Sources: Dan Rafael to be HBO unofficial matchmaker.

sounds good, rafael might seem biased, but he knows his boxing. he also talks to boxing fans and knows what's up, seems like this is going to be a good thing.

Whoever Dan Rafael is he must be a Mexiphobe. That's a prerequisite before HBO works with you.:sombrero:

kery davis was in the music business before going to hbo right? no doubt dan will do better. besides even with some of his bias towards certain fighters (and who doesn't?) he at least has a good idea of what hbo fights should be. another benefit of this is dan doesn't care for the alphabet titles too much. it might save us from meaningless alphabet soup defenses. Sounds pretty reasonable from where I'm sat, as long as he keep listening to the boxing community. If he matches them hard and fair then it's better then letting all the promoters run HBO's shows. If all fails they can just fire him and get someone else, so i say give the man a crack

he basically said he gave the rounds to the heavier puncher. I told him all the trips to Oxnard swayed his scoring and that there were times when not only was Acosta the better boxer but also the harder puncher. He blindly defended his stance and I realized nothing was going to come of it so I left it at that thats a trip because RIos was rocked a few times not on q ueer st or anything but you can tell he was stunned I became a fan of Rios during that fight

88-82 Rios baby!! after that fight I ran into Elie and just said "dude really?" He hangs out at the guy's camp regularly and is expected to give an unbiased score.. Well he failed at that. The guy has only been following the sport for a short period of time. He knows less than most NSB posters. He became a fan through Dmitry Salita.

well one thing for sure Dan will get heavy scrutinization and if he starts failing to hear what the boxing community wants to see and going with the friends he has made within the industry then we will see the same thing occur. dan seems professional enough when he writes his articles and tv appearances. he's not so professional when he does his chats and tweets though. but i can understand the difference. i'm sure he can handle his hbo job professionally.

well one thing for sure Dan will get heavy scrutinization and if he starts failing to hear what the boxing community wants to see and going with the friends he has made within the industry then we will see the same thing occur.

I've both attacked and defended Dan on this forum and on Twitter. I think this would be a good role for him though honestly as he is a fan first and knows what type of fights he wants to see. I don't see how he could even be remotely as bad as what they have now. I can see it now though: A horrible headliner universally deadpanned by fans gets scheduled after Dan officially gets the job and he gets crapped on by everyone. I would really wonder how much power he really has. I'm also curious how it would effect his ESPN reporting and relationship with the network (not in a pro-HBO bias, but in divulging information about possible fights in the making)

ahhh Kery Davis. Yeah I think Dan can do a better job of making good, entertaining fights. Of course though Dan is not without bias and he'll do some stupid sh!t himself like having Joel Julio fight all the time. But he's better than Davis. kery davis was in the music business before going to hbo right? no doubt dan will do better. besides even with some of his bias towards certain fighters (and who doesn't?) he at least has a good idea of what hbo fights should be. another benefit of this is dan doesn't care for the alphabet titles too much. it might save us from meaningless alphabet soup defenses.

TeamCollazoBK Luis A @TheRealPhantom5 I think he will do a better job than whoever is their matchmaker now

i know a lot of you guys don't care for rafael. but it's actually a good thing to have him in this position. whatever you think of some of his opinions , rafael is a boxing guy. he watches fights and follows boxing. all he'll pretty much be doing is probably giving advice on what fights would be good and what fights would draw fans. i think he's qualified on that front. I agree. You don't have to like Dan, but you'd have to be completely unreasonable to think he wouldn't attempt to put on the best possible fights. I can't see any Berto-Hernandez cards happening with his blessing. I also believe he has some backbone, and wouldn't simply be a yes man for the top brass at HBO.

Suggesting match-ups to the big guys in charge. Negotiating with promoters. The guy who says to Arum or Shaw. Yeah will take or not take that fight. what's important with that job is he knows what matchups the fans want to see. he doesn't need to be a boxing analyst to effectively do that job. i think he will be fine eventhough some posters are saying he doesn't have enough boxing knowledge. if he can get away with the bias he'll be more than fine.

lmao isnt the guy hated by like golden boy for having a go at floyd and then brown nosing?

Dan's a huge fan of the old school BAD's with two or three great fights. I think he could restore HBO. I bet he brings back or attempts to bring back the original opening to the HBO events. yeah i think he can do that. he's a fan of the young and upcoming fighters too so he might bring that to hbo.

Its on fighthype but I cant link it cause Im on my phone. Can someone copy and paste or put up the link. this is good, cause raf at least listens to boxing fans.

DAN RAFAEL HEADING TO HBO AS UNOFFICIAL MATCHMAKER? By Ben Thompson | April 26, 2011 Sources close to the information have informed us that ESPN.com boxing writer Dan Rafael has been in talks with representatives of HBO about the possibility of joining the company in a role similar to that of a matchmaker. "He's going to be the new matchmaker for HBO. He's already had a meeting with somebody and it's in the works. By the end of this year, Dan Rafael will be deciding which fights will be on HBO," one source revealed. Now before anyone gets confused, HBO obviously is not a promoter, therefore, the company does not employ a matchmaker in the traditional sense. However, being a premium cable television network, HBO does employ someone who determines their line-up for sports programming. Although Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, has the final say when it comes to approving or denying potential boxing matchups, the majority of the decisions are first made by Kery Davis, the senior vice president of sports programming. As previously reported, certain members of HBO's top brass are not pleased about the direction that their boxing programming is headed in. The recent success that rival network Showtime has been having has prompted HBO to take a hard look at their decision-making process when it comes to making competitive bouts. "They're going to fire Kery Davis. They're going to let him go. He's been catering to Al Haymon too much and that's why they're in the position that they're in now. That's why they're talking to Dan," another source revealed. Whether or not Davis is actually let go remains to be seen, however, if Rafael is brought on board, his primary responsibilty would be similar to that of a traditional matchmaker, creating entertaining and action-packed matchups between fighters that are evenly matched. When asked if Rafael would be involved in negotiations with promoters and managers, one source replied, "No, he wouldn't be doing that because there would be a lot of lawyers involved." When I first received word that HBO was actually considering the idea of bringing on a writer to control the future of their boxing program, I thought it was just a joke. I mean, even though Rafael has been covering the sport for a number of years now, at the end of the day, he's still just a writer, so there's no way, I thought, HBO would seriously entertain the idea. However, according to a few other sources, Rafael himself actually leaked the news to some of his peers and word is quickly spreading throughout the community of "respected" boxing scribes. Although I enjoy providing breaking news to our FightHype readers, this is one time that I hope I'm completely wrong about the information I just provided. The problem with HBO boxing is that decisions are being made by "non-boxing" people; in other words, people who don't truly understand the Sweet Science. For example, there's a big difference between what Roy Jones Jr. sees in a fight and what Jim Lampley see in a fight. Call me crazy, but even though Rafael writes about the sport, I just don't think he's the answer to their problem. For those just showing up.

what is a match maker? is it an important role? Suggesting match-ups to the big guys in charge. Negotiating with promoters. The guy who says to Arum or Shaw. Yeah will take or not take that fight.

what is a match maker? is it an important role?

if there's a good thing about dan rafael is he interacts with boxing fans so he have an idea of what matchups the fans want to see...not sure though if he will apply it to his new job if he really got it. and besides hbo did not really do good with some of their matchups in the past. it took a long time before berto's ass got exposed because hbo granted him fights with $hitty matchups. Dan's a huge fan of the old school BAD's with two or three great fights. I think he could restore HBO. I bet he brings back or attempts to bring back the original opening to the HBO events.

if there's a good thing about dan rafael is he interacts with boxing fans so he have an idea of what matchups the fans want to see...not sure though if he will apply it to his new job if he really got it. and besides hbo did not really do good with some of their matchups in the past. it took a long time before berto's ass got exposed because hbo granted him fights with $hitty matchups.