On Saturday night, Showtime has a card from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, that will feature the super middleweight title unification between IBF beltholder James DeGale and WBC titlist Badou Jack, with a co-feature that will have IBF 130-pound beltholder Jose Pedraza defend his title against Gervonta Davis. It’s the start of a very good stretch of fights on Showtime to begin 2017. The network also has the rematch between WBA featherweight titleholder Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz a couple of weeks later, Adrien Broner-Adrian Granados on Feb. 18 and then the welterweight title unification showdown between WBA beltholder Keith Thurman and WBC titlist Danny Garcia on March 4.
As for HBO?
Well…they will broadcast the doubleheader on Jan. 28 from the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, in Indio, California, with WBC super featherweight titleholder Francisco Vargas vs. Miguel Berchelt and Takashi Miura-Miguel Roman and that’s it. Nothing else. Nada. Zippo. Zilch.
We all know they have a full schedule of pay-per-view events but, last I checked, being an HBO subscriber doesn’t get you those fights for free. Now, if they want to give all of us working stiffs monthly $70 vouchers for these upcoming events, that would be swell. But I don’t see that happening.
So, as a longtime HBO subscriber (who mainly gets this network because of its boxing programming), I have a serious question: Do I need to cancel my subscription for several months? Yeah, I know; I know. It’s not all that much money but, seriously, tell me why I need HBO for the time being. Yeah, I like their original programming but “Insecure” – and I’m Team Lawrence all the way! – and “Westworld” have just concluded their first seasons. And, quite honestly, their upcoming stuff like “Young Pope” doesn’t really pique my curiosity all that much.
Yeah, I’ll miss “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” which is still very good, and “The Fight Game with Jim Lampley’” is improved but honestly I can live without seeing “Real Sex” reruns for awhile.
However, other than the lack of live boxing on Home Box Office, what has happened to the HBO Sports department, in general? There was a time when we’d get award-winning documentaries and stuff like “Legendary Nights.” Meanwhile, Showtime Sports now has “Inside the NFL” (which needs Michael Irvin on every week. “The Playmaker” is hilarious) and fresh new documentary material (Ben Simmons, Lawrence Phillips, “A Season With…”), which, ironically, is produced by none other than former HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg.
(Also, “Billions” should be starting soon. So yeah, Showtime, you’re good. No need to go see the coach with your playbook. Speaking of which, HBO’s “Hard Knocks” doesn’t return till August.)
There once was a time when having a premium cable network was really special and perhaps you could digest long stretches, in which there wasn’t much live boxing programming. But in the age of Netflix and YouTube, there are many more options at your disposal. HBO now airs one live sport – boxing. For years, it’s been a part of its DNA and identity as a network. To many of us, Larry Merchant is no different than Tony Soprano or Omar Little.
Currently the man in charge of HBO Sports is my old friend Peter Nelson, who’s credited for bringing aboard IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and WBC super flyweight titlist Roman Gonzalez to the consciousness of American fans, who are finding it hard to navigate the current marketplace that exists in boxing. While his counterpart at Showtime, Stephen Espinoza, has the luxury of basically dealing with one entity (Al Haymon/Premier Boxing Champions), Nelson has a multitude of providers to navigate through, which, on the surface, would have you believe he has more options, in terms of the fights he can make. That said, with many potential opponents aligned across the street, there aren’t as many choices as you may think. Word is HBO will make a very strong bid for the April 29 bout between IBF heavyweight king Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko. Top Rank Promotions’ Bob Arum, who seems to have a hot-and-cold relationship with the network, depending on what day it is, has spoken about getting WBO featherweight beltholder Oscar Valdez and WBO super middleweight titlist Gilberto Ramirez on HBO in March.
In looking at the HBO landscape, you have guys like WBO super welterweight titleholder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev and IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight beltholder Andre Ward, who have been key foundations of their boxing franchise and are now – or have been – at the stage in which the majority of their fights are slated for pay-per-view. WBO welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto – because of their current contracts – simply don’t fit within the current HBO Sports broadcast budget. WBC/WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford and WBO super featherweight beltholder Vasyl Lomachenko are among the premier fighters in the sport but aren’t necessarily ratings grabbers and matching them competitively has been a tad problematic.
HBO is connected to the best – and most expensive – boxers in the sport.
For the time being, HBO needs to continue to develop its next wave of signature fighters, while providing actual competition for the ones they currently have.
It has to be asked: Just what is HBO’s commitment to the sport? They certainly haven’t gotten out of the boxing business but they don’t seem all-in, either. Where have you gone, Bob Greenway?
Now, let me call my cable company here. By the way, when does “Game of Thrones” return?
SOAPBOX EMAIL
In case you missed it, the latest edition of “The Soapbox” dealt with how the UFC is made available to more eyeballs than boxing for its biggest events by making it more accessible to bars and restaurants. It’s another example of one business looking at the long-term growth of its industry versus another that is failing to adapt to a new reality.
I got this email in response to that piece:
“‘K9’ Kim,
“Happy New Year! Just finished reading your latest article on UCNLive and it struck a chord (in a good way). I attended the (Amanda) Nunes-(Ronda) Rousey fight last week (as well as the weigh-in) and the one thing that stuck out to me was the amount of women in attendance. In December, I went to the (Jesus) Cuellar-(Abner) Mares (fight), (Bernard) Hopkins-(Joe) Smith (Jr.) (fight) and the aforementioned UFC event. My girlfriend went to the Hopkins and Rousey fights and she had a much better time at the latter. The UFC, in the past three years, has tapped into a new demographic: Women. By having prominent roles for female athletes, the UFC has usurped boxing in marketing to a demographic that enjoys combat sports as much as their male counterparts.
“Economically, I understand now why the Commerce Casino would order a UFC PPV over a boxing PPV. Besides the obvious price point aspect, when you can attract both men and women into your establishment, it makes it more palatable to shell out the money necessary to broadcast the fight. Arum, (Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar) De La Hoya, (Main Events CEO Kathy) Duva, Haymon and (K2 Promotions Managing Director Tom) Loefller are all smart business(wo)men and they need to take a page out of the UFC playbook. (Former Olympians) Clarissa Shields and Katie Taylor have the potential to headline. They need exposure, as do other elite female fighters. With the right marketing, they have the ability to make boxing more mainstream. If we want to see this sport on network television regularly, I hope more will be done to tap into a market that seems to be ignored.
“Thank you, Steve, for covering this sport the way it needs to be covered – with honesty. I wish you and your colleagues at UCNLive great success this year and I will be continue to read all of your content.
“Sean”
Sean, thanks for the feedback; it’s always appreciated. It’s funny you mentioned how the UFC has tapped into the female demographic, as I will be doing a story on this very issue in the upcoming week. Yes, I’m doing a story on female boxing – Armageddon might be upon us.
FINAL FLURRIES
“The Next Round” with Gabe Montoya and me is back this week…Yes, boxing is also back this week. Spike has a card on Friday night featuring the titanic junior middleweight tilt between WBA super welterweight titlist Erislandy Lara and Yuri Foreman…So is the Chris Eubank Jr. fight happening or not and does anyone really care?…Is Manny Pacquiao really going to face Jeff Horn next?…Why was “Big Ben” in the game so late for the Steelers?…Yeah, so it’s rained a lot here in Southern California this year. The drought is over, right?…Does Chip Kelly land at Cal, now?…Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers is the greatest “Hail Mary” thrower ever. It’s not even close…The second weekend of NFL Playoffs should be much better than this past one. Some really strong match-ups in both the AFC and NFC…I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet (a lot) at twitter.com/steveucnlive. I also share photos of stuff at instagram.com/steveucnlive and can also be found at tsu.co/steveucnlive.
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