by Ryan Watson
The upcoming 22nd November show being billed as, “Repeat or Revenge” is under threat from a potential PPV boycott from the boxing fraternity.
An online petition has emerged with fans urging eachother not to purchase the event in protest for the poor quality of the card, while many others have taken to twitter to stage the PPV blackout.
In the last week, hundreds of online boxing fans have declared they will not be buying the event and are encouraging others to join them. They claim that the card is not competitive enough to be on pay-per-view and say Matchroom promoter, Eddie Hearn, is simply trying to exploit the general public.
The blacklash was first sparked at the show’s opening press conference when Hearn announced the general public would be charged £17 to see the fight. The boxing community was left shocked at the news, believing a domestic dust-up without a belt at stake could not warrant the fee.
The announcement will particularly resonate with British fight fans as in 2011, Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew clashed for the WBO world Light-Heavyweight title which was televised free-to-air on Boxnation. Many critics claim however, this is only part of the reason for the boycott, and that the entire undercard has been filled with big-name mismatches in an effort to deceive the public. While others suggest that paying for the event would give Hearn the ‘green light’ to put on more appalling shows on pay-per-view next year.
The news of a potential blackout will come as a shock to the boxing mogul, as he plans to ramp up promotion in the coming weeks. With the record-breaking PPV of Froch-Groves now a distant memory, should the staged boycott go ahead it could spell a financial disaster for Hearn and his associates at Sky.
