The ITV Box Office Gamble

With boxing thriving in this country, the news that ITV had decided to become involved in showing fights again was most welcome.

Some of us grew up listening to the legendary tones of Reg Gutteridge commentating, his unique voice covering the action in the best way possible.

But, the news that ITV is back covering boxing has, in my opinion, been tainted by the fact that the organisation has opted to go down the pay-per-view route.

Whilst accepting that it has become the norm for the likes of Sky Sports, when the satellite based company opts for pay-per-view it is normally for a promotion of high quality featuring a decent world title fight.

ITV, in opting to decide that Chris Eubank Junior?s attempt to win a version of a world title that isn?t universally accepted as being one of the more recognisable versions, to me, seems as if they?ve taken a gamble that could back-fire.

Now whilst Eubank Jnr has the ability to go a long way in this sport of ours, I?m doubting whether, this Saturday night, ITV will get anywhere near the quantity of pay-per-view customers they anticipate.

Chris Eubank Senior might enthusiastically bang the drum about what his son can achieve in the professional game and talk about fantastic numbers when it comes to pay-per-view, I?m hazarding a guess that the fight won?t get anywhere near 500,000 subscribers, how about you?

It?ll be interesting to see if ITV do release the final figures relating to how many people, on a Saturday night, coughed up an extra £10 to see Chris Eubank Jnr in action.