HBO Fills October Date, With Calzaghe

By Mark Vester

According to scribe Dan Rafael, the on again/off again fight date of October 14, has finally been filled by HBO.

The original October 14 card, which was put together by promoter Lou DiBella, had two super middleweight bouts, Peter Manfredo vs. Joe Spina and Allan Green vs. Jerson Ravelo. HBO was not satisfied with the lineup, and scrapped the card, which will now air on ESPN2 against HBO's Calzaghe card. HBO then tried to cut a deal to showcase the Mikkel Kessler-Markus Beyer super middleweight unification bout, which takes place live in Denmark, but would air on HBO by way of tape delay, and again no agreement was reached.

After Terence Crawford Feud, Are Sanctioning Bodies Bad For Boxing?

In today’s episode, the crew breaks down one of boxing’s biggest debates after Terence Crawford went on his Instagram to complain about the WBC. Are sanctioning bodies simply part of the game, or have they completely lost control of the sport? We also take a hard look at the Ring title and ask whether it can still be considered legitimate if champions are not required to defend it.

Thursday | Dec 4, 2025

In the end, HBO cut a deal with Sports Network to air super middleweight Joe Calzaghe's (41-0, 31KOs) defense of his IBF/WBO titles against challenger Sakio Bika (20-1-2, 13KOs), in Manchester, England. There is also a possibility that HBO will also air portions of the cruiserweight title bout between champion Johnny Nelson and Enzo Maccarinelli.

Calzaghe finally makes his HBO debut, which was originally scheduled to take place on July 8 against light heavyweight Glen Johnson, but was cancelled when Calzaghe suffered an injury to his left hand.