Excellent article on HBO Boxing's recent missteps

[deanrw]

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.

Exactly! Showtime probably loves that HBO shut the door on so many. They then get to put together some dream fights at a fraction of the cost.

[mathed]

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.

I can't wait for this thing to kick off.

[RingTech01]

showtime's production lags behind hbo's.

[warp1432]

Does Thomas Hauser never stop bitching about HBO?

This was a terrible article. He made some good points particually the ones about Dawson Tarver 2, but HBO has stepped up this past year in bringing better quality of fights. They've made more competitive match ups and less PPV's (which is what we wanted. By the end of 09, there will have been only 3 HBO PPVs. That is nuts)

Besides bitching about HBO, he bitches about how it's golden boy's fault. But let's think about the worst HBO cards this year shall we?

Dawson-Tarver II (Promoted by Gary Shaw)
Berto-Urango (Promoted by Lou Dibella)

Those are non golden boy fighters.

Another thing he fails to accknowledge is how much better ratings were. Mosley-Margarito, Cotto-Clottey, Diaz-Malignaggi, and Marquez Diaz all did great ratings. HBO had much better match ups this year compared to last year and it paid off in the ratings.

The only thing I agree about with this article is how BAD needs to get better match making, but it's still mostly a terrible article in general. It focuses too much on the negative (which Hauser always does against HBO) and how they overpaid Dawson way to much money.

[dstew]

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.

Just curious, but what's your beef with Thomas Hauser?

[HeartAttack]

Just curious, but what's your beef with Thomas Hauser?

I've been to several fights that he's covered as well and I have never met a more pompous human being. I've even seen Al Berstein annoyed with him, and that's not an easy task. He's a good writer and a smart mind, just a waste of it all given his personality. It's amazing actually, that the most arrogant people in the sport are the ones who "know it all" and write about boxing. The actual fighters are the by far the nicest individuals in the sport and they're the ones who get almost all the criticism.

[dstew]

I've been to several fights that he's covered as well and I have never met a more pompous human being. I've even seen Al Berstein annoyed with him, and that's not an easy task. He's a good writer and a smart mind, just a waste of it all given his personality. It's amazing actually, that the most arrogant people in the sport are the ones who "know it all" and write about boxing. The actual fighters are the by far the nicest individuals in the sport and they're the ones who get almost all the criticism.

Interesting...

You're right, he's a good writer and obviously smart as he puts together a very good case against HBO, especially Ross Greenburg.

To the few of you who've criticized him for focusing too much on HBO's downfalls this year and not their triumphs... the article starts off with the fact that HBO is cutting their sports budget by $15 million next year. In journalism that's what's called a lead... it's why the article was written. It makes perfect sense that Hauser would then explore the reasons WHY the Sports division is stressed financially; balancing it out with praise for their successes this year (which have been great, but few and far between) is completely unnecessary and would add nothing to the piece. He mentions the successful Mosley/Margarito, Marquez/Diaz, and Cotto/Clottey cards, and that's all he needed to do. The article is not an overall review of HBO's coverage this year - it's an examination of why their budget is being cut, which will directly affect the future of boxing.

[Boxingwizard]

This will ALWAYS be a problem as long as HBO has a monopoly over boxing. Boxing matches needs to be televised on regular cable channels like TNT, CBS sports, S p i k e, ESPN, NBC sports. Anything except HBO or Showtime, they just get more and more ****ed every year.

[flyest1]

Good read and thanks for posting this TS. One thing I know is superstars are not made, they're born. HBO is rushing these young prospects who aren't ready for the bigtime.

[Pullcounter]

**** HBO and **** Berto!


Berto is garbage! I can't believe douchebella tried to make berto/bradley!!! why the **** are all these WWs fighting jr WWs???!!!!

this is getting ******.

but seriously the sad part is that HBO is boxing right now... and that's kinda ****ed up