Comments Thread For: Froch: Saudi Arabia's Millions Are 'Ruining' Boxing

[P to the J]

Welcome to capitalism, baby!

Don’t give me any **** about other systems btw — heard it all before - this is just what happens with a system based on infinite growth.

TLDR: you gotta be out your freaking mind if you think MFs are handing over their cash

[BustedKnuckles]

The only thing I can't stand about the Saudi's getting involved is a lot of these fights are oddly being shown when the sun is still shining and it's fookin weird. I liked the late night fights especially the old school days of Jim Lampley and what's with having flipping commercials during a boxing match? That's the stuff that needs changed and filtered out. No more ESPN BS. DAZN isn't bad. Be just fine if they hired Lamps, Max Kellerman (Larry is a bit too old for the role) and maybe bring Roy back the old HBO crew and show the fights later in the evening. It's just not cool having my main event ring walk at 5pm. Something about that just sucks. Aside from that the Saudi's are doing us all a favor by forcing these divas into a match by offering them money they can't refuse.

AND I can't remember if it's DAZN or ESPN... but they need to stop:

1. Splitting the screen to show a replay or the end of a commercial during the fight. My 65" tv suddenly turns into a 25" fight.

2. Splitting the screen to show the corners during the fight. I want to see the fighters fighting, not trainers shouting stuff.

3. These goofy angles from the floor looking up at the fighters. It's like staring up from the ground. What kind of view is that?

4. Zooming in from 300 feet away for the first few seconds of a round. Eventually somebody is gonna get KOd during that zoom and we won't see it.

As for Saudis, they are making good fights. But these fighters sit around all year (or 2) after getting paid for 1 fight. So more money, even for good fights, might just make it worse. It's a catch22 there.

[M312]

The BBBoC broke their rules to officiate in Saudi, they defo getting money under the table. If they don't spend that money on grassroots, that's hardly Saudis fault (a better argument would be the sportwashing argument).

[Clegg]

It's often been the case that the big name UK guys go and fight in the US for bigger money. AJ and Fury were already aiming for that but AJ lost to Ruiz in his US debut and Fury was banned from the US for his Kinahan ties. So even without Saudi involvement, those 2 could've been fighting outside the UK anyway if things had gone differently.

Some of the UK domestic fights are better off happening in the UK. Some of these guys are 4th or 5th down the bill on a Saudi show rather than headlining a UK venue. Can't blame them for taking the money though and suspect Froch would've done the same.

[Bobby Tony]

AND I can't remember if it's DAZN or ESPN... but they need to stop:

1. Splitting the screen to show a replay or the end of a commercial during the fight. My 65" tv suddenly turns into a 25" fight.

2. Splitting the screen to show the corners during the fight. I want to see the fighters fighting, not trainers shouting stuff.

3. These goofy angles from the floor looking up at the fighters. It's like staring up from the ground. What kind of view is that?

4. Zooming in from 300 feet away for the first few seconds of a round. Eventually somebody is gonna get KOd during that zoom and we won't see it.

As for Saudis, they are making good fights. But these fighters sit around all year (or 2) after getting paid for 1 fight. So more money, even for good fights, might just make it worse. It's a catch22 there.

THANK YOU for this! On #2, I go crazy when they 'play audio' from the corner which is fine versus hearing Tim Bradley but why you gotta penalize us with the ****ty half size screen while these two ugly ****ers are taking up half the landscape. Who greenlit this idea?

[Sparked_26]

Whilst I would support funding for grassroots British boxing I cant see how it's the Saudi's issue. They're not British ffs and they are sportswashing. We all know that.

This is nothing new regarding the distribution of cash we all know 99% of professional boxers are getting absolutely done in.

Al-Turki did randomly scout Mark Chamberlain and put him on a bill. What they will want heading forward is guaranteed barnburners on their bills and a sure fire way to get 50/50 fights is to host British title fights which are carefully curated. There could be a jackpot their for British fighters if the promoters can come together - you just want more avenues where fighters which aren't big ticket sellers can get a wedge. Would be a shot in the arm for the British title.

[Eff Pandas]

Who in the fook is ****** enough to think more money in boxing is bad?

I mean net bad cuz there are pros & cons to anything. Overall its net great Saudis (& YTers) are bringing in new money to boxing rn.

[theface07]

The only thing I can't stand about the Saudi's getting involved is a lot of these fights are oddly being shown when the sun is still shining and it's fookin weird. I liked the late night fights especially the old school days of Jim Lampley and what's with having flipping commercials during a boxing match? That's the stuff that needs changed and filtered out. No more ESPN BS. DAZN isn't bad. Be just fine if they hired Lamps, Max Kellerman (Larry is a bit too old for the role) and maybe bring Roy back the old HBO crew and show the fights later in the evening. It's just not cool having my main event ring walk at 5pm. Something about that just sucks. Aside from that the Saudi's are doing us all a favor by forcing these divas into a match by offering them money they can't refuse.

I'm totally with you on the ads during fights, it's ridiculous. A lot of times they'll have ads between rounds so you don't get to see or hear what's going on in the corners. Greedy investors are trying to milk as much money as they can from sponsorship but to be honest, gratuitous advertising and sponsorship has invaded every popular pro sport. Even the large majority of arenas are named after huge companies and corporations instead of having names to honour the people and places of the past that were influential and important to the sport.
I am also nostalgic about the glory days of HBO Boxing when they had an incredible commentating team and the production was top notch, making the fights even more memorable. Unfortunately now we have to listen to a lot of clowns with no character, unique delivery style or true knowledge of the sport. It's kind of funny but the best commentating team now belongs to one of the newest players in the game, Probox TV.
Love him or hate him, at least Paulie isn't afraid to speak his mind even if it offends somebody. It's refreshing in a world of butt licking yes men.

[Eff Pandas]

they are sportswashing

This is the real issue with Saudis in the game & the money they bring.

That said I think they are doing a great job making things look as good as possible beyond that tho. The quality of the shows. The amounts ppl are paid. The marketing. The respect boxers get shown going there.

But not unlike with Kinahan I think the sport washing element of this COULD flip this whole thing on its head at some point. But with how they are finessing things its probably not likely or at least likely anytime soon.

[theface07]

Who in the fook is ****** enough to think more money in boxing is bad?

I mean net bad cuz there are pros & cons to anything. Overall its net great Saudis (& YTers) are bringing in new money to boxing rn.

I hear what you're saying but there are pros and cons to the Saudi involvement and the youtuber boxers. Yes, it's good that the Saudi's have enough cash to make big fights that would have otherwise had a small chance of happening but it also means less money and attention is going towards local cards in other parts of the world where there are a lot of up and coming boxers who are seeking opportunities to be seen on a broadcasted fight card. With less big fights happening in the UK and the US in particular, the undercard fights who would be on those cards now have to fight on even smaller cards for less money.
As for the youtubers, I honestly don't think they will bring that much more interest to boxing long term. Most of the youtube fans are interested in one thing, seeing their favourite youtubers in the ring. If such youtube boxers get beat or stop boxing for whatever reason, their legions of prepubescent lemming fans will most likely go away with them.