In an exclusive interview with WBN, Dave Coldwell was asked about the broadcaster change from Channel 5 to BT Sports for the Ultimate Boxxer tournament.
The star trainer responded by saying: “It’s exciting, its a great platform for these fighters and for the brand as well.”
“What they’re doing is they’re not competing with promoters. We’re not trying to build fighters from scratch to become world champions. We’re not putting on world title fights, you’re not putting on British title fights.
“It’s all about this one night of competition, so it’s a different kind of entity in itself. And with the platform on BT, I think it’s ideal for it.”
The new deal with BT Sport will produce five events per year compared to two last year in their first events.
Ultimate Boxxer is growing quickly, to say the least. It gives talented boxers the opportunity to break through into the domestic scene.
Mentioned in the press conference was the addition of BT Sport’s YouTube channel and BoxNation showing of the next event.
When asked by WBN about the event staying free-to-watch, Coldwell added: “I think that’s vital. When you’re trying to build something you can’t go straight in and expect people to pay for it.
“You’ve got to have something of value. Right now, it’s not perhaps got the value because not enough people are aware of it.
“Going on a platform that is available out there, you’ve got YouTube, BoxNation and you’ve got BT. You’ve got all that and it’s going to help it grow.”
The next Ultimate Boxxer returns to London at the Indigo at the O2 on May 10th. This time featuring eight middleweight contenders who will battle it out in a knockout stage tournament to claim victory.
Coldwell has decided not to make a prediction or pick a favourite in this tournament following past events.
“No, because you know what, I refuse to pick winners on these because you can’t look at somebody’s record and think he’s going to win on the night because it’s totally unpredictable,” he poi,nted out.
“I’ve done it so many times even when they used to do Prizefighter (on Sky Sports). I thought he was going to win this and it’s completely different. It’s whatever happens on the night.”
The past two events have featured favourites, who much to the surprise of the tournament did not come through.
“You don’t know if fight one – if it’s a hard fight, you don’t know what will be left in the tank.
“Or they could have an easy fight, advance to the semi final and then have a really hard fight. You might win and get through to the final but there’s nothing left in there.”
ON THE LINE
The unique 3 x 3 rounds, which takes inspiration from those Prizefighter tournaments, allows explosive entertainment and fast-paced action on the night.
The winner becomes an Ultimate Boxxer champion in one night with a prize purse of £50,000.
“You just can’t go, I’ve seen where they’ve been on fire in the quarters and semis. They get to the final and they just can’t go, they’re shattered.
“They’ll lose going to a points or a stoppage or whatever. You can’t call it, that’s what makes it so good. It makes it so great because you can’t call it.
“It’s fun, I want to see fighters who go out there and put their balls on the line. Not go out there and try and nick it.
“I wanna see them go out and put it on the line, a few rounds of mayhem – let’s have it,” Coldwell concluded.
BT Sport will broadcast the Ultimate Boxxer series live on TV and YouTube, starting on Friday 10th May from The O2. Tickets available from http://www.ubxr.co/ub3-tickets
Chandler Waller is a staff writer for World Boxing News. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerWaller
