£120 FOR TV FIGHT FEST
FANS will need deep pockets to keep up with the boom in British boxing this autumn and winter. With Tyson Fury’s world heavyweight title fight against Deontay Wilder agreed for November, at least six pay- per- view blockbusters are in the pipeline.
To see the lot will cost £120 with the possibility that more big fights will be added to the schedule before Christmas.
That spells war between the TV giants. Sky’s domination is being challenged by BT, while ITV snipe from the wings. The biggest ratings battle will be between Wilder v Fury and Anthony Joshua v Alexander Povetkin.
Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez open the bidding on BT in their bitter and controversial middleweight championship rematch in Las Vegas on September 15.
Sky hit back a week later with Joshua defending his collection of world heavyweight titles against Povetkin at Wembley Stadium.
Six days later, ITV enter the fray with George Groves putting his world supermiddleweight title on the line in the final of the World Super Series against Callum Smith, on a Friday night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Come November, probably the 17th in Las Vegas, Wilder and Fury collide in a war of the heavyweight worlds.
That is on BT, who will also screen December’s potential fight of the year between hugely popular UK featherweights Carl Frampton and reigning IBF world champion Josh Warrington.
Further inroads into Christmas savings will follow, assuming Amir Khan beats journeyman Samuel Vargas on September 8 in Birmingham, as he should. Promoter Eddie Hearn and Sky are looking to put Khan on payper-view in December in a challenge to world welterweight king Manny Pacquiao or a Battle of Britain with Kell Brook. There is always some resentment among boxing fans when pay- per- view charges are added to cable network subscription fees.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren explains: ‘ We would not be able to make these big fights happen and reward boxers properly if it wasn’t for per-per-view.
‘It is BT here and Showtime in America who are making it possible for us to bring Tyson and Deontay together.’
The pay-per-view potential persuaded Wilder, as the WBC world title holder, and Fury, the lineal champion, to agree a straight 50-50 split which the American was unable to secure for a unification fight with Joshua.