Showtime holds the honor for the last significant televised boxing card in the United States, a feat attained March 13 in Minnesota with a show headlined by a Brandun Lee TKO win over Camilo Prieto.

That same weekend, many combat sports events, including a Top Rank show headlined by Shakur Stevenson and Miguel Marriaga at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York City, had to be scrapped.

Eventually they went with the latter to salvage the show. Moving forward, he believes the on-screen presentation will need to be tweaked so that it caters to a crowdless backdrop.

“It was an imperfect situation. We tried to make the best of it [on March 13]. The event didn’t feel that different than I expected,” Espinoza told BoxingScene.com in an interview.

Espinoza said boxing events sans fans will have to be the consolation prize for the time being.

“Between having no boxing or having boxing in an empty arena or sound stage, I think it’s a no brainer — people want to get back in all segments of the industry,” Espinoza explained. “If what it takes is to not be in front of a crowd, it will be incumbent on all of us in the sport, particularly us on the production side, to make it more interesting and engaging so you don’t miss the crowd as you would have otherwise.”

One locale the premium cable provider is not considering, at least for now, is Florida, despite the fact that UFC and WWE have been deemed as essential businesses in the Sunshine State.

“We’re not comfortable going to Florida and doing an event under very strict guidelines,” said Espinoza. “There is a lot of pressure to get back from a lot of different areas. We have to be comfortable that we are not exposing our own employees, staff and fighters to unnecessary risk with coronavirus. There’s probably going to be risk moving forward no matter what we do. It’s going to be a fact of life. For our own consciousness, we have to do everything we can. We have to sleep at night knowing that we are recommending people are gathering for the purpose of boxing.”

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.