Some boxing history of Showtime vs HBO

A fun read on the history of the two network's boxing feuds. Lot's of parallels to what went on 20 years ago and today. Note - Whitaker was allowed to fight JCC on Showtime, while under contract with HBO. http://www.boxingscene.com/network-wars-hbo-showtime-battle-supremacy--432 While Tyson was in jail Don King spent his time concentrating on Chavez and finally made him a star while HBO also had a special talent in Pernell Whitaker who was basically the same size as Chavez, but didn’t have his star power or box office appeal. As a result when a match was made between the two in September of 1993, HBO had to concede to letting Pernell out of the terms of his HBO exclusivity contract for one bout in order to fight Chavez on Showtime Pay per view. Although the bout was scored a draw, it was monumentous victory for Whitaker and HBO because everybody and anybody who saw the fight knows that Whitaker won it. The decision is still considered one of the worst in boxing history. Afterwards the executives at HBO further showed their disdain for Showtime by constantly claiming that they weren’t bothered by not having Chavez and Tyson because they had the best fighters in the world. A win for Pernell Whitaker had actually been a win for HBO because one of their staple fighters had beaten and taken away some of the box office appeal from one of Showtime’s prized possessions.