FOX Sports EVP on Chris Mannix Podcast

Not a fan of most of this in the immediate future cuz idk that Errol has a big PBC fight vs Manny coming so Bud is The Fight now to make. And I suspect most fans are even digging this less than I am. Hard to win the money & ratings of fans when their hearts & minds are rooting against you. But if this is standard Al long game sh^t itll get there, but f#ck man we all gonna die one day & Al aint gonna live forever either. Idk if this "takeover" is gonna happen by PBC. I kinda just think Al is making +EV money moves while hoping for the possibilities of a takeover that is a longshot at best. PBC's ratings on Fox have been strong. TR's ratings on ESPN have been week. PBC's Fox PPVs have exceeded all expectations. TR's ESPN PPV was a complete disaster. PBC is creating a lot of new American stars. TR is resorting to signing foreigners to try to mask how thin their roster is. Every year that goes by, the gap between PBC and TR will grow. Slowly, but surely. Until eventually all the fans think of PBC as being the clear #1 and TR the distant #2.

The four major sports in America is isolated and people love it. They only play teams within their leagues :lol1: Do people not understand this? And hows this relate to boxing in any way? Are there other football teams out there that we think may be better than the Patriots every year but we never see them play because team X refuses to join the NFL? Or how about some rando basketball team that claim to have been a better dynasty than than the Warriors playing in the Mississippi mens church league. They just never got their chance cause they were on the wrong side of the street I guess

Im interested in finding out who the best Boxers are in the sport. Not who the best Boxers are under 1 promotional set up. Its no good calling Spence the PBC Welterweight champ when there is Bud Crawford who most people think is better than Spence. To PBC employees and PBC fangimps it will be great. For the rest of Boxing fans Spence PBC belt would mean jack sheet. If the PBC can get all the top fighters on their books and it turns in to Boxings version of UFC then screw it why not. These sanctioning bodies are all getting out of control and something needs to be done. But i dont deny i HATE the PBC cuz they lie and cheat and are shady as hell and dont do whats best for their fighters so id rather somebody else gave it a go. Somebody i would have more faith in. The PBC are no better than the corrupt sanctioning bodies and they have also seemed to gathered up a load of racists to shill for them on social media. Bud Crawford is number 1 at Welterweight in the eyes of most Boxing fans and experts. Ignoring him and calling Spence the PBC champ doesnt really mean much at all when most of us feel Bud beats Spence quite easy.

So Bud vs Errol never happens? Or if Bud beats Errol hes not the PBC title holder? Idk if Im a fan of either of those outcomes. Either it stops big fights from happening or it insures this "PBC" belt is just one more bs belt & whats the point of one more bs corrupt "world" entity on boxing? We're not getting Bud vs Errol regardless. When was the last time a PBC a-side faced a TR a-side in a fight that wasn't a mandatory? When the PBC take over is complete, the public won't have to deal with these promotional stalemates like they do now. In UFC, when the fans want to see a fight, chances are it's going to happen. Once PBC takes over, it'll be the same thing. Crawford isn't going to stay with Arum forever if Arum can't get him big fights. He'll jump to PBC eventually like Pacquiao did.

Isolationism in boxing is reaching a whole new level, death of the sport feels closer than ever I disagree. This comes down to what happens with Canelo and the TR boxers. Once all of Canelo's big fights dry up on dazn what does he do? Same for Crawford at TR? Canelo can be an Independent and get fights with anyone because he is a draw. Crawford maybe comes to PBC since they have all the WW and JWW's. TR will be able to make plenty of fights at the lower weights given all their fighters. The other big thing is if dazn gets a major sports deal. They would have to use resources for that sport and the support programming, which will mean many fighters signed to the app will probably be let go. Where will they go? I think this could end up being the start of the sport making a positive turn.

Boxing is a joke. We dont need more belts, we need less. Now let's make sure nobody in PBC ever fights anyone outside PBC by creating our own titles that only our guys can fight for. Yeah just what we want, more seclusion from promoters and networks...

Isolationism in boxing is reaching a whole new level, death of the sport feels closer than ever i don't know if i agree with this. HBO and showtime were the only players in the "top tier" of boxing for years. other networks, like ESPN, had fights, but they were always for short money. FNF, for example, had guys splitting 10-20 grand in purse for a main event. HBO guys would make a million bucks, sometimes even two. the sport is going through some serious growing pains. SO IS EVERY OTHER SPORT! the way people consume media is changing drastically, and TV companies have been the ones with relationships with boxing promoters, and theyve been slow to catch on to streaming and cord cutting. boxing will survive. it'l be the same top heavy, corrupt **** show it's always been. but we'll still get good fights if we're willing to wade through all of the BS. life, uh uh uh uh, finds a way. https://images.app.goo.gl/zrPNDxwT2bGNge298

If PBC belts are coming I feel like thats a sign Al & Dana are gonna be fast friends when Zuffa boxing comes on board finally. Dana has talked about not effing with the current ABC regime. Could get interesting. The best thing that could happen in boxing is the big 4 belts continue to lose power in the game. Main issue is how do you make a PBC belt appealing to a non-PBC boxer or promoter. Idk that you can. Although the first move is to not call it the PBC title. Needs a more legit & mainstream + less biased name. I agree it's a sign that Dana might be getting involved soon. The rumors continue to swirl that the company that owns UFC wants to buy PBC. They don't need to make a PBC belt appealing to a non-PBC fighter as I doubt they'd allow non-PBC fighters to fight for them. Clearly the plan is to create a UFC model where PBC is a self contained league with its own champions. So it would definitely be called the PBC championship, not another name. The brilliance is that if/when PBC creates a PBC belt and begins to ignore the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO, it puts other companies in the strange position of continuing to insist there are five different champions (since WBA has super & world), while PBC will be insisting there is only one champion. What's more appealing to fans? PBC claiming there is only one champion or ESPN & DAZN insisting there are five champions?

Isolationism in boxing is reaching a whole new level, death of the sport feels closer than ever

Taking anything from the shorthand of an interview with a journalist being directly paid by one of the person being interviewed's direct competitors (DAZN) is bound to lead to a bad conclusion, and this is without hearing this unnamed EVP's name, but let's zoom out a bit. It's not at every weight, put PBC generally has a pretty firm hold on the WBC, WBA, and IBF belts. What's to stop PBC from crowning the WBC/WBA/IBF champion as undisputed champion and putting a PBC-made title on said champion to replace the trinket from Golden Boy Magazine? Spence-Pacquiao are on a collision course to that at 147lbs, the same thing is in the works at 154lbs, as is the same at 168lbs, a similar thing would be in the works at heavyweight (the IBF forces their mandatory, with Usyk going for the vacant WBO belt on DAZN), they still have 2 of the 3 needed belts at 126lbs, and the market is wide open at 140lbs, with who knows who at cruiserweight tbh. ESPN basically has the belts mostly sewn up at 135lbs/130lbs and 175lbs, and DAZN basically has things at 160lbs, but that's it. You cut out Golden Boy magazine, you fully phase out the organization that seems to only work explicity for Arum/Warren, and you have now, a brand stamp to give clarity to the fans coming back to boxing on the joint platform.

Mannix works for DAZN and is incredibly biased. DAZN promoted CANELO vs ROCKY as a WBA world title fight. Why wouldn't Fox promote Pacquiao as a WBA world title fight? Every network recognizes both the WBA super title and WBA world title as being world titles. Fox doesn't recognize the WBO. Period. Has nothing to do with Crawford. When Andy Ruiz is on Fox, they do not acknowledge his WBO heavyweight title. He is only listed as IBF/WBA champion.

The alphabet belts have lost any meaning and I hope they become obsolete. Promoters creating their own belts isn't a solution to the problem, it will only make things worse. It's already bad enough that the top promoters are calling the shots with the sanctioning bodies and getting undeserving fighters title shots or easy mandatories. Now there won't be any mechanism to allow top fighters from different promoters to fight against each other. Under the status quo we used to at least get the occasional cross promotional fight but that started eroding with the proliferation of WBA interim, regular, and super belts which has allowed fighters like Santa Cruz and Davis to duck Cancio and Loma.

PBC belt is just for PBC fighters. If Canelo fights Charlo, of course the PBC title won't be on the line. Just the WBC and WBA. If J-Rock fights winner of Harrison-Charlo than the WBC-IBF-WBA as well as the 154 PBC title will on the line. if they have "in house" fighters they won't need alphabet belts in time. make no mistake, they don't want to pay sanctioning fees or let another organization dictate who their guys fight. would you? promoters and fighters need the alphabets at the moment. only reason you get people in the casinos sometimes is to call the fight a "world championship." in time they will attempt to phase them out. that's what this is! they're cutting out a middle man. at the very least they'll no longer be at their beckoned call and have a better control over the quality of their product. very, very basic business.

i doubt that's how it will work. the alphabet belts set an agenda regarding who is a "mandatory." they give promoters an out to fight a certain fighter, but they also have their own objectives. they'd need to line up completely to have PBC and alphabet belts being fought for each fight. additionally, and this is rarely talked about and that's intentional, the alphabets cost money. a lot of money. you literally pay a fee to fight for the title. and we all know how the rankings work. you pay a "charitable donation" to one of the sham organizations that the alphabets run, IE you give them a bag with 25-50 grand or more in it to get your guy ranked. and probably six figures to half a million to get a "mandatory" for somebody like fres oquendo, who was ranked by the WBA for FIVE YEARS without a fight. PBC belt is just for PBC fighters. If Canelo fights Charlo, of course the PBC title won't be on the line. Just the WBC and WBA. If J-Rock fights winner of Harrison-Charlo than the WBC-IBF-WBA as well as the 154 PBC title will on the line.

It was made clear during FOX Q4 Press Conference/Conference Call that not only are they happy with their boxing coverage that they was EXPANDING IT and Expanding was getting Wilder on FOX I'm assuming :dunno: The More Boxing The Better! I disagree with Espinoza recent statement about "Too Much Boxing" no actually it is not enough CONSISTENTLY! Boxing have a lot of Gaps and inactivity while other sports once they're in season you know the NFL is on CBS and FOX every Sunday afternoon, you know NBA is on TNT and ESPN every Thursday and Friday Night. Boxing Schedule Wise is all over the F#cking Place As for Exclusive Belts...I was originally against it but NOW after more BS from the WBC and WBA, I'm all for it now Only negative is more fights on the West Coast because of the deal with FOX. Since they're based in Los Angeles that explain why Spence vs Porter was at Staples and why Charlo vs Harrison II is in Ontario California that is mostly to make things easier for FOX I'm assuming. Nothing against the West Coast but the fans are different on the West Coast. It is always so much to do on the West Coast so you don't know if Fans will even show up sometimes, also people show up very late to events because of terrible Traffic so the energy doesn't feel the same when events are on the West Coast Sometimes even though Spence Jr vs Porter had a GREAT Crowd in Staples Boxing NEEDS FOX, ESPN, DAZN...all of them to continue to invest in a sport that has slipped in popularity Drastically and is trying to work its way back up. Right now Pro Boxers are being upstaged by Youtubers :nonono: Great Interview by Chris! He is a DAZN Guy so he was trying hard to get some dirt :lol1:

I'm fine with a PBC if it's not getting rid of the others. For example if two PBC fighters fight than the PBC 154 title will be on the line. As well as whatever legitimate title they have. i doubt that's how it will work. the alphabet belts set an agenda regarding who is a "mandatory." they give promoters an out to fight a certain fighter, but they also have their own objectives. they'd need to line up completely to have PBC and alphabet belts being fought for each fight. additionally, and this is rarely talked about and that's intentional, the alphabets cost money. a lot of money. you literally pay a fee to fight for the title. and we all know how the rankings work. you pay a "charitable donation" to one of the sham organizations that the alphabets run, IE you give them a bag with 25-50 grand or more in it to get your guy ranked. and probably six figures to half a million to get a "mandatory" for somebody like fres oquendo, who was ranked by the WBA for FIVE YEARS without a fight.

10-12% of PPV buys come from digital. Obviously FOX gets to keep more of the revenue on digital buys than cable/satellite buys.

The exclusive belt thing could be good in some ways but I feel it’s another thing that’ll make it even more difficult than it is now to make the fights we want to see between different promoters. PBC seems to be trying to make itself an exclusive organization like the UFC. Also the Crawford/WBO thing is beyond lame. It’s just annoying knowing we’ll never see Crawford fight anyone from PBC ever. You just know for example if someone signs with Top Rank or PBC the odds are they’re never getting any fights with the opposing promotion.

I'm fine with a PBC if it's not getting rid of the others. For example if two PBC fighters fight than the PBC 154 title will be on the line. As well as whatever legitimate title they have.

I'm not liking what I've heard so far.