By Rick Reeno
My contacts over at Fox Sports were impressed with Top Rank's debut edition of "Top Rank Live." The new boxing series premiered on January 16, and featured a competitive main event between junior middleweights Vanes Martirosyan and Kassim Ouma. Besides being impressed with the show, the network was really impressed with the 1.5 rating - which is three times higher than what the usual programming generates in that particular time slot. And it was much higher than what ESPN's Friday Night Fights usually generates.
The promotional company was hit hard when Telefutura made a decision to cancel their "Solo Boxeo" series in 2008. Losing out on 24 to 28 televised dates was a nightmare. To the surprise of many, the nightmare didn't last for too long. A few weeks ago, Top Rank announced that a deal was finalized with Fox Sports for 36 televised dates. A promoter's dream. The shows will run on Fox Sports en Espanol and Fox Sports Net.
"It was three times the audience that they usually have for that time slot on a Saturday," said Top Rank president Todd duBoef to BoxingScene.com
And the rating knocked out their competitors that night.
"Yes it did, ESPN Deportes, Azteca America and all of the other Hispanic cable channels," duBoef added.
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum was looking for something different to correct some of the past mistakes that his company had made with their televised events on other networks. Top Rank, and not Fox Sports, handles the production of the shows.
"We have matchmakers who know how to put together a show. We have a great PR department who could blow the horns, and thanks to Todd we are putting on a telecast that catches the viewer's attention as he's channel surfing. It's not the same old dull ESPN look," Arum said.
Arum credits duBoef for putting together a plan of attack to keep the existing audience satisfied, while luring additional viewers to the show - and keeping all of them there until the telecast is finished.
"We took almost like a W W E kind of model. While you are channel surfing you see people going crazy, you see it lit well, you see everything and it adds a different energy to the telecast. And when that comes through, people are going to stop," duBoef said. "When you see dim lights, shadows on the canvas and it looks like a cheap club show from a ballroom in Texas - who's going to want to be interested in it?"
One mistake Arum wants to leave in the past is Top Rank's failed boxing series on Versus. Most viewers will agree, very few fights were competitive and sometimes the show was hard to watch.
"A lot of it was our fault. A lot of it was their fault because it was always different; we never knew when it was going to be on. It was also during the week at a bad time. You couldn't do West Coast fights because they would start at 5 o'clock," Arum said.
Most of the 36 shows with Fox Sports will fall on a Saturday, except when Top Rank has a big fight taking place on the same night. When that situation happens, the show will move to a Friday night. One example is the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey HBO pay-per-view on March 13. Because of the conflict, "Top Rank Live" takes place that Friday, March 12.
"They will be on a Saturday except when we have a big fight. Then we'll put them on a Friday night," Arum said.
One scenario Arum won't be able to avoid is Saturday night competition from the live boxing events being televised on HBO and Showtime. There will be nights when "Top Rank Live" is going up against a boxing event on HBO, or Showtime, or even both. With today's technology, Arum is not worried.
"Yes, that will happen but that's why people have TIVO," Arum said.
Because of the heated competition between HBO and Showtime, it's become a common occurrence for the networks to schedule programming on the same night. And it's become a common occurrence for boxing fans to record one show while watching the other.
But there will be times when a show may move over to a Friday night if the competition on the premium networks is exceptionally strong in the Hispanic market. In the big scheme of things, a good show is worth nothing to a network if nobody is watching the program. A plan to adjust is already in place if the situation presents itself.
"I think we're going to work around it. For instance, if we're doing Miguel Cotto and Foreman in June on that June date, that hits the Hispanic audience. We will probably say 'lets not go that route' and lets go on a Friday night," duBoef added.
"But if Klitschko is fighting Kevin Johnson or the whole Super Six, the competition for the content doesn't hit our market so we think our audience is going to be there regardless, but you have to be careful if there is a Hispanic fighter in the main event on one of the big premium shows."
