In Germany this evening we have one of the first stand out cards of the year with the following fights:
Ruslan Chagaev (27-2-1, 17) v Kerston Manswell (22-3, 17)
Denis Boytsov (29-0, 24) v Darnell Wilson (24-13-1, 20)
Rakhim Chakhkiev (11-0, 9) v Alexander Kotlobay (21-2-1, 15)
Juergen Braehmer (36-2, 19) v Jose Maria Guerrero (29-2-1, 11)
The card also features Ina Menzer, Vitali Tajbert, Firat Arslan, Marcel Meyerdiercks and the debut of Evgeny Tishchenko (a 6'5 Cruiserweight). To me this is a card that should be getting shown on British TV. Sky have a good excuse not to show it, they have Carl Frampton's card on instead (nowhere near as good but it does have British interest) though a "specialised" boxing channel which is instead showing repeats hasn't got an excuse at all.
Now I have been incredibly harsh (harsh but fair) on Box Nation since it started but for the "Home of Boxing" not to be picking up THIS card is a disgrace (a big disgrace). Boxnation promised it's subscribers 2 cards a weekend though this weekend has given it's loyal and paying customers NOTHING new (unless you count Steve Bunce's talk show "new", personally I can't stand the jumped up fat man). If you are a paying customer you must be annoyed that they haven't picked up this card, especially considering they didn't have anything on last Saturday either.
In fact (unless I'm making a counting error somewhere) Boxnation have only covered 3 shows all year (and we are 4 weeks into the year), that is less than 1 show a week..in fact rather than paying £1.25 a show as first advertised, the customers have paid £3.33 a show. So when one like this comes along why didn't they do everything they could to snap up the rights? A card like this is genuinely worth £3.33 to boxing fans, many other cards aren't. Here we have 4 interesting fights, a number of former world champions (Chagaev, Arslan, Braehmer, Tajbert and Menzer) and a number of future champions the card is genuinely stacked.
Last weekend Boxnation gave us a single card on Friday night with Derry Matthews facing unheralded Emiliano Marsili for the IBO. The main event was one of the best fights of January (genuinely good fight) but the under-card was a complete joke which saw the chief support being Steve Harkin v Jason Ball in a bout that looked like it could have been 2 drunks outside the Red Lion on a Friday night. I really cannot fathom how that Harkin v Ball fight ever made it's way near TV it was indefensible and shows all the skill levels of some untrained drunks (despite that it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons).
Thankfully it seems I'm no longer the only one sick of the channel promising the world but delivering nothing. Earlier this week James DeGale seemed to say (quite clearly) that he and Frank Warren were done, Frankie Gavin publicly complained about the money he had been offered to fight Jason Cook and the upcoming Tony Bellew v Danny McIntosh fight saw the purse bids won by Dave Caldwell instead of Bellew's promoter Warren. To say the least these have been interesting developments.
Saturday 28 January 2012
Wednesday 4 January 2012
Speak out Steve!
I've never been a big fan of Steve Bunce and his over-hyper nature when he has been on TV or even his writing for that matter. At the moment Mr Bunce works basically as the face of subscription TV channel "Box Nation" hosting not only his own weekly magazine show but also featuring on near enough every live card the channel has so far shown.
Personally I feel that Steve often comes across much like a child who has been eating sweets all day then been told to sit on TV. His hyper-activity and crazy rants are often misconstrued as enthusiasm for the sport rather than one mans love affair with his own vocal chords and more tellingly his views are all to often see through. Be it Bunce's pro-British stance or negative views towards certain fighters (notably a rant on Ismayl Sillahk) his opinion is shouted out at the TV...much like a fan of the sport. In fact it's because Steve is a fan of the sport that I'm writing this entry on the blog. First and foremost Steve comes across as a genuine fan, he shares his views an awful lot and comes across as unprofessional as a result. If you will he's a fan and then a journalist, not a straight journalist.
Because Steve Bunce strikes me as a fan of the sport I need to make a public plea, can EVERY British Boxing fan urge Steve to speak out. Bunce is one of the men who has a solid voice on Box Nation and is also one of the fans of the sport, he of all people should know what WE, the fans want to see, we want to see the same thing he wants to see. WE boxing fans, want to see good, 50-50 fights, not mismatches, not cynical attempts to cash in on a fighter and no over the top hyperbole to sell a fight.
Recently we've all heard that unbeaten Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11), the WBO Light Heavyweight Champion of the World will defend his title against the almost unknown Tommy Karpency (21-2-1, 14). Box Nation will be showing this fight live and yet EVERY boxing fan you can find is happy to tell you that this isn't a fight they want to see. The 25 year old Karpency has shown that he isn't the sort of quality that a world challenger needs to be, he has suffered losses to journeyman Rayco Saunders and former Cleverly victim Karo Murat as well as a draw with journeyman Demetrius Davis, he has yet to beat a fighter of any note at all. Now whilst it's fine for Frank Warren (Nathan Cleverly's promoter) to try and hype the fight, it would be awful for Bunce to push the fight as a good one. If Bunce attempts to pull the wool over our eyes we should just give up with the guy as he would sadly have proven he lacks the integrity that boxing fans deserve.
So again, I call on the boxing world to tell Bunce to Speak out!
Personally I feel that Steve often comes across much like a child who has been eating sweets all day then been told to sit on TV. His hyper-activity and crazy rants are often misconstrued as enthusiasm for the sport rather than one mans love affair with his own vocal chords and more tellingly his views are all to often see through. Be it Bunce's pro-British stance or negative views towards certain fighters (notably a rant on Ismayl Sillahk) his opinion is shouted out at the TV...much like a fan of the sport. In fact it's because Steve is a fan of the sport that I'm writing this entry on the blog. First and foremost Steve comes across as a genuine fan, he shares his views an awful lot and comes across as unprofessional as a result. If you will he's a fan and then a journalist, not a straight journalist.
Because Steve Bunce strikes me as a fan of the sport I need to make a public plea, can EVERY British Boxing fan urge Steve to speak out. Bunce is one of the men who has a solid voice on Box Nation and is also one of the fans of the sport, he of all people should know what WE, the fans want to see, we want to see the same thing he wants to see. WE boxing fans, want to see good, 50-50 fights, not mismatches, not cynical attempts to cash in on a fighter and no over the top hyperbole to sell a fight.
Recently we've all heard that unbeaten Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11), the WBO Light Heavyweight Champion of the World will defend his title against the almost unknown Tommy Karpency (21-2-1, 14). Box Nation will be showing this fight live and yet EVERY boxing fan you can find is happy to tell you that this isn't a fight they want to see. The 25 year old Karpency has shown that he isn't the sort of quality that a world challenger needs to be, he has suffered losses to journeyman Rayco Saunders and former Cleverly victim Karo Murat as well as a draw with journeyman Demetrius Davis, he has yet to beat a fighter of any note at all. Now whilst it's fine for Frank Warren (Nathan Cleverly's promoter) to try and hype the fight, it would be awful for Bunce to push the fight as a good one. If Bunce attempts to pull the wool over our eyes we should just give up with the guy as he would sadly have proven he lacks the integrity that boxing fans deserve.
So again, I call on the boxing world to tell Bunce to Speak out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)