Comments Thread For: Paramount Global To Shut Down Showtime Sports; Network Will No Longer Broadcast Boxing

[Dela]

Is this results of terrible judges… lol
on how awful the boxing matches were decided

[Phase III]

DAZN has to be next given the millions their paymaster has lost due to so many boring Matchroom: Hearn bouts filled with lackluster British boxers.

[Fabes88]

A lot of people owe Hearn an apology. He’s been saying this for a while and everyone called him a liar

[md40022]

This is an excellent piece of writing. Do you write for any publications/websites?

Thanks for the kind words. I actually did launch a boxing website several years back and it got decent traction out of the gates, but I quickly saw there were some ridiculous politics in the game. Example, if you don't kiss a certain promoters rear end with your articles and interviews, you won't get access and you won't get credentialed for their events. The politics of the boxing promoters, believe it not, bleed over into fan bases, media, websites, etc. in that regard. I quickly saw that the behind the scenes format in boxing is SOOOO broken that I wanted no part of it. Because, if you think about it, what I just mentioned about not getting access to fighters if you don't kiss their butt in your articles has a 100% direct correlation to how boxing has died off in the mainstream. Promoters are literally telling media outlets, websites, etc. that they are declining their articles and interviews unless they are exactly how they want them. OF COURSE that contributes to boxing falling out as a mainstream sport when the average fan can't find the online content or the articles and media that they are looking for. It also explains why you get some completely overboard and outright embarrassing "media" from these bloggers and YouTubers that just align with one promotion and one promotion only. I mean, can you imagine the NFL or NBA cutting off ESPN's access or something because ESPN wrote a negative article? LOL it would be suicide and incredibly idiotic. But, it's par for the course in boxing.... and then they wonder why TV numbers are down, when they aren't allowing the media to cover the sport how it should be covered LOL.

I got off topic there though, sorry. Again, thanks for the compliment.

[Tag, You're Hit]

Promoters need to come together and create their own streaming service. Something that they would all have a financial interest in seeing succeed. None would make a dent on their own but combined it would pretty much be the ultimate destination for boxing. At that point there would be more reason to make all the big fights rather than keep fighters away from each other. Only recognize one sanctioning body. One champion. Do all that and you basically have a league. Problem solved.

I like the concept, but it's probably not realistic. There are too many greased palms, interests that won't go away so easily (sanctioning bodies cough cough), and egos involved. After rattling it around my brain a bit, though, I do wonder if something like a merger of sorts (like NFL-AFL) could happen between promoters and a type of a league could be created. I don't know how you envision it, but maybe the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO are different divisions and there is some sort of playoff scenario (tournament) where one fighter becomes the undisputed champion. The WBSS is always welcome and well received. And "Undisputed" fever is contagious. If every current player in the boxing scene can make out well in a new configuration, maybe there's a chance. The pessimist in me, who is right more than the optimist, figures sanctioned boxing is 100+ years in and that we'll just be watching boxing on different platforms (streaming probably) and we'll continue to get a small percentage of fights we actually want to see and the incompetent/crooked scoring and too-early stoppages will outlast us all. It's fitting that Las Vegas is the fight capital of the world.

[Tag, You're Hit]

Thanks for the kind words. I actually did launch a boxing website several years back and it got decent traction out of the gates, but I quickly saw there were some ridiculous politics in the game. Example, if you don't kiss a certain promoters rear end with your articles and interviews, you won't get access and you won't get credentialed for their events. The politics of the boxing promoters, believe it not, bleed over into fan bases, media, websites, etc. in that regard. I quickly saw that the behind the scenes format in boxing is SOOOO broken that I wanted no part of it. Because, if you think about it, what I just mentioned about not getting access to fighters if you don't kiss their butt in your articles has a 100% direct correlation to how boxing has died off in the mainstream. Promoters are literally telling media outlets, websites, etc. that they are declining their articles and interviews unless they are exactly how they want them. OF COURSE that contributes to boxing falling out as a mainstream sport when the average fan can't find the online content or the articles and media that they are looking for. It also explains why you get some completely overboard and outright embarrassing "media" from these bloggers and YouTubers that just align with one promotion and one promotion only. I mean, can you imagine the NFL or NBA cutting off ESPN's access or something because ESPN wrote a negative article? LOL it would be suicide and incredibly idiotic. But, it's par for the course in boxing.... and then they wonder why TV numbers are down, when they aren't allowing the media to cover the sport how it should be covered LOL.

I got off topic there though, sorry. Again, thanks for the compliment.

Interesting behind-the-scenes peek.

[Tag, You're Hit]

What BIG perk I'm going to miss - and, unbelievably, I don't think anyone has mentioned it in this thread - is NO COMMERCIALS for ALL their shows, not just PPV shows.

[dan-b]

Thanks for the kind words. I actually did launch a boxing website several years back and it got decent traction out of the gates, but I quickly saw there were some ridiculous politics in the game. Example, if you don't kiss a certain promoters rear end with your articles and interviews, you won't get access and you won't get credentialed for their events. The politics of the boxing promoters, believe it not, bleed over into fan bases, media, websites, etc. in that regard. I quickly saw that the behind the scenes format in boxing is SOOOO broken that I wanted no part of it. Because, if you think about it, what I just mentioned about not getting access to fighters if you don't kiss their butt in your articles has a 100% direct correlation to how boxing has died off in the mainstream. Promoters are literally telling media outlets, websites, etc. that they are declining their articles and interviews unless they are exactly how they want them. OF COURSE that contributes to boxing falling out as a mainstream sport when the average fan can't find the online content or the articles and media that they are looking for. It also explains why you get some completely overboard and outright embarrassing "media" from these bloggers and YouTubers that just align with one promotion and one promotion only. I mean, can you imagine the NFL or NBA cutting off ESPN's access or something because ESPN wrote a negative article? LOL it would be suicide and incredibly idiotic. But, it's par for the course in boxing.... and then they wonder why TV numbers are down, when they aren't allowing the media to cover the sport how it should be covered LOL.

I got off topic there though, sorry. Again, thanks for the compliment.

We saw this in microcosm in the build up to Fury - Whyte as the Daniel Kinahan fall out began. Top Rank effectively filtered out anyone who was likely to ask a difficult question. I know it's trendy to attack the so-called "mainstream media" these days but they at least employ people who are capable of asking relevant, direct and concise questions. The unlettered, leading questions YouTube content creators ask are often embarrassing.

[md40022]

We saw this in microcosm in the build up to Fury - Whyte as the Daniel Kinahan fall out began. Top Rank effectively filtered out anyone who was likely to ask a difficult question. I know it's trendy to attack the so-called "mainstream media" these days but they at least employ people who are capable of asking relevant, direct and concise questions. The unlettered, leading questions YouTube content creators ask are often embarrassing.

Great point about the YouTubers. I don't want to mention specific names here, but so much of the YouTube content is more or less just glorified cheerleaders following their favorite fighters around with a camera, "hey, Adrien Broner, what's your favorite color? What's your favorite food? Are you going to the club tonight? Whoa!!! you heard it here first, AB is going to the club tonight!!!!"

It's either that type of stuff or it's someone overly aligned with one promoter and just saying how great their fighters are while how terrible all other fighters are.

It's truly embarrassing.

Perfect example though, back during Mayweather / Pacquiao, Floyd did an interview with Rachel Nichols who I believe was working for CNN at the time. It was on live TV and she asked him some questions about his domestic violence accusations. Floyd and his team didn't like the questions and then if you recall, Rachel Nichols was denied credentials to access the fight as well as denied pre and post fight interview access. And at the time, Rachel Nichols was a very, very well known reporter and journalist who had worked for CNN and ESPN and covered at least the NBA, possibly even other major sports. Denying her access all because Floyd's feelings got hurt, was absolutely insane. Any piece she wrote or any TV spot she did regarding the fight was going to get a ton of clicks and views because she had a major platform. And boxing turned her away because of the questions they thought she might ask. Again, can you imagine the NBA, NFL and MLB no longer allowing ESPN access to any of their events because they all felt Stephen A. Smith talking too much crap about their teams and players? It would be absolute suicide, because Stephen A.'s crap-talk keeps people interested in those sports and keeps people tuning in. Yet boxing literally turns people away, someone like Rachel Nichols with a huge platform, and then they wonder why it doesn't have the mainstream appeal that it had in the 70s...... It's truly comical.

Now at the end of the day, with the example I used, them denying Nichols caused quite a bit of negative feedback and they ended up credentialing her at the very last minute. But for someone like myself or one of you, trying to start a legitimate website that gives honest coverage and writes honest pieces, they will deny you access in a heartbeat if your content doesn't kiss their butt enough and nobody would even know it because you don't have the same platform as someone like Rachel Nichols to call them out on.... I'm not saying that specifically is why boxing is dying. That list is too long to even discuss. But I will say denying media access to fights and fighters obviously hurts the average fan's ability to read up on fights and fighters and that hurts their mainstream appeal. That should be obvious, but boxing as a whole struggles with common sense more often than not. They'd rather have Ellie Seckbach running around with his cell camera asking their fighters what their favorite ice cream flavor is.... The whole thing is obnoxious.

[BennyBlanco]

Boxing has been dying for years. Best don't fight the best, it is all cherrypicking. Fighters looking for easiest paydays instead of testing themselves. Throw in the deaths from fight damage, the complete lack of commonality due to streaming and the internet, all the big networks now dropped the sport.

You clearly haven't watched boxing in years. The best ARE fighting the best. It's been happening for several years. There have been more undisputed champions crowned in the last few years than at any time in history. You can't get undisputed champions unless the best are fighting the best.

And putting undisputeds aside, the best are fighting the best. Wilder-Fury (which first happened back in 2018), Haney-Loma, Usyk-Joshua, Canelo-Bivol, Canelo-Plant, Tank-Ryan, Haney-Prograis, Spence-Crawford, just to name a few off the top of my head. Saying it's all cherrypicking just shows you haven't been paying attention.

Boxing has been niche for awhile now. Within a few years the sport will become less and less viable and in twenty years all of us "last generation"of boxing fans will left with only memories.

People have been saying the same thing for literally 100+ years. And yet there is more boxing on more platforms than ever before. Only internet trolls could turn that fact into "boxing is dying."

And only internet trolls could take a business decision by a financially struggling company (Paramount, which has lost 75% of its market value in just 3 years) and make it about boxing.

This decision says far more about Paramount than it does about boxing.