A GRAND PLAN
ANTHONY JOSHUA vs Deontay Wilder at York Hall? Sounds ridiculous. Of course it would never happen. But Team Joshua should consider the idea as a valid and lucrative profit-making experiment. The benefits for all would be astonishing. The York Hall box office would be besieged, and overdemand would be guaranteed. With a gate of only 2,000, there would be no need to use an agency to sell seats. Tickets could be sold by a ballot, in the same way that football clubs sell their tickets when demand exceeds supply. Because of the huge TV money, the gate takings would be irrelevant.
At present, the public pay good money to attend a major Wembley show featuring Joshua. However, most of the spectators end up watching the action on the big screens in the stadium, as they are so far from the ring. Of course, they can say ‘I was there’, but in fact they would be better off staying at home and watching on TV. At York Hall, every attendee has a great view. Nobody brings binoculars to York Hall! It has a real atmosphere, whereas, in my opinion, Wembley does not. No matter how many dancers, singers, lighting effects and trendy ring announcers there are, the atmosphere is cold and distant. A show at Wembley does not begin to compare to the electricity generated at York Hall.
I can imagine Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, would read this and say, ‘I’d be unable to generate enough turnover to make it work.’ He’d be right! But here’s the solution: cut the price of the payper-view to £5. Yes, a fiver! That would increase turnover sixfold. It would work! By reducing the price, many more people would purchase the pay-per-view. In exactly the same way, if the pay-perview price was increased to £40, there certainly would be fewer purchases. Many economists agree that if the income tax rate was slashed, revenue to the treasury would increase dramatically. The lower the tax rate, the higher the tax income. The same would apply to big-fight economics.
The fringe benefits cannot be overstated. New fight fans could be created and won over by a boxer of Joshua’s magnetism. The sport in general would see a dramatic increase in popularity. And, most incredible of all, a boxing promoter brave enough to give this idea a try would be a popular hero!
I want no fee for this letter; a ringside seat at York Hall would do just fine! Max Winberg
WILLIAMS WAS ROBBED
I’VE been involved in boxing for a very long time and it’s been a while since I’ve seen a robbery as big as the Enron scandal. Zach Parker was courageous and resilient, but come on, Darryll Williams won that fight and deserves an immediate rematch to set the record straight. As for the judges who scored in favour of Parker, they should be held to account. Cassius Campbell
BURNETT’S BAD LUCK
BOXING can be such a cruel sport at times, and I can’t express enough how sorry I felt for Ryan Burnett after he was forced to retire from his WBSS clash with Nonito Donaire due to injury. Ryan’s hands-down, flashy style that has established him at the top of the 118lb division is one of the most eye-catching in the whole sport, and it’s such a shame that we won’t get a chance to see it in the current bantamweight tournament. Here’s hoping he makes a full recovery from his injury and gets a well-deserved shot at whoever the eventual winner of the competition turns out to be. Andy Parsons