Excellent article on HBO Boxing's recent missteps

[dstew]

Definitely on the long side, so it's not for the illiterate or attention deficit, but it's extremely well written and runs down every questionable business decision HBO Boxing has made this year, how it will affect their boxing offerings in the future, and what HBO should be doing to fix it.

http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/hbo-and-boxing-at-a-crossroads

[Shadows]

I read that earlier on another site. It was definitely a good read.

[-Hyperion-]

good read.....though a little bit of unfair revisionism.................still the overall picture is right, HBO are morons with their money.......

[-Hyperion-]

and why cant boxing writers not "sound"(i know its not really sound) like obnoxious douches?.................

[Iceta]

I read that myself and a lot of it was stuff I already knew. But the thing that I learned from that story that's got me worried are the sparse TV dates and a multi-million dollar budget cut for the year 2010. I hope it doesn't affect Shane Mosley too much, because he needs to get back in the ring.

[2501]

pretty hard not to agree with the article. HBO has had to many "wtf are they doing" moments. things need to change.

[HeartAttack]

I clicked the link and was about to read the article and then I saw that UBER **** Thomas Hauser was the author. So I closed the tab and came back here. I'm sure that HBO is wasting their (mine because I pay for their service) money on fights (Dawson/Tarver II) and could put together better fights more frequently. Same old story. HBO won't be smart with the fight game until network TV gets involved again, or Showtime quadruples their budget.

[mathed]

I clicked the link and was about to read the article and then I saw that UBER **** Thomas Hauser was the author. So I closed the tab and came back here. I'm sure that HBO is wasting their (mine because I pay for their service) money on fights (Dawson/Tarver II) and could put together better fights more frequently. Same old story. HBO won't be smart with the fight game until network TV gets involved again, or Showtime quadruples their budget.

They are quadrupling the excitement of HBO on half the budget, maybe the dudes in charge of Showtime should mentor the HBO guys on economics.

[deanrw]

HBO's biggest mistake was attempting to brand themselves with GBP. They put all their eggs into one basket and GBP could not deliver consistency or good fights. The lone exception was Diaz/JMM. Other than that it was really kinda ho hum, a mixture of some decent fights and some boring ones.

HBO really needs to expand their horizons. When you have all the best fights airing elsewhere, people will tune out.

You would think they would have invested in exciting fights. Instead we were treated to some great fights on Showtime and Versus. Versus picked up Dianconu vs. Pascal for like $120,000 and it turned out to be one the best fights of the year.

I never heard about HBO trying to buy the rematch for December. Instead they want to showcase Juan Diaz again. Why, because they need to supply airtime to GBP.

[HeartAttack]

They are quadrupling the excitement of HBO on half the budget, maybe the dudes in charge of Showtime should mentor the HBO guys on economics.

you have a strong argument. I'm so stoked about the Super 6 tournament. And they often have some pretty good fights on there. Their last Shobox was more than solid on what ended up being an ESPN budget card. If Showtime taps the cruiserweight division and starts getting Adamek, Huck, Flores, Cunningham, Drozd, Kraj, and Co. then they will kill HBO in entertainment value while (this is important) helping the sport at the same time. That's what the Super 6 tourney is doing, and not what all the catchweight fights at $54.95 are doing.