Hearn - Khan has failed screen test

HEARN - KHAN HAS FAILED SCREEN TEST

Amir Khan's world title defence against Paul McCloskey on Saturday is being overshadowed by an ongoing row about a lack of mainstream television coverage, with the champion's team being accused of "operational incompetence" and "commercial suicide".

The WBA light-welterweight champion's voluntary defence against unbeaten McCloskey in Manchester will be shown on the low-profile Primetime TV channel after a fall-out with Sky Sports.

McCloskey's promoter Eddie Hearn claims his fighter is now earning more from the fight than the champion and accused Khan's team of "total commercial suicide" and "operational incompetence" on Thursday.

Khan's American promoter Oscar De La Hoya and the fighter himself rejected the criticism, claiming they will enjoy a significant pay-day from American TV giant HBO.

The MEN Arena bill was due to be on Sky Box Office before being downgraded to Sky Sports 3 by the broadcasting giant, who decided to exert a degree of quality control. It is understood Khan's team then took umbrage at not being on Sky Sports 1 or 2 and therefore threw their lot in with the minor pay-per-view outfit Primetime.

Hearn, of Matchroom Sport, said: "If we keep doing things like this, we'll kill the game.

"Don't be stubborn and stupid and kill your relationship with Sky. It shows stubbornness and a lack of understanding of the TV market.

"There's not one person who thinks this was the right decision."

Hearn's man has not been affected financially, having negotiated a lump sum, but he will miss out on exposure by not being on normal subscription television.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold," Hearn said. "I don't think we've ever seen goings on like the last week before in British boxing.

"I have nothing but full respect for Amir Khan and I wonder how the loss of probably a million and a half pounds through the operational incompetence of his team will affect him on the night.

"Of course we had problems, of which it is not my right to go into, and this fight was taken off pay-per-view. We all know the undercard which was put together was not accepted by the broadcaster.

"In 20 years of working in the fight game, we've never experienced that kind of action.

"I think what has been done here has probably killed Amir's credibility in the UK, certainly with our leading sports broadcaster.

"As for the fight, we can't wait. The money goes out the window. We all know now that Paul McCloskey will be receiving more money for this fight than Amir Khan but it's not about money, it's about a lad from Dungiven who is coming here with an army of Irish fans and a dream from a very young age to become a world champion."

American ring legend and Golden Boy Promotions president De La Hoya rejected Hearn's criticism, however.

He countered: "When Khan decided to go to Primetime, people are saying 'what are you doing, you're crazy!'

"Well years from now we're going to see who is crazy.

"HBO didn't pick up this fight for free. If you think Amir Khan is not making money, you've got another thing coming."

Hearn, though, responded: "I respect you totally but I do not respect your knowledge of boxing in the UK and the television market. To say that it is about the fans and take it off the biggest platform in the UK and put it on a small channel with about 5,000 viewers is total commercial suicide.

"To cost your client £1.5million is unacceptable to any sportsman."

Source: sportinglife

You might not see Khan fight in Britain for a while after this, Sky have been a farce.

HBO and Goldenboy is the way to go Amir, fight in Vegas, might as well move there

D4thincarnation wrote:You might not see Khan fight in Britain for a while after this, Sky have been a farce.

HBO and Goldenboy is the way to go Amir, fight in Vegas, might as well move there

I believe this is his plan all along D4 which is why he's more than happy to put 2 fingers up to Sky and the paying British fans.

The Galveston Giant wrote:

D4thincarnation wrote:You might not see Khan fight in Britain for a while after this, Sky have been a farce.

HBO and Goldenboy is the way to go Amir, fight in Vegas, might as well move there

I believe this is his plan all along D4 which is why he's more than happy to put 2 fingers up to Sky and the paying British fans.

Maybe so, but who can blame him. Where would you prefer to fight and train, Vegas or Manchester?

D4thincarnation wrote:

The Galveston Giant wrote:

D4thincarnation wrote:You might not see Khan fight in Britain for a while after this, Sky have been a farce.

HBO and Goldenboy is the way to go Amir, fight in Vegas, might as well move there

I believe this is his plan all along D4 which is why he's more than happy to put 2 fingers up to Sky and the paying British fans.

Maybe so, but who can blame him. Where would you prefer to fight and train, Vegas or Manchester?

True but this was supposed to be some sort of homecoming fight for the fans and has turned into a bit of a farce, i think we all know as soon as it's finished he's off back to Vegas and HBO, i don't blame him for that, i just thought the reason he was fighting back in Britain for the fans, the whole event has been questioned ever since Mcloskey was announced as an opponent, and only seems to be one thing after another, just a bit strange how not long before he seemed to be pricing himself out of a lot of fights, he can do what he wants, i just want to stop him saying 'for the fans', 'the fans' all the time.

The Galveston Giant wrote:

D4thincarnation wrote:

The Galveston Giant wrote:

D4thincarnation wrote:You might not see Khan fight in Britain for a while after this, Sky have been a farce.

HBO and Goldenboy is the way to go Amir, fight in Vegas, might as well move there

I believe this is his plan all along D4 which is why he's more than happy to put 2 fingers up to Sky and the paying British fans.

Maybe so, but who can blame him. Where would you prefer to fight and train, Vegas or Manchester?

True but this was supposed to be some sort of homecoming fight for the fans and has turned into a bit of a farce, i think we all know as soon as it's finished he's off back to Vegas and HBO, i don't blame him for that, i just thought the reason he was fighting back in Britain for the fans, the whole event has been questioned ever since Mcloskey was announced as an opponent, and only seems to be one thing after another, just a bit strange how not long before he seemed to be pricing himself out of a lot of fights, he can do what he wants, i just want to stop him saying 'for the fans', 'the fans' all the time.

Don't think you can blame Khan for that though, is Hatton promotions in involved or is it Khan promotions. Seem a bit of a joke what Sky are doing because of all the tripe they have put on with Khan before.

I think alot has changed at Sky with the knowledgeable Adam Smith taking over the reigns. Trouble is he is still tied to his predecessors contract which ends in June - so fights upto that date and contracts with promoters etc are out of Smiths hands.
Though he seems to have seen that Khan vs Mcloskey wasn't viable as a PPV, especially when no creditable undercard fight could be made when others fell through.
Sky offered SkySports 3, as an alternative which initself has limitations, as I think alot of people don't have that channel.
It was Khans handlers and not Hatton promotions who rejected the idea of Sky 3 and chose the alternative route of PPV on Primetime.

Only time will see how it works out but this fight IMO is never a PPV. Also, Khan's comments of bringing the big fights to the UK fans is laughable as he surely can't believe this is a big fight.

Very true Rob, D4 i know Hatton promotions are involved but looking at it, there's no way all this is their call.

The Galveston Giant wrote:Very true Rob, D4 i know Hatton promotions are involved but looking at it, there's no way all this is their call.

No I mean whoever the promoters are they should have put a decent card together.

Sorry D4, your quite right too.

I dont think you can blame Sky for this. Following the Haye v Audley debacle and with Adam smith now in charge they are concerned with quality control. Khan has never done enormous PPV numbers and its wrong to suggest they have to put him on PPV no matter what. The fact is the undercard was poor to start with and then fell apart, plus there are other bigger sporting events on that weekend that are expected to affect sales. Reports were that pre-purchases of the fight were significantly lower than normal for a PPV event. I myself stated when the fight was made it was not PPV worthy and I wouldnt pay for it, seems like most others have the same view.

If Khan had any sense he would have accepeted it was a no-goer in PPV terms and taken the SS3 offer, with a view to putting on a good performance and working with Sky to build the Bradley fight into a big PPV event. Instead they ran to PrimeTime, a micket mouse company and in the process not only caused Khan to end up fighting for nothing in terms of UK revenue, but also scorning the biggest UK sports broadcaster. It's poor business and poor PR. Khans problem is he is surrounded by sychophants and wide boys who are too dependent on him for their income to give him objective advice. Surrounding yourself with "yes" men always leads to disaster.

It doesnt matter what Oscar says, he knows nothing about the UK market where most of Khans fanbase exists. Khan is NOT a big name in America, and if he loses to Bradley he'll be even less of a big name because they only remember the winners over there - and with no Sky onboard he'll really be in trouble. Any fool can see that this is poor business from Khan and that he is surrounded by incompetent "yes" men. Never mix family with business.

You make a good point Sugar Boy, if it all goes Pete Tong in America, will Sky have him back?

The Galveston Giant wrote:You make a good point Sugar Boy, if it all goes Pete Tong in America, will Sky have him back?

It all depends on the manner of defeat, Khan is marketable and has a growing following in America and his hardcore fans will support him no matter what.

Obviously the more Khan loses he less marketable he will be, but Khan is a talented boxer and can go far, Sky could be missing out.

One thing that this does show is that there is a lack in competition in the boxing coverage in this country. We need a channel like Sententa.

Setanta was the one, nearly cried when they went bust, home of boxing, home of UFC, home of the SPL, gutted.

The Galveston Giant wrote:Setanta was the one, nearly cried when they went bust, home of boxing, home of UFC, home of the SPL, gutted.

Great channel picked up some great fights and made Sky have to raise their game.

D4thincarnation wrote:You might not see Khan fight in Britain for a while after this, Sky have been a farce.

HBO and Goldenboy is the way to go Amir, fight in Vegas, might as well move there

I actually think Sky have done the correct thing here. The main event fight has little interest amongst casual sport fans so the undercard has no chance and doesn't deserve a PPV billing. There is also concern about selling out the venue - which is partly out of their control due to the United Citeh derby.

There is no way Sky should put this on PPV.

Hatton promotions look poor, Team Khan have made a very short term decision.

And....what if he loses? It will be much grovelling for his comeback.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/13042547.stm


Khan has stated he may not fight in Britain for a long while.

Khan and Goldenboy will deal with the big players now, HBO.

We do have "setana" in the uk its called premier sports. They show boxing from around the world. Got the super six bantam tourney on next week!