Slightly older British fight fans will remember “The Big Fight Live.” Back in the day, in the 1980s and ’90s, with the great Reg Gutteridge doing the commentary, the show, going out on terrestrial channel ITV, was THE place to watch the big fights. Now, according to an interesting piece on the ITV website, the boxing show will return to TV screens next year – on pay-per-view.
Chris Eubank Junior is set to headline the first pay-per-view card, in “early 2017” (no exact date yet confirmed) against Renold Quinlan of Australia. According to the ITV press release, fans will be able to purchase the pay-per-view event, the first ever on the channel, for a fee to be announced “well in advance of the event.”
Eubank Jnr, 23-1(18) and the former British middleweight champ who has been out of action since June due to injury, says he is delighted to be able to follow in his father’s shoes and fight on ITV – where of course the likes of Eubank Senior, Nigel Benn, Michael Watson and others attracted millions of viewers. Still, how will fans react when they learn they will have to pay to see “The Big Fight Live” in its reincarnation?
ITV is a channel with advertisements of course; will fans want to part with money to watch boxing on the channel? The great fights of the 1980s and 90s brought in the huge audiences, sometimes well into the millions, but there was no pay-per-view back then. Whether it catches on now on ITV remains to be seen.
The press release states how fans will get “a full evening’s live boxing featuring some of Britain’s best and brightest talent,” this to go out live on ITV4. If the purchase fee is relatively small, say between £5 and £7, then maybe enough fans will pay and ITV will continue with their pay-per-view platform.
What can we expect from Eubank-Quinlan though? Quinlan, 11-1(7) has never been stopped and the 27-year-old has shared a ring with just one recognisable name in Daniel Geale, who he beat in a big upset in his last fight in October. But can the man from New South Wales give Eubank a fight – much less one armchair fans will be expected to pay for?