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It wasn't too long ago that the president of HBO Sports, Ross Greenburg, stated that his network, after putting on ten pay-per-view events in 2006, vowed that they would go back to putting more of their marquee bouts on their 'Championship Boxing' series. The bottom line, everybody agreed, was that boxing simply doesn't have ten events big enough anymore to go on that particular platform that often. Perhaps the UFC could (and does), but not boxing.
And in 2007, HBO did have a strong rebound year, delivering bouts like Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor II and Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler last fall and limiting themselves to just seven pay-per-view events.
But it looks like Greenburg's promise is right up there with George Bush's (the first one) presidential proclamation of: REEEAAAAD MMMYYY LIPS: NOOOO NEEEEEW TAXES.
Because unfortunately, it looks like that trend was an aberration, as it looks like HBO and its various promotional partners will once again hit double digits in the number of pay-per-view promotions they will stage in 2008. It was once an unwritten rule that for pay-per-views shows to be maximized to their greatest potential, and to not cannibalize each other, that they had to be held about four-to-six weeks apart (or about one billing cycle with your cable/satellite company).
Well, it seems as that this unwritten rule has been crumpled up and thrown into the waste basket, as things come to a nadir when HBO Pay-Per-View will stage back-to-back events on September 13th and the 20th. First, Joel Casamayor and Juan Manuel Marquez box for the right to be called the lightweight champion of the world at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Then seven days later, Joe Calzaghe faces Roy Jones, reportedly at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York.
It's unprecedented and in many respects unbelievable. The corporate spiel will be that the shows hit different 'target audiences' and won’t really intersect with each other. In other words, one show is for Latinos, the other for everyone else. So in essence, a marginalized fanbase is now being segregated. I guess the belief is that boxing fans just can't be fans for the sake of liking boxing as a whole, but are now categorized into ethnic groupings. But that's just corporate spinning. This is nothing more than an attempt to justify this lunacy.
What's interesting is that when you look at the show on September 13th, which is being promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, that is put on the weekend of the Mexican Independence Day celebration. It continues a trend where this particular weekend is earmarked for a pay-per-view outing regardless of the fight. Once, this date was reserved for truly big fights involving stal***** like Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez. In the past few years it has featured shows that were headlined by Marco Antonio Barrera's rematch versus Rocky Juarez, Barrera's bout against Robbie Peden and last year - before its cancellation - Marquez's bout versus Jorge Barrios.........................................
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Great read I recommend it
And in 2007, HBO did have a strong rebound year, delivering bouts like Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor II and Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler last fall and limiting themselves to just seven pay-per-view events.
But it looks like Greenburg's promise is right up there with George Bush's (the first one) presidential proclamation of: REEEAAAAD MMMYYY LIPS: NOOOO NEEEEEW TAXES.
Because unfortunately, it looks like that trend was an aberration, as it looks like HBO and its various promotional partners will once again hit double digits in the number of pay-per-view promotions they will stage in 2008. It was once an unwritten rule that for pay-per-views shows to be maximized to their greatest potential, and to not cannibalize each other, that they had to be held about four-to-six weeks apart (or about one billing cycle with your cable/satellite company).
Well, it seems as that this unwritten rule has been crumpled up and thrown into the waste basket, as things come to a nadir when HBO Pay-Per-View will stage back-to-back events on September 13th and the 20th. First, Joel Casamayor and Juan Manuel Marquez box for the right to be called the lightweight champion of the world at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Then seven days later, Joe Calzaghe faces Roy Jones, reportedly at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York.
It's unprecedented and in many respects unbelievable. The corporate spiel will be that the shows hit different 'target audiences' and won’t really intersect with each other. In other words, one show is for Latinos, the other for everyone else. So in essence, a marginalized fanbase is now being segregated. I guess the belief is that boxing fans just can't be fans for the sake of liking boxing as a whole, but are now categorized into ethnic groupings. But that's just corporate spinning. This is nothing more than an attempt to justify this lunacy.
What's interesting is that when you look at the show on September 13th, which is being promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, that is put on the weekend of the Mexican Independence Day celebration. It continues a trend where this particular weekend is earmarked for a pay-per-view outing regardless of the fight. Once, this date was reserved for truly big fights involving stal***** like Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez. In the past few years it has featured shows that were headlined by Marco Antonio Barrera's rematch versus Rocky Juarez, Barrera's bout against Robbie Peden and last year - before its cancellation - Marquez's bout versus Jorge Barrios.........................................
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Great read I recommend it
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