Well that's the second live British broadcast from Box Nation, Appleby Vs. Walsh being the first, and yet again we have been delivered with a British fight of the year contender.... well it'll be in the top 5 anyway.
I have to say that I'm disgusted that this fight, and Box Nation isn't on Virgin yet. I don't care who's to blame, just get it sorted. Boxing is not a niche sport and this is not a niche channel. Here's some viewing figures to give you an idea of where boxing actually stands in the world of televised sport.
BOXING
Tyson Fury Vs. Dereck Chisora - Channel 5 2011 - 3,000,000 viewers
Amir Khan Vs. David Bailey - ITV 2005 - 6,300,000 viewers
Danny Williams Vs. Audley Harrison - ITV 2008 - 8,000,000 viewers
OTHER SPORT
Andy Murray Vs. Ivan Ljubicic Wimbledon - BBC 2011 - 8,800,000 viewers
Man City Vs. Stoke FA Cup Final - ITV 2011 - 8,100,000 viewers
Barcelona Vs. Manchester United Champions League Final - ITV 2011 - 11,100,000 viewers
England Vs. Wales 6 Nations - BBC 2011 - 8,200,000 viewers
Formula 1 (Average figures for whole season) - BBC 2011 - 5,800,000
Now you'll see that boxing fairs reasonably well however please remember the viewing figures I've provided aren't for major fights. They are domestic level only. Imagine what Cleverly Vs. Bellew would have attracted on ITV Saturday Night primetime if promoted properly.
Virgin have 4,000,000 TV customers. Here's a little fact for you, the average UK household has 2.5 occupants which means Virgin TV services actually reach roughly, very roughly, 10,000,000 people. That's 10,000,000 people being denied the opportunity to watch Box Nation. Sure in reality 10,000,000 wouldn't have watched the action, but we'll never know until the channel arrives.
So whatever the problem is between Virgin and BoxNation please resolve it ASAP. British sports fans are being deprived of one of the most popular sports on TV. I'll tell you what, there would be murder if this was another sport. Remember the disgust and outrage when that online streaming company purchased the rights to Ukraine Vs. England? When people realised the game wouldn't be on SKY, or terrestrial TV, they went mental. The story actually made the news and the front page of some newspapers. The Box Nation situation with Virgin to me is the same as Ukraine Vs. England.
---------- Post added at 00:57 ---------- Previous post was at 00:49 ----------
For anyone that's still awake, it looks like Bernard Hopkins Vs. Chad Dawson will be streamed at BoxNation too:
http://boxnation.tv/live.php
I think the show starts at 1am however the main event won't be on until about 3:30am.