What sports would you like to see more (or less) of on free-to-air TV?
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Version 0 of 1. For those of us who grew up watching live boxing on terrestrial television, Saturday night was a real treat. As soon as the formalities of the weekend news and weather had been wrapped up for another night, ITV set off to Belfast, where local boy Carl Frampton was defending his super bantamweight world title in front of 11,000 loud fight fans in the Odyssey Arena. Chris Avalos, the brave challenger, was first into the ring. Avalos had talked up his credentials before the fight, even pausing before the fight to tell Frampton that he “fights like a little pussy”, but the man from California let himself down badly with his choice of ring-walk music. In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins is not the most raucous or forceful of songs and it failed to intimidate the boisterous home crowd. I Can’t Dance from Collins’ time in Genesis would have offered more bite and a better forewarning about his lumbering feet. Frampton strolled into the ring with the confidence of a man fighting in his own back yard. His manager, Barry McGuigan, led the crowd from ringside as the locals urged Frampton into the contest and towards an impressive fifth-round victory. The champion has now gone 20 professional fights without a defeat and is right to think of himself as one of boxing’s emerging stars. Frampton’s next fight could be against Scott Quigg, the current WBA super bantamweight champion, who travelled to Belfast to size up the opposition and put himself forward for a possible unification bout later this year. Both boxers want the fight to happen and McGuigan is keen, as long as he can keep his man on free-to-air TV: “We believe there’s a future with ITV,” said McGuigan. “As long as Quigg is not too greedy, that fight can happen. It’s a much better fight on terrestrial TV where more people can see it and makes these kids superstars.” If Frampton wants to become a superstar, he should listen to McGuigan, one of the most familiar and popular names in the sport. When McGuigan won his own world title 30 years ago, he did so in front of 27,000 fans at Loftus Road and 20 million more watching at home. He picked up the Sports Personality award later that year, becoming the first winner not to be born in the UK, and he has remained in the public’s affections ever since. McGuigan knows the value of fighting in front of millions of fans rather than for millions of pounds on obscure pay-per-view channels. A lot has changed in the last three decades, both in sport and in the media, but it is intriguing to think that McGuigan’s greatest triumph came in June 1985, just a few months after 18.5 million people had tuned in to watch Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in the World Snooker Championship final. Everyone can recall that late-night black-ball fight, but how many of us would cherish the memory had the contest not been shown live on the BBC? McGuigan knows the power of the people. Which other sports should follow his lead? |