The Prizefighter tournament has breathed new life into boxing and has taken the sport in an exciting new direction. Friday night’s light-middleweight tournament is the 10th incarnation and should be another exciting affair.
Barry Hearn has always been shrewd when it comes to staging events. While a lot of promoters like Frank Warren go down more traditional avenues of sports promotion, Barry Hearn is always looking to be innovative. Throughout his career Hearn’s original-thinking has revolutionised the sports he has been involved in and he has never been afraid to explore new territory.
Hearn, of course, started his career in the snooker business and his input into that sport saw it have its most profitable spell in the 1980s. From here he moved into boxing promotion with some of Britain’s biggest names, before getting his fingers in the football and darts pies. It was darts where Hearn really came into his own, as the chairman of the PDC he changed the sport for life, adding razzmatazz and showmanship with entrances and nicknames like in boxing and his exciting tournaments drew in the punters.
With Prizefighter, Hearn latched onto the public’s affection for a knockout tournament and organised the inaugural tournament back in 2008. The 3x3 round competition starts with four quarter-finals and advances up to a final all on one night. It encompasses all the excitement of a cup tournament, the drama and the glory in a couple hours; ideal for the modern fast-paced consumer world. It has proved very successful with both the paying crowd and television audiences, and Hearn has since looked to replicate that success with a one-frame knock-out snooker tournament in the same vain.
The first Prizefighter comprised journeymen and hopeful up-and-comers, it had a certain “Rocky” charm to it, all fighting to make a name for themselves, some of them in last chance saloon territory. The winner of that tournament was chubby Irishman Martin Rogan. Granted you will not see the highest calibre of fighting in Prizefighter but you will see out-and-out commitment as a lot of these pugilists are fighting for their careers.
Originally a heavyweight tournament, Prizefighter has spawned no less than nine competitions in just under three years. It has since taken in the majority of the weight divisions and has helped launch careers like Sam Sexton, re-galvanise careers like Audley Harrison and featured big names in the British scene such as Danny Williams and Gavin Rees.
As the public has warmed to it and the hype has increased, the quality of the boxers has also improved. Prizefighter 9 at light-welterweight featured the likes of Rees as well as Jamie Cook and Young Mutley while Friday’s Prizefighter 10 has a good mix of young fighters and experienced pros. Names like Bradley Price, Neil Sinclair and Danny Butler all deem this tournament as a great platform for their careers and bring them further into the public eye.
It is great to see boxing is still working on new ways to get people involved and new directions to take the sport. The tournament has improved with every competition and Friday’s light-middleweight tournament promises to be just as special.
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