Comments Thread For: BoxingScene Awards: 2013 Network of the Year

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Jake Donovan - If the past 12 months proved anything, it’s that competition is a good thing.

HBO and Showtime have become chief supports in boxing’s Cold War between promotional powerhouses Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions. If the two networks are going to pledge their allegiance to the respective promoters, they better make damn sure their content doesn’t suffer one bit.

Miraculously, it didn’t.

Despite the number of bouts that can be made but aren’t happening due to the bitter rivalry between promoters, the networks also did their part by refusing to buy junk and passing it off as gold. If its options were limited in fights that can be made, the onus was on the promoters to deliver to the best possible fights with little room for error. [Click Here To Read More]

[ShoulderRoll]

I'm glad to see Showtime getting rewarded for their stacked cards.

They should continue doing it in 2014 and HBO should try to keep up by offering loaded shows of their own.

[Weebler I]

It's possible that HBO has reached a point where the network has become a victim of its own reputation.

Forget the regurgitated stats offered from its releases of holding 21 of the top 25 US cable boxing broadcasts of the year"

.....

In any other year, HBO - judged on its own merit and not compared to its own past is a runaway choice for the year's top network.

You said it Jake. Giving Showtime the award is like scoring a losing fighter a round because they didn't get as badly beaten as the previous rounds and was at least competitive for parts of it.

[techliam]

Boxingscene joining in the unnecessary sport of network fanboyism
What will plague the sport next?

[Tyler_Durden]

Hopefully this leads even better fights from both networks.

[shoog]

I dont know how you give this to showtime , I still think HBO has the better stable of fighters/ fights I want to watch and better potential matchups than showtime golden boy. Ward Golovkin Stevenson kovalev Marquez PAC Mikey Garcia rigondeaux. I realize showtime has Floyd but if Floyd keeps fighting watered down fights who really cares. I also think Broner and Canelo got exposed this year, so in a way showtime shot its load.

[JakeNDaBox]

I dont know how you give this to showtime , I still think HBO has the better stable of fighters/ fights I want to watch and better potential matchups than showtime golden boy. Ward Golovkin Stevenson kovalev Marquez PAC Mikey Garcia rigondeaux. I realize showtime has Floyd but if Floyd keeps fighting watered down fights who really cares. I also think Broner and Canelo got exposed this year, so in a way showtime shot its load.

I did the same thing this year as I did when Showtime won this award on our site last year - I asked the reason for the vote, just to qualify its selection.

Last year, it was due to the amount of boxing content they provide (the introduction of Showtime Extreme lead-in cards), the security of random drug testing with every card (even if USADA remains questionable) and other key reasons.

This year, it was simple - more often than not the fight offered on Showtime were fights that fans and media wanted to see.

HBO had memorable fights, but its own media push leads to its own unintentional admission that the year was more about showcasing the best fighters than making the best possible fights. Offering boxing in six straight weekends to end the year is remarkable. The B-side of those main events all coming in as heavy underdogs and winning less than five rounds combined, however... not quite as memorable (at least not for the right reasons).

As I wrote, I'm still surprised the voting was that wide in terms of how the 1st place votes were distributed. But it's clear that Showtime continues to resonate more with the fans and media these days, an area in which HBO continues to struggle even as it attempts to make improvements in this regard.

[jas]

I dont know how you give this to showtime , I still think HBO has the better stable of fighters/ fights I want to watch and better potential matchups than showtime golden boy. Ward Golovkin Stevenson kovalev Marquez PAC Mikey Garcia rigondeaux. I realize showtime has Floyd but if Floyd keeps fighting watered down fights who really cares. I also think Broner and Canelo got exposed this year, so in a way showtime shot its load.

if you look at every HBO fighter you mentioned except marquez, they were all involved in only 1 sided fights this year...

i think fight fans prefer to see close, competitive match-ups.

hbo has a history of matching their chosen fighters against clearly over-matched competition e.g. roy jones and andre berto and more recently, GGG and mikey garcia. recent examples are more justified but look at all those hbo fighters you mentioned, only rigo has beaten an elite fighter this year.

[jas]

also, showtime does put out highlights and interviews on its youtube channel in a prompt manner whereas top rank have made a conscious effort to remove any of its fights on the internet.

[jas]

I dont know how you give this to showtime , I still think HBO has the better stable of fighters/ fights I want to watch and better potential matchups than showtime golden boy. Ward Golovkin Stevenson kovalev Marquez PAC Mikey Garcia rigondeaux. I realize showtime has Floyd but if Floyd keeps fighting watered down fights who really cares. I also think Broner and Canelo got exposed this year, so in a way showtime shot its load.

hbo probably does have the better fighters at the highest top 10 p4p level - after all, my p4p list below has 5 HBO fighters, 3 showtime fighters and 2 now former HBO fighters in wlad and rigo.

showtime now only does business with golden boy if im not mistaken and hbo works with all the other promoters with the biggest company being top rank. however, i think top ranks biggest fighters will not be there in 2015. marquez is gonna retire soon. pacquaio is gonna retire soon and his contract with top rank ends late 2014. bradley is gonna leave top rank after fighting pacquaio in order to secure big fights. top rank will become a smaller company. they will no longer have the marquee names to subsidise having other fighters on their shows to build their other fighters up.