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HBO is Leaving Boxing After 45 Years, Network Announces


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HBO is Leaving Boxing After 45 Years, Network Announces

 

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According to an article in the New York Times, HBO is officially leaving boxing after 45 years.

 

HBO Sports Executive Vice President Peter Nelson made the announcement that HBO was dropping boxing Thursday morning in a meeting with the HBO Boxing production staff.

 

“This is not a subjective decision,” Nelson said to the New York Times. “Our audience research informs us that boxing is no longer a determinant factor for subscribing to HBO.”

 

http://ringsidereport.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/HBO-World-Boxing-Header11.jpg

 

HBO has faced stiff competition with Top Rank leaving the network for an exclusive long term deal with ESPN. (Recently extended to 7 years).

 

When Top Rank left, the network lost rising fighters like Terence Crawford, Vasyl Lomachenko and numerous others.

 

And Showtime significantly expanded their boxing coverage, with top fighters like Deontay Wilder, Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia making SHO their home.

 

Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom has also arrived with new streaming service DaZn, and nearly every boxer in his stable - including several that were featured on HBO - will be exclusively featured on the network.

 

Premier Boxing Champions, which boasts a massive stable of over 100 contracted fighters, also signed multi-year deals with FOX and Showtime to provide boxing content on a regular basis.

 

http://doghouseboxing.com/Media2/HBO_Boxing_After_Dark_L_Logo.jpg

 

HBO has also faced declining ratings over the last few years. Their recent Super Fly 3 tripleheader - which took place on September 8 - peaked at 349,000 viewers, making it one of the lowest-rated live televised event in the network's history.

 

HBO's two biggest stars, Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, became network free agents after their recent HBO Pay-Per-View rematch two weeks ago in Las Vegas.

 

Nelson left the door open for a potential "special" one-time event - if the fight was big enough.

 

“There’s plenty of boxing out there,” Nelson said. “But what we have not seen is a lot of signature destination fights.”

 

“Because of our association with boxing, people forget that we’re not a sports network. We’re a storytelling platform.”

 

“I’m still a fan of boxing. If there is a destination event, absolutely we’re in that conversation.”

 

http://sportsmedianews.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/fight-game-hbo.png

 

Source: NY Times

 

Sad day? Or good riddance?

 

Looks like Jacobs will be the last card. http://boxrec.com/en/event/773501

 

Personally; the old 24/7's of yesteryear narrated by the astoundingly amazing voice of Liev Schreiber will remain in my boxing collection and my heart forever.

 

Addendum:

 

Goodnight and thank you Jim, especially for this...possibly your best 'Last Word'

 

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Re: HBO is Leaving Boxing After 45 Years, Network Announces

 

The demise of HBO was inevitable. Thanks for the memories! RIP

 

I wonder which network Canelo will go to. As a PPV star I can only think of Showtime being a suitable home, however, De La Hoya has some sort of deal with ESPN for some of his boxing cards.

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Re: HBO is Leaving Boxing After 45 Years, Network Announces

 

--- Thomas Hauser weighs in on the HBO debacle with some surprising figures, one being that out of a $150 mil sports budget at their peak, 90 went to boxing!

 

There also seems to be an obvious miscalculation in another of his figures, perhaps borne of mixing up genres. Anyone want to take a gander, ie Hauser expert gavvy?

 

The New Order and the Future of Boxing: Part One - The Ring

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Re: HBO is Leaving Boxing After 45 Years, Network Announces

 

--- Thomas Hauser weighs in on the HBO debacle with some surprising figures, one being that out of a $150 mil sports budget at their peak, 90 went to boxing!

 

There also seems to be an obvious miscalculation in another of his figures, perhaps borne of mixing up genres. Anyone want to take a gander, ie Hauser expert gavvy?

 

No idea, never thought Hauser was anything special and I no longer follow boxing - I lost inerest in its future some time ago.

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Re: HBO is Leaving Boxing After 45 Years, Network Announces

 

The demise of HBO was inevitable. Thanks for the memories! RIP

 

I wonder which network Canelo will go to. As a PPV star I can only think of Showtime being a suitable home, however, De La Hoya has some sort of deal with ESPN for some of his boxing cards.

 

Golden Boy had multiple broadcast partners recently: HBO, ESPN and Facebook Watch. They also had some minor events on Estrella TV. I wouldn't mind if they expanded their deal with ESPN making it quite a strong boxing network. I'm not sure that ESPN is capable of broadcasting two major promoters, though. Top Rank has much more interesting events, usually on Friday and Saturday nights. Golden Boy put on shows on Thursday nights and it's only ESPN2. I don't think they will put on their best fighters there. They probably need another network and Showtime seems like a good option for the fans.

 

I'm kind of shocked that HBO drops boxing altogether. Showtime endured much bigger crisis. Haymon was screwing them big when he started Premium Boxing Champions. He was their only major partner at the time and he barely put any shows on their channel during the first year of the experiment. They were able to get all his major fighters back on Showtime and Haymon only shows some waned names like Ortiz, Berto or Alexander on free TV.

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