Armchair fans the winners in scramble for TV dates

The scramble among promoters for a limited number of television dates takes an incredible turn this weekend when Sky will split their two-hour Friday Night Fights between two shows from different promoters just 35 miles apart in Northern Ireland.

The long-running saga over the November 6 date has dragged on for two months. It started when an injury to Martin Rogan caused his Commonwealth heavyweight title rematch against Sam Sexton at the Odyssey Arena to be postponed from its original date of October 9.

Frank Warren, the promoter, who had sold about 7,000 tickets for the bout, rearranged it for November 6, the only Friday he said he could get the venue for. But Sky had already given the date to Matchroom, who subsequently announced that Paul McCloskey would be challenging for the European light-welterweight title (he faces Daniel Rasilla of Spain after Souleymane M'Baye, the original opponent, pulled out) at the Meadowbank Sports Arena, Magherafelt, (a show they are co-promoting with Brian Peters) which is about 40 minutes drive from the Odyssey Arena.

After a few weeks of stalemate, Sky decided to show both shows, at presumably great cost to themselves, particularly as their team is already stretched thin because of the build-up to the Nikolay Valuev-David Haye fight in Nuremberg. So, with Ian Darke and Jim Watt in Germany, Adam Smith and Johnny Nelson commentating from Magherafelt, while John Rawling and Glenn McCrory will be in Belfast.

"When the Rogan v Sexton rematch was rescheduled we were very keen to show it live, especially as Sky Sports showed their first Commonwealth Heavyweight title fight live in May," a Sky Sports spokesman said. "However, on the same night we already had an existing commitment with the European Light-Welterweight title fight between Northern Ireland’s Paul McCloskey and Daniel Rasilla. It’s rare for us to cover two different promotions on the same evening but we worked very closely with both promoters and we are very pleased to show both events as part of our live Friday Fight Night on 6 November."

While it all seems a bit of a mess (surely it would have made more sense to move the McCloskey fight to Thursday, which could have helped with the Valuev-Haye build-up, production costs and the potential love attendance), it certainly goes a long way to underlining Sky's increased commitment to screening good fights, as it makes for a great double-header. Sky Sports are also showing the Pacquiao-Cotto fight live on November 14.

Talking of Ireland, Matthew Macklin, who has Irish parents and a thick Brummie accent, continues to build his reputation on both sides of the Irish Sea when he faces Rafa Sosa Pintos, of Uruguay, at the National Stadium, Dublin, on December 5. It will be screened on RTE in Ireland, who will also do a free webcast for fans in the UK. Pintos has a 34-4 record and went the distance with Anthony Mundine last year.

Comments

[Jon Coates]

Ron,
Interesting to hear Matthew Macklin declare himself unambiguously as an Irishman in Dublin today. Correct me if I'm wrong but I have never seen him protest at being referred to as British or English. Two flags for the price of one!