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

[Oldskoolg]

Go woke, go broke. I’m looking forward to something better than showtime and hbo. They were the greatest of their times. But their time is up. We deserve better now. Who will show out?

What was “woke” about showtime and hbo?

[henrykk123456]

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.

[factsarenice]

Paramount also owns Boxingscene

[turnedup]

You can thank Al’s personal bank, Espinoza for this. Overpaid for so much crap.

[PunchyPotorff]

Typical corporate white shirts being corporate jerks.
It's why I left corporate life behind 35+ years ago and never looked back.
Between Showtime, HBO, early ESPN etc... going way back to 60s boxing on
network TV (brought to you by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Schick razor blades)...
lotta great memories of watching boxing history being made.

[Tinman]

Boxing hasn’t been the same since HBO stopped.

[OnePunch]

As said, boxing killed itself when the top fighters and upcoming fighters went to HBO and Showtime and then the biggest fights were on PPV. HBO and Showtime doesn't have the reach of prime time networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox. Imagine if the NFL went off regular network and on only HBO and Showtime and then have their playoff games and Superbowl on PPV. The audience won't decline right away, but over the years? It will. Not to mentioned boxing is not a HS or college sport to replenish its participants like the other sports. It was suicidal to go to premium cable channels and limiting your audience.

I dont agree. Boxing thrived in the late 90s all the way through the early 2010s. HBO and Showtime had their "World Championship Boxing" telecasts, and HBO also had Boxing After Dark. The fighters that excelled in those platforms moved on to PPV stardom (DLH, Floyd, Pac, Lennox, etc). What killed it I believe was the ridiculous purse demands (which made the most compelling fights impossible to make), and the demise of ESPN Friday Night Fights. That series was HUGE for the development and exposure of fighters who ultimately went on to HBO and Showtime. Nowdays there is NO career development, no consistent career activity, as many fighters are only fighting once, or sometimes twice a year. Matchmakers like Trampler or Goodman are hardly able to develop fighters anymore, because their managers wont take the tough developmental fights that are necessary to refine skillsets.

I really dont know how this sport can rebound from the hole that it has dug for itself.

[MesicoFistology]

Stephen Espinoza owns everyone an apology then. He acted ****** saying he didn’t know what they were talking about l. Mongoloid weasel idiot.

[Theodore]

I dont agree. Boxing thrived in the late 90s all the way through the early 2010s. HBO and Showtime had their "World Championship Boxing" telecasts, and HBO also had Boxing After Dark. The fighters that excelled in those platforms moved on to PPV stardom (DLH, Floyd, Pac, Lennox, etc). What killed it I believe was the ridiculous purse demands (which made the most compelling fights impossible to make), and the demise of ESPN Friday Night Fights. That series was HUGE for the development and exposure of fighters who ultimately went on to HBO and Showtime. Nowdays there is NO career development, no consistent career activity, as many fighters are only fighting once, or sometimes twice a year. Matchmakers like Trampler or Goodman are hardly able to develop fighters anymore, because their managers wont take the tough developmental fights that are necessary to refine skillsets.

I really dont know how this sport can rebound from the hole that it has dug for itself.

Boxing thrived in the late 90s to early 2010s? It was already a niche sport by then. If you compare the era where you say it "thrived" to 80s and before that, it certainly fell from grace and wasn't a mainstream sport anymore.


This is the era that you said thrived? Boxing was a seriously niche sport at this period.



As far as purse demands. The biggest boxing stars have always had enormous purses dating back to the days of John L. Sulilvan. Look at the purses Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali made in their eras and compare it to baseball stars, basketball stars of that era. It blows it out of the water. Ali and Frazier in their first fight made $2.5 million each in 1971. Baseball stars, football stars, basketball stars were making around 100k. So purse demands isn't the reason.

[OnePunch]

Boxing thrived in the late 90s to early 2010s? It was already a niche sport by then. If you compare the era where you say it "thrived" to 80s and before that, it certainly fell from grace and wasn't a mainstream sport anymore.


This is the era that you said thrived? Boxing was a seriously niche sport at this period.



As far as purse demands. The biggest boxing stars have always had enormous purses dating back to the days of John L. Sulilvan. Look at the purses Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali made in their eras and compare it to baseball stars, basketball stars of that era. It blows it out of the water. Ali and Frazier in their first fight made $2.5 million each in 1971. Baseball stars, football stars, basketball stars were making around 100k. So purse demands isn't the reason.

I wasnt around when John L Sullivan boxed, so I cant attest to the business model back then. But before television, purses were solely dictated by what the live gate numbers were. It was certainly a much more accurate way to determine a fighters true "worth", at least for the top bouts on the show.


But yes, I do think boxing thrived in the 90s and 2000s. Its perfectly fine that you think otherwise. I never said it was the best time ever, as personally I preferred the 80s. But despite my personal preference, as a sport I believe boxing had a pretty good run during the 90s and 00s.