SIMPLY THE BEST – FIGHTING THE BEST
16.09.17

SIMPLY THE BEST – FIGHTING THE BEST

By Frank Warren

Canelo v Golovkin

YOU KNOW YOU have got a top fight on your hands by the fact it is one everybody wants to see. Nobody is talking about money or what is being said or done in the build up – they just want to watch the fight.

Gennady Golovkin v Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is not a match-up that requires any sideshows or sniping, it is simply a fight made by worldwide public demand and has the makings of an absolute blockbuster.

For boxing fans there is nothing not to like about it because it is the best fighting the best. It hasn’t passed its sell buy date and is ripe for picking.

That is why we were so determined to pick up this fight and deliver it to UK viewers on BoxNation. It is, without doubt, the biggest fight since the creation of the channel.

People may point to Mayweather-Pacquiao, but that happened five years too late and didn’t provide the spectacle it would’ve done if they had fought in their prime.

The timing is just about perfect for Golovkin-Canelo and I am delighted we are delivering it on BoxNation.

With being a specialist boxing channel, of course we want to broadcast the biggest fights and, naturally, there is always competition. Sky were bidding against us, we got this one and that is why they wound up with Mayweather v McGregor.

Securing the rights to this fight enables us to fulfil our long-term goal of making the biggest fights available to everyone – at the push of a button – while remaining true to our valued subscribers who will view the action, as always, as part of the BoxNation package.

This is important to us because our subscribers have been true and loyal to us from the beginning – we are fortunate to have loyal people on board.

As I keep saying, we are about the fans, I know you cannot please everybody, but this is what we are about and we don’t believe in ripping people off via the secondary ticket market or by putting on unnecessary pay-per-views.

Some fights have to be on pay-per-view in order to make them happen and this is one of them, but our intention has always been to bring this sort of fight to Boxnation viewers with no extra tariff.

Our ideal is also to deliver the top international fights that have, where possible, a strong UK narrative running alongside. That is what we have here with Billy Joe Saunders fighting beforehand and striving to book his corner to fight the winner.

There is an interesting comparison between events this weekend and the recently launched World Boxing Super Series. The WBSS has the laudable ambition of establishing the No.1 in their chosen divisions over an eight or nine month period.

All things being equal, the middleweight pecking order should be sorted out by the end of the year with an undisputed champion in place.

If the best agree to fight the best it can all be sorted out fairly quickly.

Who turns out to be best this weekend remains to be seen. Obviously I am backing Billy Joe Saunders to triumph in London and propel himself towards a complete unification match, while I will remain with my gut instinct when it comes to events in Las Vegas.

My hunch has always been Golovkin and I am sticking with that. This is to take nothing away from Alvarez, who I believe is a superb fighter, but you have got to pick somebody so I am going with Golovkin.

On nights like these though, the real winners are the fans.

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