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ITV boxes clever with Warren deal ITV1 is planning to air up to eight Big Fight Live shows a year, marking a return to the noble art of boxing for the terrestrial channel after an absence of nearly a decade. The move follows the inking of a long-planned, two-year deal with Europe’s leading boxing promoter Frank Warren for TV rights to fights from the likes of newly-crowned champion Ricky Hatton, plus Amir Khan, Cardiff’s Joe Calzaghe, Scott Harrison and Alex Arthur. First fruits of the Warren deal will see ITV cover Khan’s progress as a professional from his first fight in Bolton on July 16, while Hatton’s first world title defence is expected to be seen on ITV1 in October. “Amir Khan’s performance at last year’s Olympics made boxing headline news again," said ITV’s director of programmes Nigel Pickard, whose channel drew some 6.3m viewers when it aired Khan's final amateur fight against Mario Kindelan in May. "His last amateur bout screened on ITV shows there is still a real audience for boxing on mainstream terrestrial television and we hope to build boxing back into a primetime sporting event,” added Pickard. As well as the eight fixtures on ITV1, that means airing fight coverage and related programming on upcoming male-skewing channel ITV4, due to launch on cable, satellite and Freeview in November. Mark Sharman, ITV’s controller of sport, added: “We pride ourselves on bringing the nation top quality events. Big time boxing fits the bill perfectly.” 15 Jul 2005 © C21 Media 2005 
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