Comments Thread For: Showtime's Espinoza: There's One Network Committed to Boxing

[kentou2013]

Showtime only has 23.1 million subscribers.
The move from HBO to showtime is proof that boxing’s dying a slow death.

[Shadoww702]

If you are paying for HBO to see top 10 P4P fighters, you are wasting your money.

Canelo: ZERO live fights on HBO scheduled in 2017. ZERO live fights on HBO in 2016.

Ward: ZERO live fights on HBO scheduled in 2017. One mismatch (Brand) & one so-so fight (Barrera) on HBO in 2016.

GGG: ZERO live fights on HBO in 2017. Two mismatches (Wade & Brook) on HBO in 2016.

Crawford: one so-so live fight (Diaz) on HBO in 2017. Two mismatches (Molina & Lundy) on HBO in 2016.

Loma: one mismatch (Sosa) live on HBO in 2017. Two good fights (Martinez & Walters) on HBO in 2016.

HBO might have most of the top 10 P4P, but you're not really seeing them much on HBO -- and when they are on HBO, they're in mismatches.

But oh yeah HBO has all the best fighters.

I dropped HBOlows. And only get it for a few months a year for GOT...

Showtime just LAST week gave Berto/Porter. This week Klitz/Joshua

ESPN and Fox > HBO Boxing.

[Scipio2009]

I hope both networks continue to work together for the health of the sport.

As Espinoza mentioned at times one network or the other might have to concede if the other network has the bigger star. Like with Golovkin-Jacobs.

But at times when star power may be close to equal, then the collaborations can happen. Like with Lewis-Tyson, Mayweather-Pacquiao and now Joshua-Klitschko.

There aren't that many fights that would warrant both networks pantomiming a 50/50 responsibility on the fight, so keep that in mind.

The fight should go to the broadcaster who puts up more money for the fight; simple as that.

[Scipio2009]

He admits that now, so how come the exact opposite was said to help Adonis Stevenson duck the Sergey Kovalev fight? How come Luis Decubas Jr. is saying the exact opposite to allow Lara to duck GGG? That's why no matter how many resources Showtime puts into boxing, the fans will never come aboard, because they keep contradicting themselves, so it feels like they are trying to manipulate the fans.

Stevenson was free and clear, and Kovalev and his camp had already gone to the public with talk about how they were fighting out the end of their deal, so nice try.

Showtime thought kovalev was free, the WBC thought Kovalev was free, ad everyone acted accordingly ... up until Kathy Duva saw what it was and wanted to ensure that a new longterm deal with HBO was put into place before anything else was considered.

lol

[Scipio2009]

That is not even Debatable at this point but both Networks are needed for the sake of Boxing so hopefully HBO does get back to the way it use to be and stop with the PPV's that will continue to FLOP

Are both networks needed though?

Folks seem to willfully forget that, with the end of Tyson's run, HBO basically took over as the sole place for top-level fights (Showtime, still wanting to stay in boxing, shifted it's attention to international fights, 50/50 prospect fights, and quality fights that HBO simply didn't want).

What's different now?

HBO keeps to the PPV fights for the handful of folks that they still have, with Showtime now being the place where the vast majority of the major action in the sport occurs.

If Anthony Joshua beats Klitschko, and Andre Ward handles Kovalev again (with HBO's treatment of Ward likely prompting a return "home"), you're basically left with an HBO that isn't all that different from where Showtime was after Tyson; though Alvarez being about to enter his prime is likely going to drum up enough revenue off of PPV to finance a little bit of a boxing schedule.

[Scipio2009]

Let's look at the consensus top p4p fighters in no order

Loma Crawford ggg kov ward canelo = all hbo

Andre Ward is likely to jump to Showtime after beating Kovalev, Golovkin's last two performance have cast doubt on 1)how much of his form he has left, and 2)how good he actually was to begin with, and there are a lot of fights that are in the works (Thurman-Brook/Spence winner, Joshua-Wilder, Charlo/Andrade/Lara/Hurd at 154lbs, Santa Cruz/Frampton/Selby/Russell Jr at 126, Mikey Garcia vs the world at 135lbs, etc) that will change the objective list drastically.

[The Time]

There aren't that many fights that would warrant both networks pantomiming a 50/50 responsibility on the fight, so keep that in mind.

The fight should go to the broadcaster who puts up more money for the fight; simple as that.

I know not too many fights exist for collaboration. Just mentioning that I like that they are willing to work things out more now than in the past.

I don't have a preference for either or as far as who gets what fight or fighters. Or who puts up the most money. As a fan just give me good fights. Give us, the fans the fighters and fights we want to see. That's all I'm concerned about. As long as they do that then as boxing fans, we're good.

[Scipio2009]

Any chance we'll get to see their top fighters fight 3 times this year? Or they're content fighting once a year? This is the commitment they're talking about doe. Top fighters fighting once a year.

Top fighters in top fights aren't the type of things you can simply throw out "3 times a year". Once the fights get made, the fights get put on.

[Scipio2009]

Props to Espinoza and Showtime for delivering a great 2017 schedule so far. However if they are truly going to become the premier provider they need to work with more promoters. Aside from some business with Eddie Hearn it's all tied to Haymon. Espinoza was instrumental in Haymon and Schaefer's plot to take control of GBP which is a big reason why he's so exclusive with Haymon.
Will will understand HBO's true intentions once the AT&T buyout of Time Warner goes through. I do believe Ken Hershman left because of what was to come with their budget and positioning in the sport.

why?

Between the fighters tied in with Haymon, Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport (and the potential partners Hearn works with on his side of the Atlantic), and the possibility of bringing Andre Ward and Roc Nation Sports aboard, Espinoza would basically have access to 70% of the sport's top fighters.

Outside of the chance to bring Alvarez and Joseph Diaz Jr along (if Oscar does fall off of the wagon again, I foresee Alvarez convincing Eric Gomez to come on aboard and run Alvarez's fights through Canelo Promotions), there's no real gain in opening up the shop and doing business with folks like Bob Arum or Oscar De La Hoya or anyone else who have committed their future to HBO.

[Scipio2009]

Showtime only has 23.1 million subscribers.
The move from HBO to showtime is proof that boxing’s dying a slow death.

... that's not how it works