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I wouldn't be relying on one of those boxes to watch a Sky Box Office.  Reason I say that is as far as I know you are watching those boxes off the back of a cloned signal, so while there will be a lot of people that have sky sports packages only a fraction of those will get sky box office out on the night of the fight.  As a result for most sky sports box office events you will get really bad freezing to the extent it will be unwatchable.  That was my experience when tried to watch the Klitschko vs Fury fight at a mates, ended up watching it on a stream on the PC it was that bad.

Open to correction on the above, maybe someone who knows more about those boxes can advise ?

The less than 15 pro bouts rule came in a couple of years back, it would rule out the majority of top pros although when I think about it someone like AJ couldn't have had that many fights.  As long as they signed a short term contract with the AIBA and had less than 15 paid bouts they were good.  That rule didn't have much of an impact as far as I know.  But the new proposals would abolish restrictions altogether.

Dunno, I think it could be huge, if a little late for this Olympics: http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2016/0224/770533-aiba-president/

Any chance Rigondeaux would fight for us? 

No doubt about it's a big move, if it get fully implemented it's a game changer but what I was saying above is that I can't see it having much impact in terms of the forthcoming olympics. Too much has been invested in the fighters already selected to change much up at this stage.

Could see some interesting match ups down the line.  What's to stop Money Mayweather (who apparently doesn't care about money as much now) pursuing that Olympic gold he felt he was cheated out of ?

Ring walk - scheduled for 10.45.

The AIBA (world governing body) have announced that pro boxers will be able to compete in the Olympics and that changes will come into effect in time for this year's competition.

It's a big move and even though all contenders should have been selected at this stage, apparently it is down to each individual national federation on who they select to go forward.

I really can't see it having much of an impact in terms of the forthcoming competition.

In re Frampton vs Quigg - I expect the price to shorten on Quigg between now and fight night, I think anyone looking value on Frampton would be better served waiting to the night of the fight.  Expect Frampton to win but if it goes past 8 I think it will be that tight that a draw isn't out of the question.

Should be kicking off at around about 4am with coverage starting about 3.

Thanks for posting whiskey, gladly donated.  From what I'm hearing the Claddagh association do great work supporting families in such tragic events like those described above.

Just to add to the above there is a fundraising night in memory of Gerry Bradley being held in the Harbour bar in Portrush on Wednesday, 9th December at 7pm with proceeds going towards the Claddagh association who are supporting not only Gerry's family but also the family of Joe 'Hoss' McDermott from Omagh at this very difficult time for them.

£10 entry includes complimentary food, live music and a raffle.

I'm trying to help friends who are organising the night gather up great prizes for the raffle. I was involved with organising a fundraiser four years ago and was astounded by the generosity of members of this board who were able to assist with donating prizes for the raffle.  If anyone would be in a position to assist could you PM please and your generosity would be very much appreciated.

Go raibh maith agat

Undercard is a bit of a farce alright.  I think they went to the closest gym to pick up Hughie Fury's last minute opponent, Konstantin Airich. The highlight of his resume over the last couple of years was lasting almost 2 1/2 rounds with Anthony Joshua.

If you are getting the fight out, I don't think the undercard is what is going to sway you unfortunately.  The most interesting thing about the undercard will be the tattoo that Jono Carroll has on his back. I always felt the Sky cameras tried to swerve it during the prizefighter tournament that he won ...

Hope I am wrong but not expecting too much excitement from the main event. Tyson does a great job of selling it but expecting klitschko to sit behind his robotic jab and claim a comfortable points victory.

Hearing tickets sold out in ten minutes , serious demand. I see there is a further allocation going on sale at 12 for matchroom fight pass members which unfortunately will probably be the way of the future. Pay Mr Hearn an annual £30 subscription and get access to priority tickets. Think they do something similar with darts and pre-sale tickets.

Sad to see tickets going up on touting websites and genuine fans losing out or getting ripped off , suppose it is always going to happen with any high demand event.

Looking forward to the Cotto fight, would love to see him win but just can't see it panning out that way. Think too much was made of cotto'a win against an injury torn Sergio Martinez and a weight drained Geale. Alvarez to win on points or even a late stoppage.

On the WBC issue, it wasn't just the 300k that cotto was going to have to pay but he was also supposedly going to have to pay Golovkin (who was the WBC mandatory challenger) 800k step aside money.  1.1m out of a purse even for a big fight like this is a sizeable chunk and you can understand why he decided against it. Mayweather would always get a sanctioning fee reduction by negotiating with a bit of "you need me, more than I need you" persuasion.   Hopefully cotto's stance may in some way encourage a bit of a revolt against the sanctioning bodies and there may be an overhaul of them with the eradication of alphabet soup belts becoming a thing of the past. A boy can dream !

Frampton vs Quigg confirmed for February 27th in Manchester.

Delighted to see the fight finally being made but a bit gutted at same time as I'm on a stag do that weekend and won't be able to make it.

Very enjoyable game last night.  If you wanted an argument of why there should be no back door in club championship you could base it on that game.  There was a tangible intensity to the game and you could see what it meant to both teams.

Turning point for me was as has already been pointed out by MR was the start of the second half from St Gall's when they kicked three consecutive wides. Which is very uncharacteristic of a team that had one maybe two wides the whole first half.  What was even more uncharacteristic was the sideline ball which led to the goal.  The sideline ball could have arguably been a free for Cargin as it seemed Magill was pushed as he went down for the ball as it went out of play.  The resulting sideline was kicked towards Kerr and mcKernan hijacked the pass and only seemed to have one thing on his mind as he bore down on goal.  He had a good goal opportunity in the first half and I'm wondering did john Brennan remind him of this at half time !

After that Cargin showed the composure that St Gall's have done in previous years by retaining the ball, in a sevens football style and only making the pass if it was clearly on.

There were a number of excellent Cargin performances.  They got the upper hand at midfield with a superb game from Mick McCann and some great fielding by John Carron as well. Defensively they were very impressive as well.

The victory clearly meant a lot to Cargin folk but I'm sure they will wake up this morning realising that it will count for almost* nothing if last night's victory is not converted into silverware. While Cargin are deserving of the favourites title from here on in,  Creggan, Lamh Dearg and Rossa will be thinking they are all in with a shout.  *clearly getting the monkey off their back still counts for something.

The only thing I was disappointed about last night was that JB seemed to be a bit more subdued than his usual championship self.  Couple of pitch walk ons but no real fireworks !

Credit to Ahoghill for once again putting on a great show. Stewarding, traffic control, speaker announcements all Top notch. 

St Gall's have had a great run, I'd say those lads will be there or thereabouts for the 7s competition this year as usual. 

MR I think that was two years ago when it was very close, your lads won comfortably enough last year from what I can remember. Could be wrong on that.

Lee vs Saunders fight is postponed and is now taking place in Manchester October 10th.

Official line is that Lee has a virus, hearing that the real reason is to do with poor ticket sales for Thomond Park.  Bit of a shame for Andy Lee, always comes across as a decent fella.

That's a shame alright. It meant a lot to him to defend his title here. Maybe he's too nice to be a big draw or to make enough headlines. It pays to be obnoxious in boxing/UFC.

I'm surprised too at Saunders saying admitting that Golovkin would beat either of them. Probably true but it's not good marketing.

From chatting to a few boxing fans when the fight was announced, while feeling that the bout itself had the makings of a good fight were not willing to make the trip to Limerick as they felt having two fighters with a travelling background fighting in Limerick was a recipe for crowd trouble.  Also Tyrone boxing fans tell me they are busy that weekend as well 

Lee vs Saunders fight is postponed and is now taking place in Manchester October 10th.

Official line is that Lee has a virus, hearing that the real reason is to do with poor ticket sales for Thomond Park.  Bit of a shame for Andy Lee, always comes across as a decent fella.

Moving up in weight doesn't make sense.  I could be wrong but I thought he had said in interview about a week before the fight he was making weight fairly easy.  He had a height and reach disadvantage last night, moving up in weight will make that a common occurrence.

Fighting outside of Belfast was always going to be a big step, he's returning with a victory and while he hasn't performed as he wanted to, he is still amongst the best of his division and beats Scott Quigg if they meet.

Was surprised at the manner of the Quigg victory. i felt Martinez was going to be in with a real chance.  Need to watch the fight back but after the 1st round I thought Quigg had a tough night's work ahead of him.   Martinez could have been smarter and taken his time after the 1st knockdown rather than try get straight back up.  Flicked straight over to the Frampton fight and didn't see Martinez's post fight interview, not sure if he even did one but would be interested to hear his views on what happened.

Crolla's definitely hard done by there.  Thought the points deductions would have seen him through.

Who do you see as being one of these fighters that would be looking for Frampton and which would make for a big fight in the states Syferus ?

Milltown expecting a post from you. Not meaning to come across as negative towards Carl here, I'm a fan as you know.  Just think tonight has an impact on what his next steps are.

Some amount of low blows in the fights tonight. Points deductions have this Crolla's fight.

A profile in the states ? Wise up. I don't think Frampton has a profile off the back of a fight that was staged at 3pm in the afternoon in the US against a fighter that isn't even ranked within the top 50 of his division (box rec)

Don't think a move up in weight would be a good idea either Gallsman.