The battle between ITV and Sky for our British stars

ITV and Sky are battling to obtain British star Amir Khan

If you’re into boxing, you will probably know that the two ways to watch a fight are on ITV or Sky. Well if you didn’t know this, you do now. British boxing is always high in demand to be televised, so I wanted to look at the battle between coverage on ITV and Sky and also what you can expect to see from both channels when the Boxing is on.

ITV first obtained the rights to show British boxing in 1984 under the control of British promoter Frank Warren. This wasn’t very popular and it was axed in 1990. But then came a big period for ITV, they changed their name to ‘The Big Fight Live’ and featured some of the biggest fighters including Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Nassem Hamed. This lasted from 1991-1996 and it was a successful time for boxing on ITV but this is where Sky came into play.

Sky knew how successful ITV had been and also how popular boxing was becoming so they decided to buy the rights to show the biggest fights in 1996. This dominance lasted nine years and ITV rarely showed any fights, only occasionally on ITV 2.

In 2005, ITV won the rights to show one of Britain’s current biggest talents Amir Khan. His fight against Mario Kindelan achieved audience figures of 6.3 Million meaning ITV decided they wanted boxing back again. Frank Warren left Sky and brought his ‘Sport Network Fights’ back to ITV. This resulted in British fighters such as Amir Khan, Joe Calzaghe and Audley Harrison appearing on ITV.

So after that brief historical lesson, you are probably thinking what happened next and where are they now?

Well, Amir Khan has become one of the brightest and most talented British boxers of the current day. So ITV having him on their bill was a huge asset but not anymore. Khan moved to Sky in 2008 and Frank Warren pulled out of ITV. Khan did however come back to ITV in 2010 when he took on Paulie Malignaggi, so it shows that ITV can still draw interest.

ITV boxing is now owned by Hennessy Sports with the majority of the fights being shown on ITV 4. This has never really got going as it shows mostly mediocre fighters which people aren’t interested in.

Meanwhile, Sky has started to move into a new era of boxing with the interest more popular then ever. All of the best British fighters are licensed to Sky including Heavyweight champion David Haye, Super Middleweight Champion Carl Froch and Super Featherweight champion Ricky Burns.

Sky looks to be moving forward with fighters such as Ricky Burns

Sky also has it’s own boxing programme every Friday night from 10pm until 12. This is named ‘Friday Fight Night’ and it shows some of the best British talent each week. Also with Sky offering so many big name fights on Box Office it’s fair to say they are in control.

In my eyes, the difference between boxing on ITV and Sky is huge at this moment in time. Sky now has the best fights, fighters and presenters whereas ITV showcases less talent and also the whole production has a cheap look to it.

But as you have already seen, ITV can still bring in people such as Amir Khan and as long as they are still around they will be a threat to Sky. The power has been switching back and forth down the years and I wouldn’t be surprised if it carried on for many years.

For now, if you are looking to watch the best British talent tune into Sky but maybe one day ITV will come good again.

Check out this video which shows how big boxing on Sky has become in the last ten years with lots of British fighters included of course.