Laura Woods forced to apologise as fans fume about Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou broadcast blunder
28/10/2023 19:40
Laura Woods was forced to issue an apology ahead of Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou.
The former talkSPORT Breakfast host was working as part of the broadcast team for 'The Battle of the Baddest' in Riyadh on Saturday night when disaster struck.
Just after Martin Bakole's stoppage win over Carlos Takam, the TNT Sports pay-per-view stream momentarily cut to black before an apology message appeared on the screen.
It read: "We apologise for the break in transmission and hope to correct the faulty shortly."
Unfortunately for fans watching at home, the message was accompanied by a high-pitched noise that made waiting for the fights to restart almost unbearable.
It didn't take long for people to take to social media to vent their frustrations about the technical difficulties after shelling out £21.95 for the eagerly anticipated event.
One person tweeted: “TNT Sports sort it out.”
Another commented: “I see TNT Sports are having a great start to tonight's #FuryNgannou coverage.”
A third person wrote: “TNT Sports, I mean… the crappy broadcast is one thing but the literal ear destroying noise is horrific #RefundsAllRound.”
Someone else said: “Great start to the fight, Thanks TNT for breaking my ears.”
The annoying squeal eventually made way for a more generic sound before only silence accompanied the error message that remained on the screen for over 20 minutes.
“Well a big apology from us here in Riyadh,” Woods said after the broadcast restarted.
“We had a few technical issues so you lost pictures for a while, we know that must have been frustrating.
“The good news is, we are back and we think we know what it was all about so it won't happen again.
“You haven't missed a minute of boxing so don't worry about that.”
Despite Woods’ promise, technical issues persisted and fans across Britain continued to complain about enduring a ‘fuzzy screen and no sound.’
The stream seemed to fix itself as 18-year-old heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma picked up a first-round stoppage win over Istvan Bernath.
