Bob Arum Rips Sky Sports For Putting Everything On Pay-Per-View: It ‘is An Absolute Disgrace’

Bob Arum is not a fan of Sky Sports and believes they are only in boxing for the money.

Arum, who promotes Top Rank on ESPN, claims all Sky Sports cares about is putting boxing events on pay-per-view even if they are small fights instead of trying to growing the sport. Arum points to ESPN who is putting a massive fight between Vassiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez on regular cable. Instead, he thinks Sky Sports is a disgrace to the sport.

“ESPN really are supporters of the sport and they don’t just use the sport, they support it and they are giving us the where with all to put this event on,” Arum said via BoxingScene.

“Unlike what happens in the UK where you have one outfit like Sky Sports which just money grabs and puts everything on pay-per-view. I see BT Sport has stepped up to the plate and they are giving their subscribers without extra money Dubois and Joyce, which is an excellent heavyweight fight. 

“Any fight that Eddie Hearn does, whether it is a major fight, or a minor fight, they put on pay-per-view, because Sky Sports is only apparently interested in a money grab, soak the boxing fans for whatever they can.  These networks have to understand how people are hurting, how many people in this country and the UK are out of work because of this pandemic. I think it’s really immoral to require people to spend money watching their favourite sport every week, every other week. What Sky Sports is doing in the UK is an absolute disgrace. I don’t care if they never buy a fight from me. What they are doing now is a disgrace.”

Bob Arum also didn’t stop there and continued to go at the network. He says he likes Eddie Hearn but questions why everything is on pay-per-view.

“I like Eddie,” Arum said. “If Sky won’t give him money to do significant fights, he has no other choice but to do it on pay-per-view. I’m sure if Sky really supported boxing, put up money to see some of these fights, which are good fights, but are not pay-per-view quality. Like Usyk and Chisora, that’s a good fight, but it is not a pay-per-view fight. Why the hell isn’t Sky buying that fight to show to their subscribers, without soaking them 25 quid?”

Do you agree with Bob Arum?