in airing them, tying up auditoriums and theatres plus what at the time was expensive Satellite access, there was never the slightest possibility you'd see a fighter of Gavin's stature headlining one of those, but for those who DO want to watch......

 

I've been kind of disappointed that the Internet hasn't provided more of an option to PPV, when I first went online in the early Ninties I thought we'd be WAY ahead of where we are now. Don't get me wrong, I've ENJOYED being able to watch Feeds for Free, but I just pictured the expensive $40 PPV's on TV having been replaced by lower cost Streams quite some time ago. I guess I underestimated the Greed of those who run our Sport (or overestimated their ability to see the damage they've done to their own product by narrowing it's exposure).

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Frank Warren Breaks Down Amir Khan's UK TV Problems

 

By Frank Warren

 

AMIR KHAN'S preparations for tonight's fight could not have been any worse this week - with the distractions going on behind the scenes with his finances and the broadcasting of his bout.

 

Sky Sports decided that Khan's light-welterweight defence against Paul McCloskey at the MEN was not worthy of pay-per-view and would only broadcast the bout on Sky Sports 3 at short notice.

 

This caused Team Khan to walk away and do a deal for pay-per-view on Primetime.

 

Amir and one of his spokesmen have said he is "a pay-per-view fighter". He may be, but the fact is him against McCloskey with a poor undercard is not a pay-per-view event - that's what the issue is and the problem Team Khan do not seem to understand.

 

If the main event isn't so strong then you have to beef the card up with quality fights.

 

I had the same problem when Khan had his last fight with me, his mandatory defence against the out-of-depth Dmitriy Salita.

 

I argued with Team Khan the amount of money that needed to be spent to ensure a competitive undercard. They disagreed but I insisted and it was a good job I did.

 

After Salita folded in the first round, the top-quality undercard saved the show.

 

Why argue the point? Simple, because when boxers promote themselves they cut corners, try and save every penny they can to boost their end of the cut.

 

It's understandable, but it does nothing for the development of future stars and short changes the public.

 

I've been asked if James DeGale and George Groves is worthy of a PPV.

 

They are both unbeaten and I think their intense rivalry sells the fight, but don't forget the main event is a cracking world title showdown between Nathan Cleverly and Jurgen Braehmer with other title bouts.

 

Pay-per-view was the only way to put this show together. And tickets are going like hot cakes!

 

Khan's purse will now be a fraction of what he expected. He has lost his Sky guarantee, his Primetime deal is a 50 per cent split of the pay-per-view revenue.

 

The official line is that ticket sales have been fantastic. But with Man U, Man City and Bolton in FA Cup ties at Wembley this weekend I'd be surprised if they get more than 8,000 at the MEN.

 

It will be a far cry from the 18,000 fans I got in for Khan's fight with Marco Antonio Barrera there.

 

I'm sure his purses have been less than I offered him the last three times he has fought. And I can't see things getting much better for him in the summer.

 

Sky won't be pleased. After all, McCloskey was supposed to be a warm-up fight. Khan was banking on them to show his proposed match-up with Timothy Bradley on PPV in July.

 

There's now a good chance it will wind up on Primetime again, especially as Sky already have one PPV show late June/early July, with David Haye set to take on Wladimir Klitschko.

 

The problem here is fighters promoting themselves.

 

Obviously I would say that. But the common theme with shows put on by the likes of David Haye in his last show, Audley Harrison driving the Beeb out of boxing and now Khan, is that the fans are the ones who miss out on quality undercards.

 

This week, head of Sky Sports Barney Francis told me boxing was a "headache" to deal with. But the broadcasters should take some responsibility too. They chose to deal direct, in some cases, with unlicensed operators.

 

And the British Boxing Board of Control should be doing more to prevent unlicensed people getting involved.

 

In the last week or so, I told Kell Brook I did not want to promote him any more. I was fed up with constantly dealing with his father, rather than Kell himself.

 

It felt like the situation that led to the breakdown of my relationship with Ricky Hatton.

 

All the fallout from this week is bound to have had some effect on Khan. But he has operated several levels up from McCloskey for some time now and it would be a major shock if he didn't beat him.

 

TWO rough, tough fights from Vegas last week on Sky - Marcos Maidana v Erik Morales and Robert Guerrero v Michael Katsidis.

 

You had to feel for Aussie tough guy Katsidis when he thought to have found a clue in working Guerrero's body in the eighth round.

 

The referee was a disgrace docking him points, stopping his comeback.

 

OUT of the mouth of babes! Eddie Hearn this week said "our fighters need a regular platform to showcase their talents headlining on shows on Saturday nights, not on pay-per-view with only a quarter of the audience".

 

Young Eddie is remembered for his ridiculous hype that Audley Harrison was going to destroy David Haye.

 

Yes, it was pay-per-view.

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Love him or hate him,

.

 

You say that like there's a choice involved.

 

He's done plenty for the sport so deserves a lil love even if he is ...what we call him...I don't mind him too much because the worst you get is a B level card usually and he actually does promote the stuff rather than follow the Gary Shaw plan of make the fights but don't publicise fights...He makes his fighters plenty of money as well which is what the promoter should do whether we like it or not...Though yes he should be putting on more 50-50 type match ups he's certainly no worse for mis matches than Top Rank or GBP.

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He may be no worse than Top Rank but I despise Bob Arum as well. I haven't followed GBP's track record quite so closely, so can't comment there.

 

I beleieve anything Warren has done for the sport has been motivated entirely by self-interest, so I won't be giving him credit, and to say most of his cards are B level is true only if you start with A+

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He may be no worse than Top Rank but I despise Bob Arum as well. I haven't followed GBP's track record quite so closely, so can't comment there.

 

I beleieve anything Warren has done for the sport has been motivated entirely by self-interest, so I won't be giving him credit, and to say most of his cards are B level is true only if you start with A+

 

I'll have a golden boy rant tomorrow if I remember, but they are scummy gits imo

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