History
ITV's boxing coverage had largely been confined to big fights from the USA in the 1970s and early 80s, which were covered as part of World of Sport and as separate programmes. Until 1984, they were largely shut out of British domestic boxing due to a cartel operated by promoters such as Jarvis Astaire, Harry Levene and Mickey Duff, who had contracts with the BBC.
ITV obtained the rights to show fights promoted by then-rebel promoter Frank Warren's Sports Network in 1984. Until the early 1990s, the programmes were titled Boxing, World Championship Boxing, or shown as part of Midweek Sport Special. Until 1985, boxing continued to be shown on World of Sport, before the programme was axed. In the early 1990s, all boxing on ITV was branded The Big Fight Live. This was a particularly fruitful period for ITV's boxing coverage, as they featured fights involving boxers such as Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Naseem Hamed. These were produced by LWT for the ITV Network, and drew large audiences.
At the start of 1996, Sky Sports won the rights to show Sports Network fights, leaving ITV with only occasional boxing for the following ten years. Their only networked boxing during this period were a few fights involving Shea Neary, thanks to a contract with Merseyside promoter John Hyland. Other bouts were shown on ITV2 and the ill-fated ITV Sport Channel. Other boxing was shown on a regional basis, but this was rare.
In May 2005, ITV returned to the ring, with live coverage of Amir Khan's last fight before becoming professional against Mario Kindelan. It achieved a peak audience of 6.3 million viewers, encouraging ITV to reach a long-term agreement to show future Sports Network boxing promotions.
In June 2005, the network won back the rights to show Frank Warren's Sports Network fights and as a result broadcast fights involving Amir Khan, Joe Calzaghe, Danny Williams, Audley Harrison and others. As of September 2007, their coverage of Sports Network promotions was shared with Setanta Sports, with only Amir Khan fights remaining with ITV.
On 6 September 2008, Amir Khan switched to Sky from ITV, signalling the end of the network's contract with Frank Warren's Sports Network. Later that month, ITV announced a 2-year deal with Hennessy Sports for coverage of 26 fights. The majority of fights are due to be screened on ITV4 and once again will be hosted by Jim Rosenthal, who returned to ITV having previously been sacked in early 2008.
Amir Khan moved back to ITV in 2010, with his fight against Paulie Malignaggi broadcast live in the early hours of Sunday 15 May 2010.
Read more about this topic: The Big Fight Live
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