Comments Thread For: “Fighting Words” – Wlad Klitschko: Heavyweight Heave-Ho

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

by David P. Greisman - It’s not TV. It’s HBO – Heavyweight Boxing Online.

That Wladimir Klitschko’s fight March 20 against Eddie Chambers won’t be on HBO is unusual but not unprecedented – his last fight, a win last June over Ruslan Chagaev, was aired on ESPN Classic.

But Klitschko-Chambers won’t be on American airwaves whatsoever. Instead, it will be broadcast on the Internet, an online pay-per-view on Klitschko.com priced at $14.95. The audience will presumably be a lot smaller than that which would tune in on cable television. Still, the audience will probably a lot larger than what the usual niche Web pay-per-views pull in.

So, this is what it’s come to.

Heavyweight champions used to be the kings of boxing’s marquee division. The best of the big men used to be the standard-bearer, the conversation starter. Now it seems as if heavyweights have gotten the heave-ho. At best, they are merely part of the picture. At worst, they are afterthoughts.

It would be easy to call out HBO for not showing Klitschko-Chambers. It would be easy to look at their schedule and note that Klitschko-Chambers could be paired with the traditional week-after free rebroadcast of the previous week’s pay-per-view main event, in this case the March 13 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey. [Click Here To Read More]

[ShoulderRoll]

I'm glad that boxing is going to pick up again in the next few months. Saturday nights have been boring so far this year.

[edgarg]

Dear David,
,
A fine, interesting, off-the-beaten-track, article. I feel exactly the same about curling, rock climbing car racing [ but I like horse racing], card playing, 24/7's
and a few more. In none of these is the protagonist pitted directly against an opponent.


I am now in Panama City, and it's vey nice here. I've managed to track down a boxing club, the best here, but haven't visited yet.

In a major street they have a statue of Roberto Duran, They really appreciate him and Ismael Laguna as far as I can tell. Haven't made contact with any boxing followers yet, but expect to meet some,..........who speak English

[ChopperRead]

Americans generally don't like it when Americans aren't dominating a sport (how much interest is there in the formerly mainstream sport of men's tennis since the Swiss Roger Federer took over from the Andre Agassi's and Johnny McEnroes?), so the lack of interest in Wlad is understandable, if not defensible. But American xenophobia aside, it seems like the boxing powers that be in the US have decided that Eddie Chambers has no chance, zero, to beat Wlad. It's puzzling to me why they get behind Cris Arreola and not a true boxer like Chambers. Oh well, at least the 50,000 seat stadium in Germany is sold out: plenty of interest in the fight there.

[Jim Jeffries]

I thought this fight was postponed from last year so that HBO could fit it into their lineup? :WTF??:

[Mr. David]

Hank, Wladimir Klitschko had surgery -- for a shoulder injury, I believe -- which meant that he didn't fight again in 2009 after the win over Chagaev.

[Jim Jeffries]

Hank, Wladimir Klitschko had surgery -- for a shoulder injury, I believe -- which meant that he didn't fight again in 2009 after the win over Chagaev.

I know that, I also know that he was ready to fight Chambers in December, but was told by HBO to wait.

[mookiep]

Americans generally don't like it when Americans aren't dominating a sport (how much interest is there in the formerly mainstream sport of men's tennis since the Swiss Roger Federer took over from the Andre Agassi's and Johnny McEnroes?), so the lack of interest in Wlad is understandable, if not defensible. But American xenophobia aside, it seems like the boxing powers that be in the US have decided that Eddie Chambers has no chance, zero, to beat Wlad. It's puzzling to me why they get behind Cris Arreola and not a true boxer like Chambers. Oh well, at least the 50,000 seat stadium in Germany is sold out: plenty of interest in the fight there.

no one cares about tennis period.

[Spray_resistant]

Sucks that the HW champ isn't on American network TV, sounds like some sort of inside biased against him......I mean him being "not entertaining" as some say sounds like a BS reason as tons of extremely boring fighters who never even ko anyone get on HBO and PPV cards all of the time.

[PBDS]

....The situation does suck. Still, how much of it is economics and interest versus the Klitschko's trying out a new venue? I can't believe I'm going to have to shell out $15 for this one on the net. It better be a decent feed.