Sky Really is the Limit after Audley Fiasco
The dirt (I’m toning it down for once) really is flying this morning in the aftermath of the David Haye-Audley Harrison non-event which played out amid a wave of national revulsion on Saturday evening. After a couple of rounds, during which virtually no punches were offered nor accepted by either participant, Haye finally set about his man in round three and the fat lady did her thing soon after.
For those general sports fans who’d made an effort to check in with boxing for a change (paying £14.95 in the process) there was nothing but disappointment and later anger for their troubles, but who’s to blame?
The red tops were alive with accusation this morning, here are a few of the headlines:
- Audley Harrison could lose purse after flopping against Haye (Mirror).
- Out of Auder (Sun).
- Haye-shaker! David faces fine for betting on himself to win Audley Harrison mismatch (Mail).
- David Haye’s shame was sharing a ring with pacifist Audley Harrison (Guardian).
Haye came under fire after claiming that he’d put a hefty wager on himself winning in the third round (later denied). Reports indicate that the British Boxing Board of Control were most interested in his regulation breaching post fight comments, however, Haye later retracted his statement, explaining that it was actually his friends and family who’d knocked the bookies for six. BBB of C general secretary Robert Smith still intends to look into the matter, meaning Haye could face sanctions yet.
Smith will also be discussing Harrison’s purse at the same board meeting with many calling for its retraction due to the former Olympic champion’s perceived pacifism throughout. In this “age of austerity” viewers who made an unfortunate error in paying the extortionate levy are incredulous, as one might expect. This wasn’t the heavyweight war the combatants had talked up over the preceding weeks and months, it was a sham and nothing more.
I felt anger myself on Sunday morning yet it wasn’t due to having expected more than I eventually received, I’ve been watching this sport too long to have fallen for that one. Rather I was peeved at the number of friend’s status updates on Facebook which were putting the boot into Audley, to a lesser extent Haye but mainly the sport. As a guy hoping to help increase interest in boxing (in even the smallest of ways), that smarts.
The majority of blame being laid at Harrison’s door should, in my opinion, be lodged instead with Sky Sports, the broadcaster who purportedly pushed for a match between one of boxing’s hardest punchers and a 39 year old who’d never once fought at his opponent’s level. Not only that, but the subsequent hype practically saturated the airwaves, selling mutton off as lamb in a manner that simply wouldn’t have been permitted in a butcher’s, baker’s or candlestick maker’s.
Sky ultimately control the fights they broadcast, the promoters they offer contracts to in order to facilitate this and, as a direct result, the fighters they feature. And whilst boxing would be virtually dead in the UK without their much appreciated coverage, they have to take it on the chin for the fiasco we witnessed in Manchester.
Sky Sports head honcho, Barney Francis recently explained to Steve Lillis (in an interview published by Boxing Monthly) that:
“We’re conscious of making sure we provide value and entertainment for our subscribers. That is our core belief. We like to think that the days are gone where the top of the bill falls through on a Friday night and a road sweeper is brought in to fight a guy who has got some talent”.
Both value for money and entertainment didn’t happen on Saturday and it wasn’t a case of a hotly anticipated contest falling flat, that can be excused. Anyone with an iota of boxing wisdom knew that the contest was a mismatch. Sky knew this too, yet they still decided to flog it as an “event” anyway, knowing full well that the personalities involved would set cash registers ringing. From a business standpoint well, cracking result you’d have to say, with a reported 700, 000 punters viewers stumping up around £11 m to watch live in the comfort of their front rooms. Quite how many of those will return next time boxing is on the pay-as-you-watch menu is another matter entirely.
I don’t believe Audley Harrison should lose his purse. The man trained hard, turned up intending to do his best, yet fell a million miles short on the grandest stage of all. This is who he is as a prizefighter, who he’s always been and I felt nothing but sadness for him as a reporter pushed a mic into his face afterwards, skulking away in his changing room close to tears. He took his lumps and got back up to fight on. He wanted to win the fight, he just wasn’t capable of doing so. If fans are looking for retribution to ease their pain then they can rest assured the whole fiasco will sit with Harrison a lot longer than it shall them. Quite how a man comes back from such an unmitigated disaster (and I don’t mean in a boxing sense either) is difficult to fathom.
Yes, Harrison pushed for the match and yes, he shouted long and hard about what he’d do to Haye in the fight before failing to deliver but what was he expected to do? Offered a chance to fulfil his lifelong dream he was hardly going to pass it up, what kind of fighter would? He tried to fulfil an ambition he’d worked almost an entire lifetime to achieve and explode his limitations in doing so, yet he wound up being booed from the ring to chants of, “You’re shit and you know you are”. If that isn’t sad then I maybe need to find new ways of spending my time.
I’d imagine any heavyweight worth his salt, along with a few that aren’t, would have taken Sky’s hands off at such an offer, that’s what fighters are about. They don’t tend to think logically, it doesn’t fit in with the territory they roam.
Haye could have turned the date down I suppose, but with a reported £11 million purse up for grabs for what amounted to a quick and easy night’s work, can we really take him to task for not passing it up? Payback for Haye comes in the knock he’s taken to his reputation as a result, one he’ll have to live with until he faces a Klitschko (and if he follows through with his promise to face the younger brother early in 2011, that can be quickly remedied).
Sky are the real culprits in this mess and quite how much damage has been done to the sport long term can’t be measured as of today. The counter argument is how they have propped up boxing in these parts for many a long year, a retort you can’t really dispute. And whilst they’ll likely feel the adverse effects just as harshly as we (the sport’s advocates) shall, what’s to say they don’t stroll away from this thing in a couple of years time to lavish their attention elsewhere?
If nothing else Sky had a responsibilty to the fighters. What was the sense in putting Audley on such a grand stage? A confirmed underachiever, the move was tantamount to a public beheading. It reminded me of pushing the school tough nut and the big geeky kid together in the yard before hollering, “FIGHT!”. Newly appointed boxing supremo for the network, Adam Smith, should take note and ensure decency comes before profit as we move forward.
It had been a night of celebration prior to the bout, one of legendary British names and glorious nights of yore. Barry McGuigan, Ricky Hatton, Nigel Benn, Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno were all there, cheered and trumpeted to the rafters. Whilst David Haye might one day share in such a fanfare, Audley Harrison never will. That will hurt him far more than any petty fine ever could.
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