I agree. Haye is currently in a similar position to that of Calzaghe around the time of the Lacy fight. Most of the public didn't really know who he was, just knew he was a boxer & had seen a little bit of him. However, the opponent is then sold as being unbeatable as Lacy was & Valuev is due to his size (I know he's been beaten, but most will see 50+ fights with only 1 defeat & think he's amazing).
I think this does quite well, it's probably the best Sky have marketed a fight since Hatton-Mayweather. More importantly I reckon if Haye wins he becomes an overnight star similar to how Calzaghe did after the Lacy fight.
haye shouls be on the BBC, the stupid twats, they havnt a clue how much of a star he could be
has britain turned its back on boxing or are we in need of a new hero?
Part of that was down to Lewis building up a following over the previous 5 years through fighting at the domestic level against the likes of Bruno.
I remember when Hatton fought Mayweather it was probably the main feature in the sports pages along with football for the preceding week & subsequent few days.
I think it's just there isn't really a fighter at or approaching his peak who's a superstar over here. Hatton's time is gone. Khan is probably currently the closest, but they switched him to PPV way too early.
the last PPV's i purchased were hatton/pacman & hatton/mayweather
they were really big fights & i can understand to a certain point why they were PPV
but fk khan being PPV & fk haye/valuev being PPV
Hmm.. not sure about that.
Calzaghe-Lacy was FREE on ITV. It had a couple of million watching at 2am (over 50% of TV sets were tuned to ITV at the time of the fight) and then bettered that on the sunday morning repeat. And was repeated again on ITV4 later in the week.
Plus Lacy was the NEW Tyson. His young unbeaten American superstar profile really helped sell that fight to the non-hardcore.
Haye-Valuev only has the heavyweight angle going for it. The fact it's PPV means it will do well to have a couple of hundred thousand watching.
If Haye wins his proflie will obviously be enhanced but I can't see it being a huge breakthrough with so few actual watchers.
Last edited by Fenster; 10-27-2009 at 10:36 AM.
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I wasn't trying to say it would do the same numbers, more that a win for Haye could be a crossover like with the Lacy fight. I agree, it will be a success if a few hundred thousand watch, however, I think it has intrigued people similarly purely off the size of Valuev making him some unstoppable beast, similar to how Lacy was sold as the new Tyson.
I don't think that many people actually need to be watching for it to make Haye a star, I think if he wins, the story of him beating this giant (headline David downs Goliath) will be enough. I think its the story & the resulting media coverage that makes him a star, not the fight itself.
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Just being called "world" heavyweight champ will be a big deal to the casual, but you need to be seen to be a crossover star (Ricky Hatton is a one off).
We can judge Haye's impact with the "BBC sports personality award" betting. Calzaghe became one of the favourites, from a 100/1 shot, in 2006 after beating Lacy.
Haye is currently around 33/1 (i'm surprised he's that short, looks like punters are anticipating the win).. so we should expect a big reduction if he wins.
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