Espinoza, Schaefer United in Removing Broner From PPV

by David P. Greisman

As reported earlier on BoxingScene.com, the anticipated Dec. 14 pay-per-view headlined by Adrien Broner and Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas will now be taking place on regular Showtime, broadcast out of the Alamodome on San Antonio, Texas.

The announcement was made Oct. 26 by Stephen Espinoza of Showtime and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, part of a big move of fights from card to card.

The Nov. 30 show in Texas featuring Devon Alexander vs. Shawn Porter and Leo Santa Cruz vs. Cesar Seda will no longer be happening. Both bouts have been rescheduled.

Alexander-Porter will instead wind up on Dec. 7 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., joining the headline of Zab Judah vs. Paulie Malignaggi and undercard bouts of Erislandy Lara vs. Austin Trout and Sakio Bika vs. Anthony Dirrell.

Santa Cruz vs. Seda will be on the  Dec. 14 show headlined by Broner-Maidana. The other undercard bouts are Keith Thurman vs. Jesus Soto Karass, Beibut Shumenov vs. Tamas Kovacs, and Victor Ortiz vs. Alfonso Gomez.

“We have made some hard decisions, tightened the belt and canceled our Christmas party and are giving the fans an early holiday gift that really deserves to be seen,” Espinoza said.

He said later: “None of us were thrilled with putting the [Broner-Maidana] fight on pay-per-view. Broner, while he is a star, can benefit from the widest possible exposure still. We will see Broner on pay-per-view soon. That’s a financial reality. Right now we’re just happy that we can find enough quarters in this couches to put this event back on Showtime.”

Added Schaefer: “For them to be able to come up at the end of the year with the necessary funds to do that is absolutely spectacular. … This is a one-two punch thank you for fight fans.”

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