Gary Hobson Promotion live on Spike TV

With current debate raging amongst boxing fans on the merits and value of pay-per-view shows, Dennis Hobson has announced his next promotion will be shown completely free on Spike TV (Channels: Sky 160, Freeview 31, Talk Talk 31, Freesat 141, BT TV 31).
cont at http://www.v2boxing.co.uk/#!Hobson-Secures-Free-TV-For-Next-Show/c1xmj/555b038d0cf23d0164a6336d
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Think this is a cracking idea on Hobson's part, get the spillover from the fans that don't want to pay for Matchrooms PPV and get some exposure for his fighters.

Hopefully we'll start to get to see more of this, especially from the domestic level.

It is fantastic, to see more fights free to air. It is the only way to attract new fans to the sport.

Hmmm. Great in principle, but he may need some fighters that people are interested in watching. And then he'd have to pay them. And then he might need a different platform.

But hey, you can get some good tear ups on small time shows so who knows, good luck to them.

Fair point milky, though I am starting to think I would rather see a couple of little no name fighters in a competitive fights, rather than Hearns stable beating up overmatched opponents.

Which leisure centre will be hosting the fights? No offence but can imagine it'll be like some random Eurosport card.

Never even heard of the channel before so god knows how he's going to make people aware of it (he's not exactly like King Eddie when it comes to having the mighty clout of resource to call upon to put on the best organised shows anyone has ever ever ever seen)

He's probably not banking on having a massive audience and is hoping word of mouth will get him through.

I see what your saying Milky but everyones got to start somewhere and the boxers on the bill will have more of a name for themselves afterwards. Even if it's just a stepping stone before getting bigger and having to move to Matchroom/PPV then it's good for the lads starting out. With any luck, it'll make decent viewing and may have some of the other promoters get together to put on decent shows and stop worrying so much about fighters '0'

Hey we can dream derby! Word of mouth or word of twitter as it is these days is still the best form of advertising. I think they still need a headline act, though and a guy whose been sparked more times than a fuse box in a bath tub, probably isn't the one to do it.

One or two genuine prospects with a story to build, (rather than making one up as he has in this case) supported by some evenly matched domestic tussles and who knows it might work, if they can spread the word.

Realistically though its likely to be a niche market for those who like small hall cards. Nothing wrong with that and great for the lads involved to be on the tv. Just not sure it's going to bring boxing to the wider audience.

Anyone thinking of watching this?

Coxy001 wrote:Which leisure centre will be hosting the fights? No offence but can imagine it'll be like some random Eurosport card.

Never even heard of the channel before so god knows how he's going to make people aware of it (he's not exactly like King Eddie when it comes to having the mighty clout of resource to call upon to put on the best organised shows anyone has ever ever ever seen)

Actually Hobson links up with a lot of the boxing website and twitter feeds and they do an awful lot of promoting for him. We're trying to do it, and I know Boxing Mad Magazine have been as well. Not surprising that you haven't heard of the channel, it was only launched a month ago but it is part of the Channel 5 group and they have been showing a lot of the American TV shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Sons Of Anarchy so you'd think they'll be advertising it during those shows hoping to gain some viewers, which could very well happen.

Oh, and your first post makes you come across as a complete snob. It's like saying if it's not in an arena then it's not worth watching

PaulHv2 wrote:

Coxy001 wrote:Which leisure centre will be hosting the fights? No offence but can imagine it'll be like some random Eurosport card.

Never even heard of the channel before so god knows how he's going to make people aware of it (he's not exactly like King Eddie when it comes to having the mighty clout of resource to call upon to put on the best organised shows anyone has ever ever ever seen)

Actually Hobson links up with a lot of the boxing website and twitter feeds and they do an awful lot of promoting for him. We're trying to do it, and I know Boxing Mad Magazine have been as well. Not surprising that you haven't heard of the channel, it was only launched a month ago but it is part of the Channel 5 group and they have been showing a lot of the American TV shows like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Sons Of Anarchy so you'd think they'll be advertising it during those shows hoping to gain some viewers, which could very well happen.

Oh, and your first post makes you come across as a complete snob. It's like saying if it's not in an arena then it's not worth watching

Oh calm down fella. York Hall was one of my favourite venues of all time, not just sporting venues either. At it's not exactly the MGM Garden Arena for size etc.

Only serious point I made is that his stable isn't exactly one that he could put on a card that would bring the masses in terms of viewing figures. But hey, if boxing starts getting more and more exposure on terrestrial TV then maybe someone will tempt Hearn with a big contract (ITV etc) to leave Sky and put loads of shows on their channel - which would naturally be a win win for all of us. It'll take more than the stable of Hobson to get the ball rolling on that though.

Small hall cards don't tend to focus on one stable though, it's what makes them good. I'd rather watch smaller promoters come together and put on good 50/50 fights than mismatches. Dave Coldwell is superb but gets absolutely no coverage from sky, I'd bet 50% of people don't even know he's a promoter.

The sport would be better for channel 5 striking a deal with the likes of Hobson and Coldwell, and giving these guys exposure.