HBO Is Officially Below ESPN for Quality Boxing Fights

The up coming fights that HBO have just announced just shows that they're no longer the premium Boxing channel they used to be. These Match-ups were the level that ESPN used to show before Top Rank took them over and none of them will come close to breaking 1 million views which should be the bench mark for HBO. Saturday 21, October 2017 Jezreel Corrales vs Alberto Machado Demetrius Andrade vs TBA Saturday 4, November2017 Dmitry Bivol vs Trent Broadhurst Jamie McDonnell vs Liborio Solis Saturday 11, November 2017 Danny Jacobs vs Luis Arias Jarrell Miller vs TBA Saturday 25, November 2017 Sergey Kovalev vs Shabranksky Frank Garlaza vs TBA Compare this to ESPN giving us Saturday 9, December 2017 Vasyl Lomachenko vs Guillermo Rigondeaux Thats better then all the HBO Schedule put together and then some! Showtime have some Great Cards coming up too: Saturday 14, October 2017 Jarret Hurd vs Austin Trout - IBF World Title Jermell Charlo vs Erickson Lubin - WBC World Title Erislandly Lara vs Terrell Gausha - WBA World Title Saturday 28, October 2017 Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev Saturday 4, November 2017 Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz - Either CBS or Showtime?

Comments (20)

soul_survivor

How is that Showtime Triple Header a Joke? They're fantastic match-ups that will lead to the Winners facing each other next year. The fact that all those guys are part of the same managerial/promotional/network set up and haven't fought each other in the last 3 years is a joke in and of itself. They've been mooted as fighting each other for years now, none of them are pac or may that they can even somewhat justify marinating a big bout lol As for the match ups themselves, why are they competitive? Hurd v Trout might be a good one but that's because neither of those guys are any good. Trout is years removed from his two best performances. Charlo is fighting some random prospect and Lara is in yet another underwhelming fight. Now if say, Lara v Charlo was happening (As it should have done years ago) and Hurd v Trout was the undercard then yes, I'd call it a great card. This isn't.

8y ago

EdWins

Granted, HBO's boxing quality has dropped a bit, but I think in the grand scheme of things we are just experiencing a very weak era in boxing.

8y ago

JoeMan

HBO would rather spend their money on Game of Thrones producers and actors than waste their money on boxers who disappear after getting $$$$. They were right. Look at Stevenson who hasn't fought anyone meaningful for years now. And he's also fighting once a year. It's terrible.

8y ago

Raonic

ESPN's production has been terrible. Who really wants to listen to Atlas and SAS?

8y ago

Rezz

In my opinion the upcoming HBO cards look hot.The deal with Hearn takes HBO to the next level. The ESPN cards have been okay but you have to watch the undercard on the website then switch channels two or three times throughout the event. That is a joke imo, do they care so little for boxing? If they are trying to attract casual fans they blew it. Even as a hardcore fan I was frustrated.

8y ago

Raonic

They do have a thin roster right now. That is expected. They will probably build it back up at some point.

8y ago

IMDAZED

The heavyweight cards coming up on Show are good but one of those is a Sky fight, lets be real about that. The other one features an old man...who will stille be Wilders best opponent lol The triple header is a joke. HBO isnt being competitive but they have already put on GGG/Canelo and the super fly card, which had one great fight and one great shock. Better than what Show has done. All the while, in the UK, Boxnation/BT are putting on good cards, ITV getting in on the act and sky ppv everything. HBO was blown out this year. And last.

8y ago

Boxnation_fan

November is a good month for HBO and there's still time to fit in a fight or two. Look at the cards again and tell me they're not good. Good? No Chance. Average Match-ups at best in November. The Jacobs fight will do okay but with the rest, HBO will get some of the lowest if not the lowest boxing ratings they've ever had with that schedule.

8y ago

Jsmooth9876

You're correct. Especially with Hearn and his merry band of Eurobums on board now

8y ago

Boxnation_fan

8y ago

boliodogs

As far as I am concerned ESPN boxing totally sucks and HBO is much better. I tape an ESPN championship fight. Then I go to watch it later and get a baseball game and I only like boxing. They skip one title fight and only show a few rounds of the other fight. They have Teddy BANG Atlas calling the fight and I hate listening to him. They have a huge amount of commercials I have to fast forward through. Whenever I tape an HBO or Showtime fight I get to watch every fight from the opening bell to the end. I don't get a baseball game and only get to watch a few rounds of the main event. I don't get annoying Atlas and I don't get any commercials. Fuc ESPN boxing. Boxing is not important compared to any other sport for ESPN. I don't watch any other sport but boxing and MMA.

8y ago

soul_survivor

8y ago

SkillspayBills

Great Shout. The WBSS would have been a great tournament for HBO to get behind even if they started at the Semi-finals plus they could have got it CHEAP as there's no other competition in the states. All we're going to get now is Eddie Hearn mismatches or PPV's. Literally makes no sense why no one at HBO decided to pick it up.

8y ago

genrick

PBC/Haymon/SHO should be handing over guys that are fighting once this year to HBO: Thurman, Porter, Gift, Peterson, Berto, Felix Diaz, Collazo, Khan, Spence, Williams, Stevenson, etc. It's horrible. Andrade and Jacobs could have fought on SHO. So why not do more and release some more guys?

8y ago

Boxnation_fan

They haven't had the best vs the best in a LONG time. Not to mention the terrible commentary and the CLEAR agenda to push certain guys. I don't want to listen to cheerleaders. Their job is to educate and not influence. Lampley and Lederman need to go. Kellerman is mostly good I think, but he desperately needs to stop getting so damn high before work. :trink26::439::nonono: Agreed. You're forgetting Roy Jones, the best thing HBO have. They need to keep him and Kellerman and get rid of the other two and sack this joker Peter Nelson who was obsessed by Chocalito. Their fall line up is what ESPN were showing 5 years. HBO need to go to Al Haymon and beg him to bring over Keith Thurman, Deontay Wilder, Spence Jr, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Jermall Charlo, Gervonta Davis, Leo Santa Cruz, Mikey Garcia and Adrien Broner. Those Boxer's are AMERICAN STAR's and will bring you Great Ratings on HBO, not the B Level Euro guys they're showing now.

8y ago

JK1700

Agreed. It's clear that since Peter Nelson took over HBO Sports programming, its gone down hill fast and he's out of his depth. HBO need to be about Quality...the best fighting the best. They haven't had the best vs the best in a LONG time. Not to mention the terrible commentary and the CLEAR agenda to push certain guys. I don't want to listen to cheerleaders. Their job is to educate and not influence. Lampley and Lederman need to go. Kellerman is mostly good I think, but he desperately needs to stop getting so damn high before work. :trink26::439::nonono:

8y ago

Boxnation_fan

Time for them to either cancel boxing or fire everyone and start over. Agreed. It's clear that since Peter Nelson took over HBO Sports programming, its gone down hill fast and he's out of his depth. HBO need to be about Quality...the best fighting the best.

8y ago

Boxnation_fan

yea if they actually wanna stay in boxing why didnt they pick up the wbss.. hbo is a great hype machine they could easily hype up the winners as pfp Great Shout. The WBSS would have been a great tournament for HBO to get behind even if they started at the Semi-finals plus they could have got it CHEAP as there's no other competition in the states. All we're going to get now is Eddie Hearn mismatches or PPV's.

8y ago

JK1700

Time for them to either cancel boxing or fire everyone and start over.

8y ago

HanzGruber

yea if they actually wanna stay in boxing why didnt they pick up the wbss.. hbo is a great hype machine they could easily hype up the winners as pfp

8y ago