Amir Khan Back With Sky Sports, Signs Three-Fight Deal Starting With Dec. 10 Bout
by Scott Christ on Nov 10, 2011 5:20 PM EST
in Boxing News Analysis
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Amir Khan has announced a three-fight deal that will have him back on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, a move beneficial for both parties that ends some bitterness, moves Khan back off of what is frankly a marginal channel, and strengthens Sky's boxing brand in the face of legitimate competition from Frank Warren's BoxNation network.
Announcing my next fight will be on Sky Sports 1, its great teaming back up with sky and is a good way of giving my fans a chance to see me fight Live when im overseas, 3 fight deal starting with dec 10th clash with Peterson.
Khan (26-1, 18 KO) will face Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15 KO) on December 10 in Washington, D.C., a fight televised live in the United States by HBO.
In the U.K., Khan's last two fights with Paul McCloskey and Zab Judah have been televised by the much smaller Primetime after a falling out with Sky that started with the McCloskey bout. With the undercard of that show falling apart, Sky passed on putting the show on their Sky Box Office pay-per-view platform, and then failed to find a home for it on their family of sports networks. The money differential was pretty huge, too. Later, Sky abandoned all pay-per-view boxing, which led to Warren pulling out from Sky and starting the BoxNation network. That channel will go from free to a monthly subscription model on November 30.
Now, without Warren, Sky are facing a more limited outlook for their boxing coverage, and snapping up star fighters like this helps their cause. Khan combined with Carl Froch and the rest of the Matchroom Sport notables (Kell Brook, Darren Barker, Gavin Rees, the Prizefighter brand) to give Sky a formidable domestic presence as Warren expands his network's visibility and fight lineup, something that will likely only get stronger as time goes on. Warren is able to air live boxing at all hours, and has the time and money to pick up international fights that Sky will not. Recently, BoxNation has aired Lebedev vs Toney from Russia and Bute vs Johnson from Canada, to go along with their Sauerland Event partnership.
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Thank god
Sky have really been slacking lately, since Warren left theres barely been any boxing on there (Ringside & Prizefighter aside)
No doubt Khan/Floyd (if it got made) will be on PPV tho..
by Shitali Klitschko on Nov 10, 2011 5:24 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Im suprised Sky got the Kirkland Angulo fight at the weekend
Boxnation should have picked that up instead of the Bute card
Another good thing will come from Boxnation
Is the number of cards. BN will have Warren’s. But that leaves more open on Sky. The Hearn stable has made big strides and will fill many of these, but with Warren now exclusivly on BN, Hatton can put cards on sky, along with Maloney. The extra will just help grow these companies, and that in turn will help the fighters they represent. Also Hennessy (Fury) is getting exposure on Channel 5 which is good for the Big HW.
I wonder what will happen when there is a big domestic dust up for the British title between a Warren fighter and one of the others. Will Sky or BN carry it.
I wonder what will happen when there is a big domestic dust up for the British title between a Warren fighter and one of the others. Will Sky or BN carry it.
Yeah that’s a good question. They’ll probably just have to put in bids.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Nov 10, 2011 6:27 PM EST up reply actions
That's a valid point,
When FW teamed up with Setanta a few years back, he clearly enjoyed rubbing it in Sky’s face. He must’ve fallen out with somebody there.
It’s been good seeing boxing on C5 recently, Fury is on again at the weekend too.
Anybody know how much BN will eventually charge when the free period ends?
Hell yeah
Do you reckon when they do go subscription they will be able to afford more fights from abroad than what they are putting on now? Or do they continue with the model they have been using
by Sweet science on Nov 10, 2011 6:49 PM EST up reply actions
They’ve got Cotto-Margarito on 12/3. I’m guessing they wind up with more U.S. fights at least. I’d absolutely love for them to pick up Japanese feeds. They don’t even have to do English commentary. It’s a channel for boxing nuts.
And Aussie feeds.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Nov 10, 2011 6:59 PM EST up reply actions
Let's hope ay
I hope they get more Japenese feeds. I have no exposure to it… therfore I don’t really have an opinion on what goes down.
I know Nishioka can box!…. I know Ishida is game for an upset!!
I prefer to listen to English commentary. But I hate listening to nothing when it is a rubbish quality video to boot. BN has the potential to change that
by Sweet science on Nov 10, 2011 7:10 PM EST up reply actions
Tenner a month?
Really? Tenner on top of the Sky subscription for boxing I used to get for free? That’s a right bargain. Lynes beat Purdy last night in an amazing fight on a Wed for free. What was on Boxnation? If Boxnation was the only place to watch boxing fair enough, but it aint gonna be. This weekend it has jack all on a big weekend. Also the fact is that it is a British channel. It can have all the American boxing it wants, but I aint staying up for the majority of stuff, a la Hopkins – Dawson, because I can go to my bed and then download it for free next morning. Apart from that they will need to have one world title fight at GMT hours every month guaranteed to even get orders. Otherwise they’ll need to offer a month to month subscription like Setanta. And that worked for Setanta.
Full coverage of the whole card
Amateur championships…. We have had a card from Canada…. Germany….Russia…. As well as Warren’s shows. Good value for your standard boxing fanatic
Not to mention The Steve Bunce Show!!
by Sweet science on Nov 10, 2011 7:24 PM EST up reply actions
I would trip over myself to spend the equivalent $15 for a network like BoxNation.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Nov 10, 2011 7:27 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah
You pay 50 dollars for a single PPV! What kind of daylight robbery is that??
by Sweet science on Nov 10, 2011 7:33 PM EST up reply actions
70 now, if you want HD for a Floyd or Manny fight.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Nov 10, 2011 7:49 PM EST up reply actions
How much does it cost them to run? Who is going to subscribe? That is all my maths is asking. Will I get it? Certainly. Will my mates or brother or work colleagues? Hell no. Especially on top of their sky subscription. Maybe I’m totally overestimating their running costs but if Setanta failed with EPL football ontop of this then how is this working?
by Bryan Stewart on Nov 10, 2011 7:29 PM EST up reply actions
Setanta paid a big price for EPL football. BoxNation’s costs are fairly low, I believe. Certainly it could fail (I wouldn’t be shocked if it does) but I can’t see them overreaching just yet.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Nov 10, 2011 7:31 PM EST up reply actions
Setanta tried dipping their finger in too many things IMO
UFC, Soccer (EPL and Conference football. Didn’t they have England games too), Boxing… + more
by Sweet science on Nov 10, 2011 7:32 PM EST up reply actions
Setanta’s main cost was EPL, but it was also the impetus for the majority of their subscribers. Boxing as you state was a minimal part of it. But how many people in UK are willing to pay £10 a month for a purely boxing channel? And are the foreign feeds going to keep up or after next month is it going to be Frank Warren Promotions Nation? I am a negative nelly so I’m obviously going to be on the negative end of this argument but I’d need to see figures before I reckon this can be any kind of success or draw.
Plus it totally goes against building stars. If this continues the way its going in two more fights Tyson Fury on C5 is going to be twice the star of any Warren Fighter.
by Bryan Stewart on Nov 10, 2011 7:43 PM EST up reply actions
And are the foreign feeds going to keep up or after next month is it going to be Frank Warren Promotions Nation?
They have a long-term deal with Sauerland Event in place. They likely paid next to nothing for something like the Lebedev vs Toney card, too.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Nov 10, 2011 7:50 PM EST up reply actions
Yep, Warren is Lebedev’s promoter.
by Shitali Klitschko on Nov 10, 2011 8:01 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I have my doubts too, but you look at Primetime which charges 15 quid a fight and barely advertises it, and thats still in business so I dont see any reason why BoxNation cant too.
Warren has a column in a mainstream paper to shill the channel, plus a good cluster of reasonably well known fighters like DeGale and Groves so he isnt on a road to nowhere with this.
Plus dont forget Warren is tight with a few of the powers that be that get him plum ranking spots and thus title opportunities for his guys, bigger fights, more publicity etcetc etc etc
by Shitali Klitschko on Nov 10, 2011 8:09 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Oddly
Setanta still airs here in the US. No boxing though. All footie, all the time.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
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by Brickhaus on Nov 11, 2011 2:42 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Well it only costs a tenner a month if you do not have Sky and just go with the online stream. I will probably go with it for a while anyway.
On the original topic, probably the best thing that could have happened with Khan was sign back with Sky, he needs to stay visible and Sky could always do with having a big household name fighter.
Nobody will read this and care and why should they?
by Eoin_not_ian on Nov 10, 2011 7:52 PM EST up reply actions
While I conceptually disagree with multi-fight deals
I’m glad Sky isn’t completely eliminating boxing. Last thing we need is for boxing to only show decent fights on pay networks in the UK like it already is in the US.
Now if only someone could figure out how to set up an international online network.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Nov 11, 2011 2:41 AM EST via mobile reply actions
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