Rumours persist that Adam Azim-Steve Claggett, on May 30, could be the last Boxxer fight broadcast by the BBC. What’s your understanding of your agreement with them?
Everyone said we had a four-fight deal, and if my maths is correct, this is our fifth fight. Things are going very well. Viewing figures are getting better each time; the [Lauren] Price event was really good, even on the same night as [Derek]Chisora-[Deontay] Wilder, and this is a big event. Our next event will be [Callum]Simpson-[Troy] Williamson. It’s going well.
Simpson-Williamson was contracted a long time ago. It’s looking like July. That will definitely be in July; most likely [with the BBC]; we’ve had one other offer for that fight. But the BBC will continue.
I was told, for certain, by media that Price was the last fight. I don’t want to have to keep answering that every time.
The BBC have since revealed plans to make savings of £500m. Does that put you at risk?
No. The BBC, it’s well-known, do not pay as well as paid TV. Fortunately, we have great partners in Riyadh Season, and more recently Betfred. We’ve just done a big partnership with them for the BBC event. This will be the first Betfred fight night on the BBC on the 30th.
How pleased or otherwise do you believe the BBC have been with your four fights so far?
They couldn’t believe it, because they’ve been out-priced for boxing for 25 [it’s closer to 20] years. To actually be getting top-level talent on the BBC is a miracle for them. Obviously it’s been helped by the sponsorship and the way we’ve been funding the shows. So it’s a huge opportunity for them.
The BBC have reported responsibly on the realities of Saudi Arabia. How do they feel about you working with the Riyadh Season brand?
Boxxer are able to have any sponsors that they want. Typically a gambling partner could never get involved with the BBC, but because they’re sponsoring Boxxer – that’s how sport works; that’s how the Premier League works – and so it really doesn’t affect the broadcaster whatsoever.
Why have each of your fight nights so far with the BBC clashed with others in the UK?
Honestly, it’s really difficult. That’s probably the one downside about being with the BBC – because it’s really hard to get those Saturday night slots and the prime slots and they have a lot of scheduling and you get the dates that you’re given. Venues also have to line up as well. It’s not intentional – fortunately, for [Azim-Claggett], I think it’s the first time we’re not clashing, because the other broadcasters don’t want to go on the same night as the Champions League final.
Do you accept that it will be tempting for neutrals to conclude that it’s deliberate?
Why would we want to do that? Genuinely? Although it might be worse for the [rival] promoters it’s not ideal for us, either. Even from a conversation perspective. Even if the viewership is a lot better [with the BBC]. It’s not something that we want to do, 100 per cent. DAZN do boxing almost every week, so it’s really hard to actually avoid one. This one, they don’t fancy going on the same night as the Champions League and I’ve spoken to them about that. That’s why this one we’ve got a free hit and I think the Champions League final’s at 5pm UK time, which is really beneficial for us. We’ll come on BBC Two at about 9pm, so it’s really good. It’s the first show that’s not clashed.
Do those clashes frustrate you?
Yeah. Yeah, massively. It’s so – with the BBC, and we’ve touched on it a bit, with sponsorship and things like that it’s a big thing. I’m putting it together and getting the slots and the schedule and the sponsorship and everything lined up – to then have to clash with a major show is not something that you want. But equally, it is the power of the platform – that you’ll always do very, very good numbers. So, yeah, it’s frustrating – hopefully we won’t clash as much going forward. But we’re fortunate for this show.
Chris Billam-Smith appeared ideal to broadcast on the BBC. Why did you not attempt to win the purse bid for the WBO eliminator against Roman Fress?
I think the BBC probably want to prioritise talent coming through, and young British talent, and so that was probably what perhaps went against him. Could we have definitely have done something? Yes – the Roman Fress fight was not a fight that we valued very highly, and I think the purse bids show that as well. It was one of them – the fight itself against Roman Fress was not a fight that, really, any broadcaster wanted to get behind.
Are you disappointed to no longer be working with him?
Yeah. What we did with him – I remember signing him when he was sort of considered a middle-of-the-road, European-level fighter, so to take him to the top of the mountain [of a world title] and do everything we did with him was massive. There were people that broke our contracts in that but it’s going on a lot at the moment. It feels like there’s a big player in the market at the moment that doesn’t really care about… I’ve seen the Conor Benn stuff and I think that’s only going to end one way. They’ve obviously made that decision, even though, perhaps, they’ve breached his contract there, so that’s something that you can’t avoid and something that will play out. That was probably a bit of a sour taste… but other than that, nothing against Chris – and what we did for him, we changed his life. We really did. And we made all his dreams come true from the stadium [fight] to the world title, to the unifications, and even sometimes against our broadcasters’ wishes.
What’s the latest with the legal action you’ve been involved in since your separation from Sky Sports?
It’s going through the process now. We won, obviously, the injunction, and Sky have been brought in as defendants of that case. The court accepted; now we’re in the High Court, and that will follow its course. It could be anything from as quickly as 12 months to whenever.
It’s nailed on [that Boxxer will secure a positive outcome]. It is what it is. Anyone can read it. A lot of it is publicly available.
What do you think of Sky Sports replacing Boxxer with a combination of Most Valuable Promotions and Zuffa Boxing?
I think that there weren’t many options, and so my one worry is not having UK promoters. It’s probably the first time, really, that UK promoters aren’t being used by a UK broadcaster. That makes me worried about the history of sport in this country. I worry about American-owned businesses perhaps dictating or being part of dictating the future of the sport in this country. That’s the first time that that’s ever happened. It’s fairly concerning.
But ultimately Sky have decided to do a lot less shows and that’s it. What I look at is they’ve done two shows so far, with two fighters – I’d made both of them world champions, in Caroline [Dubois] and Chris [Billam-Smith], and that spells out perhaps what the case is about.
What I’m saying is I think it’s an interesting change from – in this country it’s been under the guardianship of, pretty much, British promoters who understand the grassroots of the sport and understand the sport. It’s the first time that it won’t, or there’ll be influences that perhaps are American. So that’s a change. It’s just a change that I don’t know how it will play out.
