By Rick Reeno
Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports, advised BoxingScene.com that his network is going to pick up the pace in the second half of 2015 with several significant bouts being negotiated behind the scenes.
Showtime Championship Boxing has been light on the content in the first seven months of the year, but that is going to change as 2015 plays out.
Espinoza was unable to reveal the fights being discussed, but a big announcement is going to drop in the coming weeks.
"We're working on the third and fourth quarter schedules. I think we'll have a very big announcement within the next couple of weeks," Espinoza told BoxingScene.com.
Network rival HBO went very heavy with their boxing schedule during the first six months of the year. They won't be as heavy in the second half, with two of the most anticipated fights of 2015, Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux and Miguel Cotto vs. Saul Alvarez, heading to pay-per-view. At the present, the next HBO World Championship Boxing telecast is scheduled for October 24th when Wladimir Klitschko defends against Tyson Fury. Terence Crawford is tabbed to defend his title on HBO on the same October date, live from Omaha (paired in with the Golovkin-Lemieux delay). HBO does have a Boxing After Dark in the works for October 2nd, with Lucas Matthysse facing Viktor Postol.
Showtime's upcoming date are still in the process of being finalized and Espinoza was unable to disclose exact details.