Froch's view on Khan & Sky Sports

Just come across this link thought it may be of interest for a few of you on here.



WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch thinks that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan could end up hurting himself if he doesn’t get his fights back on Sky television broadcaster after deciding to pull out of Sky during his last fight with little known Paul McCloskey and have the fight shown on Primetime pay per view.


Khan wasn’t happy that Sky decided on making his McCloskey bout a non-PPV bout instead of having the public pay to see it. Khan saw the McCloskey fight as a PPV worthy bout despite the fact that McCloskey card was lacking in a good undercard fight to make it worthy of being a PPV event. As it turned out, the McCloskey-Khan fight turned out to be a poor fight but it did bring in decent numbers on Primetime. But as far as competitiveness goes, it was a mismatch and poor entertainment for boxing fans. Sky must have realized this too, because they pulled the fight and were in the process of switching it to Sky 3 when Khan decided to move the McCloskey fight to Primetime.

Speaking with thesun.co.uk, Froch said this about Khan’s move away from Sky: “Why would anyone leave Sky and go to another? But Khan has been taking advice and did exactly that for his last fight. Has Khan taken the right advice? His team obviously think they are doing the right things but Amir is in danger of disappearing from general public view. If he doesn’t fight on Sky he will slip under the radar.”

Things could turn around if Khan beats IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah on July 23. If Khan wins that fight, Sky will likely be all over Khan and might be more interested in showing Khan’s future fights on PPV, as long as he doesn’t dig up McCloskey or another little known opponent to fight with a poor undercard.

Khan hasn’t exactly been taking on the stiffest of competition since being knocked out by Breidis Prescott in 2008. Of the fighters that Khan has faced since then, perhaps only one – Marcos Maidana – could be considered PPV worthy. The other fights against Paulie Malignaggi, Oisin Fagan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Andriy Kotelnik, Dmitriy Salita and McCloskey aren’t PPV worthy in my opinion. If Khan gets beaten by Judah, it may make him have a change of mind where he needs Sky in order to reach fans on non PPV TV. It would be hard to imagine boxing fans wanting to pay to see Khan fight if he gets knocked out by Judah and is no longer a champion.

Froch the broadcast entrepreneur?

Valid point Scott, not really coming from the best person think hed go with his own advice wouldnt you!?

Said when the Mc fight got downgraded Khan should swallow his pride and take it with good grace, would have gone a long way to rebuilding some of the bridges burned when the Malignaggi fight ended up on ITV. Whilst Sky do not publish their PPV figures there are plenty of rumours suggesting Khan has never done mega business, probably true given the Fagin fight had to be propped up by Oscar v Manny.

Reality is rightly or wrongly when it comes to boxing Sky are really the only game in town. They have the marketing budget, influence with the Murdoch press and enough sport channels to really promote a fight and turn it into a mega event. Froch knows better than anyone what being on the outside with Sky can do to your career and for me this is advice Khan would do well to heed.

Do you see Khan taking this advice though? i hope he does but think his team may cause some issues when working out a deal with sky.

Hopefully they can work it out khan can have a fight with say Judah which i think he will win. Then taking on Bradley as a PPV on sky for a unification bout could earn him a serious number.

i don't think khan is in danger of "slipping under the rader"- i think he is a well established name, who has proved he CAN be a exciting fighter. even if he lost to judah i see him getting another 1-2 chances at the world title before intrest would wane in him. however no doubt the fiasco with sky cost him dearly finacially, as well as pretty much guarenting he won't fight in england for a long time, so it was a very naive move. but i suspect like most decesions in khans career, he doesnt have much say about it.

Khan is a bit prone to the pr gaffes it seems. He earned a lot of goodwill and respect after the Maidana fight (rightfully so) and I think most people had got behind him, even happy to accept the McCloskey fight. I think in general people were a bit too optimistic about the Bradley fight being a cert to happen and I suspect this one will be one of these fights that drags on and takes far longer than it should to make. I personally didnt expect to see it post McCloskey.

The McCloskey fight seems to have burned up a fai bit of the goodwill he had managed to get and now I get the sneaking suspicion hes going to become one of these guys that doesnt get the big fights done easily and makes mountains out of molehils. Lets remember that Maidana was effectively a (delayed) mandatory and outside of that Khan has yet to really push the boat out in terms of delivering fights. All the indications seems to be his team are hard to deal with, money is always a big issue and the fact that hes with Roach and GBP means he may have an inflated feeling of his own self worth.

Hope it doesnt turn out to be the case because after Maidana he genuinely seemed like he wanted the big fights like Bradley. The last 4/5 months though have raised some doubts with me though as to the intentions of his team and their willingness to compromise and make fan friendly decisions.

alma - PM for you in your inbox.

i don't think khan is in danger of "slipping under the rader"- i think he is a well established name, who has proved he CAN be a exciting fighter. even if he lost to judah i see him getting another 1-2 chances at the world title before intrest would wane in him. however no doubt the fiasco with sky cost him dearly finacially, as well as pretty much guarenting he won't fight in england for a long time, so it was a very naive move. but i suspect like most decesions in khans career, he doesnt have much say about it.
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Khan SHOULD WIN THE JUDAH FIGHT IN STYLE, he's in against a shot to bits fighter who has campaigned at 147 for years and beat a B level swinger in Mabuza who has no technique, if Khan loses here, it's the end of the top flight road imo. But he won't he'll win in 10, i used to like Khan, i just don't like his team around him who know nothing about boxing and try and rip fighters of.

wouldn't say judah is "shot to bits". he's a very dangerous opponent, and if under estimated will make khan pay. granted he's past his best but he is the IBF champion and would be a great scalp for khan.

think people do see khan as a bit money maker and try to get a better deal, but his teams awkwardness makes situations like that even more difficult.

Froch giving advice on TV deals.

prettyboykev wrote:Froch giving advice on TV deals.

I know, it's like a one legged bloke giving out advice on how to do the can-can.

wouldn't say judah is "shot to bits". he's a very dangerous opponent, and if under estimated will make khan pay. granted he's past his best but he is the IBF champion and would be a great scalp for khan.

think people do see khan as a bit money maker and try to get a better deal, but his teams awkwardness makes situations like that even more difficult.
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He's a joke like his team. When he left he said it's because he isnt accepted in Britain, gimme a break, time's hard for you Amir trying to demand more money than the best lww in the world, gimme that job every day over been laid off a building site pal!. Laughable

Froch giving advice on TV deals
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He's right Kev though. What he's saying is that he never got the recognition he deserved and TV viewing but now he is. Khan hates Froch anyway, he has a bit of an obsession with him so dunno if he'll bite, i remember them arguing, when he's beat Bradley, Alexander, Ortiz and Berto i'll listen, ie Froch's wins over Pascal, Taylor, Dirrell, Abraham. Not to worry though, Super Joe lived in Naseem's shadow for years and was a much, much better fighter.

He is right, to be fair he knows better than anyone how important being on Sky is over here.

i think a super 6 style thing would be a good move for khan if he steps up in weight eventually, he wouldn't have to worry about getting the big fights he needs.