Andy Lee v BJS being moved to October 10th

Also the fight will Take place in Manchester instead of a huge stadium fight in Ireland as originally planned. This is due to poor ticket sales.

Reactions to this? Warren must be fuming after bragging what a massive stadium this was in Ireland but apparently its not a big seller at all

I can't explain it.....Croke Park is Southern Ireland right ??

So Lee must be from the Republic......He is the only Irish free state world champion and he's fighting a guy with roots in the area also.....

Saunders being locked out on Boxnation and Lee spending his time abroad maybe ??. Is it the prices ??

Collins seem to sell in Ireland but then again he had Eubanks who was a love/hate figure..

I'm perplexed......Thought it would be a big deal in Ireland..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:I can't explain it.....Croke Park is Southern Ireland right ??

So Lee must be from the Republic......He is the only Irish free state world champion and he's fighting a guy with roots in the area also.....

Saunders being locked out on Boxnation and Lee spending his time abroad maybe ??.  Is it the prices ??

Collins seem to sell in Ireland but then again he had Eubanks who was a love/hate figure..

I'm perplexed......Thought it would be a big deal in Ireland..

The fight wasn't meant to be in Croke Park Truss, was meant to be in Thomand Park in Limerick. It's outside Dublin and is Lee's home town. Frank Warren was on the radio here last night. Said that 12,500 tickets sold overall but always have to take what Frank says with a pinch of salt. Also said that Lee has a virus that has hampered his training so he needs more time. As Thomand Park is a rugby stadium and with Frank's other fighters in fights he said that the earliest the fight could be rescheduled would be the weekend at the end of October, not exactly what you want for an outdoor fight. However most people over here are of the opinion that it's poor ticket sales, it's just not caught fire. Two travellers fighting is enough to put people off. Not saying that's the correct attitude to have but as we all know travellers carry a certain reputation.

My family came from Cork.......I have visited Trabolgan holiday village a couple of times when Robbie was young to look around Cork and see where I came from....

But I must admit an ignorance when it comes to the rest of the beautiful Country.....

I imagine Croke park is a way away from limerick...

BJS is a romany gypsy, there is quite a distinction between them and Irish Travellers.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:My family came from Cork.......I have visited Trabolgan holiday village a couple of times when Robbie was young to look around Cork and see where I came from....

But I must admit an ignorance when it comes to the rest of the beautiful Country.....

I imagine Croke park is a way away from limerick...

About a two hour drive away from Limerick, Limerick is sorta half way between Dublin and Cork. Croke Park is over 80,000 seater so no way they were getting close to filling that. FW said that they sold 4,000 tickets in the UK and over 8,000 in Ireland but as I said I'm somewhat dubious of that. Andy Lee said yesterday that he's training as normal and no mention whatsoever of a virus.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:BJS is a romany gypsy, there is quite a distinction between them and Irish Travellers.

Not saying they're the same. But both of them have been promoting this fight as the first world title fight between two travellers so that has its own connotations to people. They both talk about it here.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jul/22/andy-lee-billy-joe-saunders-world-title-bout-travellers

I thought BJS was Irish traveller background, live n learn.....

A cracking match up I'd love to see.

Pity Strongy isn't around to lecture us about the flourishing Irish economy and how everyone is minted again, but unable to buy a ticket to the boxing.....

The shambolic events FW has been promoting problem hasn't helped the PR either, throw in the traveller angle and there'll be a lot of folk thinking it's just too much hassle.

http://www.balls.ie/boxing/wildly-conflicting-reports-about-number-of-tickets-sold-for-andy-lees-thomond-bout/304809

When Frank Warren's voice clicked on the line on Off The Ball last night, Irish boxing fans must have known what was coming. Reports from the Irish Sun earlier in the day were confirmed. Andy Lee's dream of a Thomond Park title defence was not going to happen, not his time anyway.

Warren explained that Lee is suffering from a virus and that the fight would have to be put back to make up for the loss in training time. The problem with that is that a standalone Limerick show would then conflict with other cards scheduled for around that time.

The solution was to include Lee vs Billy Joe Saunders on an already scheduled October 10th card at the Manchester Arena which also features WBO lightweight champion, Terry Flanagan. It was an incredibly disappointing announcement for Lee's fans. However, the reports from earlier in the day had meant that it was not entirely unexpected.

What was fresh news was the reason behind the change of venue. The explanation that had been suggested was that ticket sales for the 33,000 seater stadium had been well short of expectations. However, when pressed on the issue last night, Warren was adamant that tickets were selling well for the bout.

After stating that anyone who has already bought tickets for the fight could either transfer them to the Manchester date or get a full refund, Warren claimed that over 12,000 tickets had already been sold for the September 19th date. With slightly more than a month to go, that figure is neither ideal nor is it catastrophic.

However, Warren's figure is significantly more than what has been reported elsewhere. The Irish Sun have stated that sources suggested closer to 7,000 tickets had been sold. While even further down the line, the Star are quoting a figure of just 3,000 tickets.

Regardless of what the true figure is, many fans have been quick to point at the less than comprehensive promotion of the fight as proof of suggestions that the Warren/Saunders camp were never committed to taking the title fight to Lee's hometown.

Whether that is true is unlikely to ever really be addressed. What we do know is that Lee is defending his WBO middleweight crown on October 10th and Irish fans will still be eager to give him just as much support as they would have before.

Shame for Andy Lee that he's not getting his homecoming fight in a stadium. He'll probably now be fighting in a half empty arena at 1am after everyone has left to get the last train home. Warren really is an awful little throbber.

And WHERE THE HELL IS STRONGBACK? I miss the kid, there, I said it.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:I can't explain it.....Croke Park is Southern Ireland right ??

So Lee must be from the Republic......He is the only Irish free state world champion and he's fighting a guy with roots in the area also.....

Saunders being locked out on Boxnation and Lee spending his time abroad maybe ??.  Is it the prices ??

Collins seem to sell in Ireland but then again he had Eubanks who was a love/hate figure..

I'm perplexed......Thought it would be a big deal in Ireland..

I'm with you Truss thought it would sell well but Warren does not seem to be able to sell anything at the moment, I doubt he would even be able to sell water in the desert the way he's going at the moment

wheelchair1991 wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:I can't explain it.....Croke Park is Southern Ireland right ??

So Lee must be from the Republic......He is the only Irish free state world champion and he's fighting a guy with roots in the area also.....

Saunders being locked out on Boxnation and Lee spending his time abroad maybe ??.  Is it the prices ??

Collins seem to sell in Ireland but then again he had Eubanks who was a love/hate figure..

I'm perplexed......Thought it would be a big deal in Ireland..

I'm with you Truss thought it would sell well but Warren does not seem to be able to sell anything at the moment, I doubt he would even be able to sell water in the desert the way he's going at the moment

Andy Lee is not well known here in Ireland. Thats the truth, he is a great warrior, and has fought in the States (first Irishman to win a world title on US soil sinc the 1930s), he is an Irish world title holder, but in truth just not a household name over here.

Collins fought in the states also, but got his fan growth and reputation because most Irish folk wanted to see Eubanks' mouth shut, and revenge for what were woefuls decisions against our own Ray Close, plus we wanted our man involved in the Eubank-Benn-Watson triangle that had been constantly in the media.

As soon as Collins put Eubank in his place his reputation proepelled him to legendary status.....Lee has none of this unfortunately.

There is a big difference between BJS and eubank Sr..

Still the Irish don't have much to shout about when it comes to boxing ....

Surprised they couldn't give their kid a homecoming..

Limerick only has a population of 90k people I think and is 2 hours from Dublin or Cork. I'm amazed they thought they would fill Thomond park with a fight with Billie Joe Saunders.

Probably when the Katie Taylor fight fell through that was a big blow as she is a much bigger name in Ireland than Andy Lee and probably included to attract interest.

I'd say they'd need to be fighting GGG to fill a stadium that size.

rodders wrote:Limerick only has a population of 90k people I think and is 2 hours from Dublin or Cork. I'm amazed they thought they would fill Thomond park with a fight with Billie Joe Saunders.

Probably when the Katie Taylor fight fell through that was a big blow as she is a much bigger name in Ireland than Andy Lee and probably included to attract interest.

I'd say they'd need to be fighting GGG to fill a stadium that size.

good point regarding Katie Taylor

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:There is a big difference between BJS and eubank Sr..

Still the Irish don't have much to shout about when it comes to boxing ....

Surprised they couldn't give their kid a homecoming..

Frampton and Lee, two world champions at the same time is our wee island really excelling mate!

Imagine Ireland was the size of the US, we'd own the world by now.

shenglong2015 wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:There is a big difference between BJS and eubank Sr..

Still the Irish don't have much to shout about when it comes to boxing ....

Surprised they couldn't give their kid a homecoming..

Frampton and Lee, two world champions at the same time is our wee island really excelling mate!

Imagine Ireland was the size of the US, we'd own the world by now.

Yeh, but you'd have borrowed the money to fund it.....

Oh not this nationalistic, my dads harder than yours guff again!

My Father is 77 .......

Still works out but I should doubt his reflexes and tank are up to much..

Lol nah

Just a flippant comment regarding how debt fuelled most of Irelands new found wealth was (and is, again).

TopHat24/7 wrote:Lol nah

Just a flippant comment regarding how debt fuelled most of Irelands new found wealth was (and is, again).

Not a great difference in % dept to GDP in Ireland versus the UK to be honest (103 % to 90%) and both running similar budget surplus - 3-4%.

I'm seeing this from a different angle perhaps. Through work I've seen how much Irish wealth (i.e. proper wealth, not just wracking up a credit card bill or over-extending your mortgage) was built on sugar pedestals of cheap finance.

Agree with shengs previous comment. Lee just hasn't caught the publics attention. Not sure why maybe bad management over the past few years. Bit gutted as I was gonna head to this

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Agree with shengs previous comment. Lee just hasn't caught the publics attention.  Not sure why maybe bad management over the past few years. Bit gutted as I was gonna head to this

I think hes a victim of spending too much time in the States, and not enough exposure at home, he should have tried to fight on cards with Frampton, or headlined some smaller shows over here if the long term plan was to take advantage of the awesome Irish supporters.

Pity, is always in entertaining fights too, I like Andy.

Warren said he had 12,000 tickets in Ireland before he had to move the fight....make of that what you will

What I will?

Warren is full of sh*t as always, that's what I'll make of it....

wheelchair1991 wrote:Warren said he had 12,000 tickets in Ireland before he had to move the fight....make of that what you will

He would have had 12,000 tickets out of an arena that held 12,100. Makes a bit of a mockery (can't remember who said it........... honestly........... ) that a fighter will simply sell tickets because he's fighting in an area where there's a fair few of his countrymen.