Great article about HBO Sports

**2501** · 05-30-2008, 06:42 PM

"Malignaggi’s two Boxing After Dark appearances in 2007, at a fraction of the cost, drew higher ratings than Joe Calzaghe vs. Mikkel Kessler and the live telecast of both Wladimir Klitschko fights."

daaaaamn i didnt know that.

**2501** · 05-30-2008, 06:44 PM

"Bob Arum complained loudly when HBO said that it had no plans to produce a half-hour Countdown show in advance of the upcoming pay-per-view battle between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Countdown shows are a key marketing tool, and Arum voiced his displeasure at a press conference in New York, declaring, “Everyone knows they’d be doing a show if it was a Golden Boy fight.”

The following day, HBO reversed its position and announced that it would, in fact, produce Countdown to Cotto-Margarito. But one source with knowledge of the inner workings at the network says, “If Arum hadn’t publicly humiliated them and if some of the people around Ross weren’t getting worried about all the complaints in the industry about special treatment for Golden Boy, there wouldn’t be a Countdown show for Cotto-Margarito. Think about how absurd that is. You’re talking about a fight that everyone thinks will be one of the best fights of the year.”"

no, there is NO conspiracy right? i told you they were holding out for Golden Boy. It is the most logical reason.

**2501** · 05-30-2008, 06:49 PM

"Golden Boy is a global brand now. Maybe we’ll change the name to Global Boy."

ha thats a good one.

**2501** · 05-30-2008, 06:51 PM

Either way, the largest license fee that HBO Sports has paid in years wasn’t a “gift” from Oscar to his adoring fans. “Vasquez-Marquez I, II, and III on Showtime was a gift,” says Showtime boxing tsar Ken Hershman. As Raissman notes, the $7,000,000 that HBO paid for De La Hoya-Forbes was, in large measure, an investment in Mayweather-De La Hoya II, which, of course, will be on pay-per-view.

Who is clamoring for Mayweather-De La Hoya II? Not the public. The fight will be brilliantly marketed. It will become a “hot” ticket and engender substantial pay-per-view buys. But it’s not the best foot that boxing (or HBO) can put forward. The Giants versus the Patriots was a great Super Bowl. But each team will have to earn its way back before they can do it again. De La Hoya-Mayweather I has been described as “boxing’s Super Bowl for 2007.” But in truth, it wasn’t that good a game, and neither guy has done much to earn his way back since then.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

**NAPO** · 05-30-2008, 06:52 PM

Originally posted by 2501

"Golden Boy is a global brand now. Maybe we�ll change the name to Global Boy."

ha thats a good one.

i guess we all were right about it.

**mrpain81** · 05-30-2008, 07:00 PM

I was going to post this but most people here have ADD, they would not get past the first paragraph.

Great read one of the best articles I've read in a very long time.

**2501** · 05-30-2008, 07:03 PM

Where fight production is concerned, HBO also has an unresolved problem relating to its lead-analyst slot. The members of HBO’s announcing team serve as its representatives to the boxing community. They are also essential to branding in the collective mind of subscribers. Two years ago, Greenburg put in motion a series of events designed to replace Larry Merchant with Max Kellerman. HBO is now in a situation where lead-analyst duties are divided between them. The assumption is that, in the not-too-distant future, Merchant will be gone.

Greenburg is delighted with the way things are working out. “Max’s performance has been very strong,” Ross says. “I’m getting a lot of good reaction from a lot of people about him. He has a vast historical understanding of the fight game and gives us deep penetrating analysis.”

Most people in boxing disagree with that assessment. Kellerman has many talents. Analyzing a fight as it unfolds in front of him isn’t one of them. Even if one accepts the view that HBO had to begin laying the groundwork for someone to succeed Larry Merchant, Max isn’t the guy.

Kellerman is a provocateur, not an analyst. The “vast historical understanding of the fight game” that Greenburg trumpets hasn’t been particularly helpful. The last time it surfaced was during a March 22, 2008, Boxing After Dark telecast, when Max likened Michael Katsidis to Rocky Marciano (although Max conceded that Katsidis had yet to prove himself on Marciano’s level as a fighter). That word of caution became obvious when Joel Casamayor knocked Katsidis out in the tenth round.

haha oh ****..poor Max.

**aRmAgeDDoN** · 05-30-2008, 09:02 PM

alot of it has to do with the marketing. they dont spend enough time building up fighters, so the popular guys are ones who accomplished it on thier own. they could have made alfonso gomez seem like a good fighter if they put his internet clips on tv. how can bob arum talk about mismatches when he's putting pavlik against lockett? i agree with this tho, whats the point of paying for hbo if they put most of the exciting matches on ppv?

“If I was in charge of boxing at HBO,” Arum continues, “the core of my programming would be twelve big shows a year. If they want to do Boxing After Dark, fine. But the key would be twelve big shows a year. Go back to being the network that puts on great fights that everyone wants to see and everyone talks about. If you use that formula, there’s no reason why fights like Cotto-Margarito, Pacquiao-Marquez, and Pavlik-Taylor II can’t be on regular HBO. Their budget for license fees is big enough; particularly if you cut waste and factor in all the money they’d save on salaries and production costs. That’s how to make people enthusiastic about HBO like they used to be and how to make new fans for boxing.”

Great article about HBO Sports