by David P. Greisman
Six months ago, Showtime had Manny Pacquiao on pay-per-view and Ken Hershman helming the network’s sports broadcasts. Now Pacquiao’s next fight is under the HBO umbrella, and Hershman will be starting his new job at HBO next year.
What’s going on with boxing at Showtime now that Hershman is gone? And what is the network’s perspective on its brief relationship with Pacquiao?
With Hershman having departed the network, Showtime spokesman Chris DeBlasio is, for the moment, the point man for boxing questions.
BoxingScene.com: What can be said right now about the search to replace Ken Hershman?
DeBlasio: “I’m not going to be able to speak to any of that. What I can say is that when Ken Hershman stepped down, the chairman of our company, who has been the guy for our overall department since he’s been in place as the CEO of Showtime Networks, Matt Blank, has really guided us. And we have some tenured men and women in position in the sports department who have been at the company for more than 17, 18 and in some cases more than 20 years.
“We have great leadership in place. We have people that know their role and execute their role, and with the guidance of our chairman we are open for business and full steam ahead. We’re looking at stuff for 2012 every day. There are discussions every day. In fact, we just made an announcement about back-to-back boxing shows on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31. We’re full steam ahead, business as usual. The leadership of our chairman has been our guide.”
BoxingScene.com: Neither HBO nor Showtime has any boxing on the schedule yet for next year. Some reports have chalked this up to the transitions at both networks, with Hershman gone from Showtime but yet to start at HBO. When can we expect boxing to resurface on Showtime in 2012?
DeBlasio: “It’s a good question. I can’t say exactly when you’ll know of some definitive matches and definitive dates. But we’re looking as early as January for fights.”
BoxingScene.com: Would these be “ShoBox” cards or “Showtime Championship Boxing”?
DeBlasio: “For both, absolutely.”
BoxingScene.com: Showtime aired Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley on pay-per-view, but now Pacquiao is back to HBO Pay-Per-View. Is that seen as a negative, as losing Pacquiao, or is it framed as having been able to do good business with him that one time?
DeBlasio: “We had a terrific opportunity, and I think we’ve proven that Showtime Sports can deliver on the biggest pay-per-view matches that are out there. And we’re still in the pay-per-view business and still discussing and entertaining offers all the time.
“We did a big-time job on a big-time fight. I think that we proved things to our industry and to the fans that we can deliver. When the time is right and when we’re called upon, we can deliver.
“But pay-per-view has always been opportunistic for us. When it calls for it, when the market demands it, we can deliver. We look to program the best boxing that we can on the network. I think that’s going to remain our philosophy.”
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter at twitter.com/fightingwords2 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing, or send questions and comments to fightingwords1@gmail.com