The Hook (VII)

I write this newsletter on the train from Newcastle to London Kings Cross. I had a great couple of days in the North-East attending the open media workouts and press conferences ahead of the homecoming of Josh Kelly as he takes on Bakhram Murtazaliev.

While Josh Kelly has found himself since his defeat to David Avaneseyan in 2021 beating strong domestic opposition in Troy Williamson and Ishmael Davis, Muratazaliez is a significant step up in opposition. The undefeated Russian Lightweight is coming off an impressive victory over Tim Tszyu who was knocked down twice in the second and once in the third before the referee called a halt to the bout.

It has been a frustrating period for Murtazaliev, who has been unable to fight since that victory over Tszyu. Despite being the IBF World Super-Welterweight champion, his team were unable to secure a bout against Vergil Ortiz Jr twice. Speaking to Murtazaliev’s Promoter (Kathy Duva, full interview also out on The Hook’s YouTube channel), the fight with Josh Kelly came with its challenges. They were unable to find a Television Network to air the fight but once that was agreed, negotiations with Kelly’s team were straightforward and here we are.

After a tense face-off, this is a fight you should tune in to watch!

Tyson Fury has announced his retirement a grand total of 5 times. The last time he announced his retirement was after a defeat to unified Heavyweight champion Oleksander Usyk in 2024.

Over a year on from that defeat, Fury will lace up the gloves again when he faces Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov in April in London. Interestingly, the bout will be aired exclusively on Netflix and it will also be the first time the streaming behemoth has broadcasted a live event from the UK. While Queensberry Promotions (Fury’s promoter) has enjoyed a productive working relationship with DAZN, there is little surprise that Netflix has acquired the rights to show the fight.

Firstly, the Fury’s have enjoyed a fruitful relationship with Netflix. They filmed at Home with the Fury’s which reached the number 1 spot in its second day and racked up 2.6m viewers in the UK during its first week. They are currently in production on a second show which promises to reveal his raw and unfiltered story.

Secondly, Netflix, made a huge statement when they streamed Mike Tyson v Jake Paul to an audience of 65m concurrent viewers, making it the most-streamed sporting event at the time. Since then they have established relationships with Turki Al-Sheikh and The ring magazine, airing the undisputed Super-Middleweight title bout between Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez. More recently they put on Anthony Joshua v Jake Paul in Miami which drove 33M viewers.

We are beginning to see a shift in the way in which broadcasters view sports rights. Instead of a broadcaster partnering with a promoter or even two, they will acquire rights to select fights, enabling them to get more bang for their buck. This has already played out with Netflix as they had the opportunity to acquire the rights for the UFC. Instead Paramount agreed a ground-breaking $7.7B seven-year deal.

The fights that Netflix have shown thus far feature athletes that transcend the sport they are in. This is a clever way of driving subscriber count as a casual viewer is more likely to tune in. Furthermore, being able to offer award-winning TV shows/Movies and Live Sports makes Netflix an attractive proposition to someone deciding who to subscribe to.

Overall, commercially this is a great deal for all parties involved and I wouldn’t be surprised to see even more big sporting events shown on Netflix.

After much talk Boxxer has announced a global broadcast rights deal for the upcoming show between Francesca Hennessy and Ellie Boutell. The fight was supposed to be headlined by Adam Azim and Gustavo Lamosu but that fight had to be postponed with both men suffering injuries. The card also features exciting light heavyweight prospect Gradus Kraus who faces Boris Crighton. The show will remain on free-to-air BBC 2 and BBC IPLAYER as per Boxxer’s existing contract.

Upcoming fights