Inside Whisper's production of the Jake Paul v Tommy Fury boxing match By George Bevir
Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 10:21
Print This Story
The Jake Paul v Tommy Fury boxing match that took place in Saudi Arabia at the end of February divided fight fans, with some who felt that the cruiserweight bout between two novice boxers received more attention than it deserved, while others heaped praise on the pair for bringing fresh eyes to the sport.
Prior to the fight in Riyadh, Jake Paul was undefeated having fought - and won six times, while Tommy Fury had won all eight of his fights. So it's fair to say that it was their activities outside the ring that helped draw a a PPV audience to ESPN+ in the US and BT Sport in the UK.
Fury took part in UK reality dating series Love Island and has some 5m Instagram followers, a figure eclipsed by Paul who has 22.3m Instagram followers and 20m subscribers to his YouTube account along with 17m on TikTok. That background in creating content for online audiences was something that production company Whisper was able to tap into.
They were both brilliant because they get content, says Whisper head of sport Pete Thomas.
We tried to spend as much time with Jake Paul and Tommy Fury as we could it wasn't so much about technique, footwork, or how are they going to win the fight, it was more about these two men are and what has brought them here. And we had to treat the fight with the respect it deserved.
To Jake, content is king, and he is very aware of his time and what he shares. He was great to work with, and Tommy was as well. They gave up their time and engaged with what we asked them to do, and they understood what we tried to achieve and played a big part in that. They were both very savvy and aware.
Jake Paul filming some promotional content prior to his fight against Tommy Fury
The night before the fight they both came down to the ring with their teams, they did their walks to the rings and we rehearsed with them so there were no surprises on the night.
It's something you often try and achieve, but you don't always get that from other boxers. Sometimes they will go through the motions, but they're not really paying attention. Both Tommy and Jake really engaged and wanted to understand what we were doing, so they walked through properly to time with music, and that all helped it to run smoothly on the night.
Whisper was appointed by promoter Skill Challenge Entertainment to deliver the world feed host broadcast of the fight that took place on Sunday 26 February with a production team that included Thomas, executive producer John Curtis and Whisper director of production Bethan Evans along with a crew made up of staff from the UK and the local region.
Boxing is a growing sport for Whisper, which last year delivered the world feed host broadcast of the heavyweight rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, which took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. One of the main differences for the Paul v Fury fight was the requirement to provide presentation for most of the broadcasters (not including BT Sport) who aired the fight.
We had an on-screen talent team and had to fill the gaps between the fights, so we needed to provide a coherent broadcast with features, special guests and so on. And in the week before the fight, we produced a live press conference and a live weigh-in show and produced a face-to-face show with Tommy and Jake going back and forth for 20-minutes. So it was quite an intense week.
Hardcore fans and novice viewers
Given that many of those who tuned in would have had limited exposure to boxing, Thomas says Whisper's approach was to tread a line between the hardcore boxing fans and people who had never really watched boxing a great deal .
He says: That meant we did a few things like showing the rules before the fight started, because we were conscious that some people wouldn't maybe understand or wouldn't be so clued in to how boxing works. We did a few simple things to try and break down how a fight typically plays out.
Also, we tried to spend as much time with [Paul and Fury] as we could and put that across, so we told their stories; we talked to them on the night, and we talked to them before the fight. So it wasn't so much about technique, footwork, or how are they going to win the fight, it was more about these two men are and what has brought them here. And beyond that, we had to treat the fight with the respect it deserved.
Construction of the ring and lighting rig at the Diriyah Arena in Riyadh.
Director Jordi Alfaro was tasked with overseeing coverage of the Paul v Fury fight, along with the nine other bouts on the undercard. He says: It was an event that brought the attention of a lot of people who probably don't usually watch boxing, so for me, one of the most important things was to show what was happening in the arena with all the VIPs like Tyson Fury, Mike Tyson, Cristiano Ronaldo to show that they were interested in the event.
And then during the main event, instead of going into the corners which we usually do to listen to the trainers it was more about showing as many replays as we could, and reactions of people watching in the arena.
Thomas says his production team was also very aware of what spectators in the arena would see on the big screens, and the impact the live crowd could have on the overall atmosphere.
We made sure the gaps between fights were filled with little teasers of what's to come. We also learnt massively from the fight last year as to what the crowd would react to, because producing the show I am always conscious of not just providing a really good feed, you are also trying to keep the crowd buzzing.
Boxing can be a challenge because in those moments between fights there may be great stuff for viewers watching at home
Most recent headlines
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...
16/12/2025
RT Sport Awards 2025 live on RT One and RT Player at 8:05pm on Saturday 20 December.
On Saturday 20 December live on RT One and RT Player at the earlier t...
16/12/2025
Singer -songwriter Brian Kennedy has been announced as the final celebrity dance...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
15/12/2025
Top L-R: La Tierra Del Valor (The Home of the Brave), Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawe...
15/12/2025
L3Harris will leverage 15 years of experience supporting the E-4B Nightwatch and...
15/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the loss of federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and operational changes, the statewide pub...
15/12/2025
BOULDER, Colo. Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), Venture Technologies Group (VTG), and WQED have completed a multipart agreement that they say will significant...
15/12/2025
Cape Town, November 13, 2025 - SES and International artist and humanitarian, Fo...
15/12/2025
Luxembourg, December 15, 2025 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Abra Group launched fast and reliable multi-orbit inflight connectivity service on t...
15/12/2025
How Rivian s Design Puts Drivers First-And Why That Matters Published on Dec 15, 2025 Categories: Business Solutions
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Sha...
15/12/2025
Space42 and Cobham Satcom completed the full range of advanced terminals for the...
15/12/2025
15 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan Delivers First Starlink Direct to Cel...
15/12/2025
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor finds himself the topic of year's cracker jokes
Oasis, David Harbour, Celebrity Traitors and Angela Rayner all feature in this y...
15/12/2025
Comscore Expands Cross-Platform Campaign Measurement to Include Audio and Social New capabilities strengthen cross-platform campaign reporting suite; CCR rebran...
15/12/2025
NVIDIA today announced it has acquired SchedMD - the leading developer of Slurm, an open-source workload management system for high-performance computing (HPC) ...
15/12/2025
RT .ie has reached one billion page views this year and is on track to finish 2025 2% ahead of last year. Average time spent on the site is up 3% on 2024, with ...
15/12/2025
Modern workflows showcase the endless possibilities of generative and agentic AI on PCs.
Of many, some examples include tuning a chatbot to handle product-supp...
13/12/2025
Powering Client Growth: Horizon Deepens Nielsen Partnership, Enabling More Effic...
13/12/2025
In a move that will help it offer more flexible and less costly programming options, YouTube TV has announced that it will be launching YouTube TV Plans with mo...
13/12/2025
SINGAPORE Magna Systems has designed, built and completed what is believed to be the first full UHD and IP-based OB truck in Southeast Asia for a Singapore medi...
12/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Everything You Need to Know for Next Week's Big Sho...
12/12/2025
Hailey Gates at the Atropia premiere (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
12/12/2025
Last month, Spotify announced a new collaboration with the ATP Tour, the global governing body of men's professional tennis, aimed at bringing the next gene...
12/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the elimination of Federal federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and changes in the way they...
12/12/2025
Wisycom and DPA Microphones announce the appointment of Ren Moerch as Group Product Director, Wireless, a strategic leadership role that will guide the combine...
Inside Whisper's production of the Jake Paul v Tommy Fury boxing match By George Bevir 
