Major boxing rematch available for pubs to screen
The fight, set to take place on Sunday 17 December at London’s O2 Arena, has been talked about since Bellew 'The Bomber' claimed a victory over Haye 'The Hayemaker' after capitalising on his opponent’s Achilles injury.
Since the fight, Bellew has enjoyed recent WBC cruiserweight title wins agains Ilunga Makabu and BJ Flores, but his match with Haye proved to be his biggest victory to date.
Sky Sport Box Office has screened stellar boxing matches this year, including fights between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev, James DeGale and Badou Jack, and Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz.
Joshua v Klitschko
Major moments included the Joshua v Klitschko and Mayweather v McGregor fights, with December’s tussle set to cap a year of memorable bouts.
Pubs can also show Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight title defence against Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev on 28 October.
Sky Business managing director David Rey said: “The stellar line-up of boxing on Sky Sports Box Office continues this year with yet another top-draw bout scheduled to take place.
“The increasing popularity of pay-per-view events among pubgoers is great news for landlords and this rematch between Haye and Bellew gives venues a great opportunity to attract sports fans and boost trade.”
Want to keep up-to-date with sporting events in the coming weeks and months? Sign up to The Morning Advertiser’s free newsletter to receive The Weekender, a Saturday newsletter that contains details of the major sporting events available to pubs each weekend.
Benefits of sport to pubs
Meanwhile, MatchPint co-founder Dominic Collingwood outlined the benefits available to pubs that offer a variety of sports in their venues at a recent MA500 event in Edinburgh.
He told delegates: “Sport is worth £83,000 a year in incremental wet value to each pub (according to CGA) and £40,000 of that is football.
“While football is 62.1% of pubgoers’ favourite sport, 44% of football fans are interested in watching rugby union in pubs.
“Some 16.4% of Millennial football fans want to watch NFL at the pub. The modern football fan, especially the Millennial wants to watch a broad range of sport.”
