I don't think PBC is trying to make stars. They're trying to build a brand. I'm not saying the don't want their fighters to be well known but I don't think the're trying to build another Mayweather. Building one star is a mistake, you can't rely on one person to carry you. If PBC was built on Floyd they'd be in big trouble right now. We're witnessing right now what happens when your company relies on one star. GBP can't risk a Canelo/GGG fight because Canelo is their only star. K2 couldn't risk a GGG/Ward fight because GGG is their only star (well once Wlad retires). Main Events couldn't risk Kovalev/Stevenson happening last year because Kovalev is their only star and the only thing keeping them on HBO.
I think PBC is looking at the UFC model. It seems like UFC has a new star every year. McGregor is the top dog right now but in a year they'll have a new star. They crank out stars like a machine. If the NBA relied solely on Jordan they'd be out of business. If the NFL relied solely on Montana they'd be out of business. PBC can't focus on building one person bigger than the business.
The NBA and NFL are different, in the sense that you have the opportunity to create over 30 "Michael Jordan"-type stars in their home team market, before putting the machine behind the select few "Jordans" that break beyond their home market. Same with the NFL, every team town can rally behind their own home team quarterback, but if the guy takes off, the NFL is likely to push them nationally/internationally.
I don't think PBC is trying to make stars. They're trying to build a brand. I'm not saying the don't want their fighters to be well known but I don't think the're trying to build another Mayweather. Building one star is a mistake, you can't rely on one person to carry you. If PBC was built on Floyd they'd be in big trouble right now. We're witnessing right now what happens when your company relies on one star. GBP can't risk a Canelo/GGG fight because Canelo is their only star. K2 couldn't risk a GGG/Ward fight because GGG is their only star (well once Wlad retires). Main Events couldn't risk Kovalev/Stevenson happening last year because Kovalev is their only star and the only thing keeping them on HBO.
I think PBC is looking at the UFC model. It seems like UFC has a new star every year. McGregor is the top dog right now but in a year they'll have a new star. They crank out stars like a machine. If the NBA relied solely on Jordan they'd be out of business. If the NFL relied solely on Montana they'd be out of business. PBC can't focus on building one person bigger than the business.
PBC is building a brand, but for the brand to have any real chance of setting in, you've got to deliver good fights, but also have fighters that are readily identifiable to the passing audience.
Danny "Swift" Garcia, "The Bronze Bomber" Deontay Wilder, Keith "One Time" Thurman, "The Problem" Adrien Broner, Daniel "Miracle Man" Jacobs, and Erroll "The Truth" Spence Jr are that first generation of stars that Premier Boxing Champions is working to have the audience identify as being "PBC stars" (Chavez Jr, James "Chunky" Degale, Adonis Stevenson, et al could all find themselves in that mix, depending on how fights shakeout).
I think you've got a revisionist view of what the UFC actually was built on. The UFC was built around Royce Gracie, before it was built around Dan Severin/Ken Shamrok/Tank Abbot, before it was built around guys like Vitor Belfort/Tito Ortiz/Randy Couture. By the time Chuck Liddell/Matt Hughes/Tim Sylvia started to draw acclaim (early oughts), the UFC was already a decade into their run and had already been well established as a "brand" with fighters. The UFC could match whomever with whomever because, win or lose, the UFC brand was set, fans reacted to the UFC brand and the fans would then follow whatever fighter who won.
McGregor can cycle in now, only because the brand was strong enough that simply being a UFC fighter gave him a certain level of cache just because.
If you want to draw parallels, Floyd "Money" Mayweather to the PBC is akin to the "Royce Gracie" stage for the UFC (no one is really sure what's going on, but there's one fighter who's so beyond everyone else that he shines the brightest). This current stage is basically "the second generation" stage of UFC, with Erroll Spence Jr and others (Erickson Lubin, Julian Williams, Pritchard Colon {if he'd been okay}, etc) leading the "third generation" stage, where things would start to really break out, setting the stage for young fighters just starting and new fighters likely to come on board after the 2016 Olympics to ply their own craft on a platform where "PBC" is already a brand, in and of itself.
Changing networks won't improve his resume. People I talk to know who he is but are smart enough to recognize what a bum opponent looks like.
He needs to beat Povetkin, Fury and other guys on that level.
No
Deontay Wilder vs Johan Duhaupas was seen by an average audience approaching 2.4m people, significantly beyond the 2.15m average that HBO was able to draw for the Alvarez-Kirkland, it's high-water number but a number that was likely goosed by the lead-in that was the replay of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight (the most anticipated fight of this generation and arguably the most anticipated fight in 40 years). To that, you can also add the 1.24m viewer average that was brought in for Stiverne-Wilder on Showtime (the Molina numbers being an obvious drag).
Wilder again opens up Showtime's boxing year with Wilder-Szpilka, has a massive Wilder-Povetkin fight likely do on Showtime by April/May, will likely fight again on terrestrial TV (primetime CBS/NBC/FOX/possiblly ABC, depending on what opens up) by August/September, before closing out 2016/opening 2017 with a massive Fury-Wilder showdown.
Being an HBO fighter would've likely ended up with more glowing stories from the "boxing press" and less out-and-out hate of his ability by "boxing writers", but there's no way Wilder would've been able to touch the people that he's been able to touch, were he to have been built on HBO.
Look at the type of money that was put behind Wilder's last 5 fights, and imagine HBO committing those resources, lol. $1.6m to the main event for Wilder-Duhaupas, $1.7m committed for the main event for Wilder-Molina, $2m committed to the main event for Stiverne-Wilder, financing Wilder-Gavern on the Porter-Brook quadrupleheader (turns out that number was basically $100k, which is workable), and the ~$400k behind getting Wilder-Scott to chief support Danny Garcia's show.
In two years, if counting everything that went in from the TV side of things, you're looking at HBO having spent $10m-$15m to deliver that same two year stretch of fights for Wilder.
It's possible but I don't think so and here's why. Wilder already has the hatred of a lot of the hard core boxing fans. And hatred drives up the numbers.
Hbo doesn't really sign foreign fighters to exclusive contracts, unless they plan on fighting in the states.
I'm sure next year they will buy some of his fights though, especially now that they don't need to buy Wlads anymore.
This year hbo had there hands tied, as much of there $ this year was spent a long time ago. Thank you Al Haymon...