Comments Thread For: What HBO Should Do Now – Part Two

[The Gambler1981]

His whole assessment is flawed because it implies HBO is needed or that HBO really needs to change the way they do business for the sport to be healthy, HBO is just an outlet a high paying outlet but is that the real problem with the sport even if you dislike the way they exert quality control or do business.


Pen some articles dealing with the real issues of the sport instead of furthering his personal beef~ the top end of the sport will be fine and is missing the ball if you are looking at true issues the sport faces~

[Majority_Draw]

Did someone at HBO kick Hauser's dog? One huge problem with what he starts with: Plenty of credible boxing writers were enthused about Bradley vs. Alexander so it seems not at all unreasonable that HBO would put some money and effort behind it, hope for a good fight, at least one emerging star. And in saying the next Martinez fight doesn't look to be exciting, we shall see. There have been plenty of fights that looked great on paper and weren't, plenty that didn't and were.

Networks spend money and hope for the best. Nature of the beast. Showtime's spent a bunch on the Super Six, which may help produce one big star, Andre Ward, though at this point, he's far more skilled than exciting.

That aside, who's to say HBO overpayed for any fight(s) without some context? Did Showtime or someone else have zero interest? Were some or any of those paydays made to keep a promoter happy, boost HBO's chances of signing another fighter?

In terms of opinion, the idea of making Arreola a personality, using him more is not the best idea I've heard. Different demographics and tastes and all that, but Chris strikes me as a buffoon who is not serious about boxing. Most all of us and a lot of fighters have their profane moments (and I can swear with the best/worst of 'em), but Arreola strikes me as tiresome, unprofessional.

That said, I do like the idea of a regular boxing news show; as Hauser notes, it wouldn't cost much to have Lampley, Merchant, Steward, etc., talking about what's going on, having interviews with fighters, trainers, promoters, etc.

3 posts in 4 years, HBO schill. It's cool though, you can go ahead and create an official account instead of going underground

[DrewWoodside]

Hauser makes several great points, but complaining about Bradley-Alexander is just ridiculous.

Are we supposed to act as if Bradley-Alexander wasn't one of the most anticipated fights of the last year?

Are we supposed to act as if Bradley and Alexander weren't considered top 140 lb. fighters?

Are we supposed to act as if Bradley and Alexander were known for unexciting and uneventful fights?

True, the fight lost some luster after the Kotelnik fight, but if we look back, how many people didn't have Bradley and Alexander in their top 10 wishlist for 2011?

Who knew Alexander was going to hold tighter than Andre the Giant's bearhug on the inside and not score much on the outside?

Anything less is revisionist history.

I think Hauser should be a little more clear with his criticism of Bradley Alexander, because at it's core this sort of fight is the right idea and a step in the right directon. But his major complaint, is the poor business precedent it set and the fact that sacrifices made to get that fight signed affected additional programming down the line/later in the year. Part of the agreement required HBO to somewhat force Sergio's hand with Dzinziruk? Also, guarantee 7 figure paydays to both the winner and loser.

Also, this fight was pushed and promoted hell or high water as something no one could really claim with any great certainty.. A super fight guaranteed to deliver action. Also, a level of hype/promotion that is skewed, at least compared to how other fights(Donaire/Montiell for example) have been pushed.

All and all, Bradley -vs- Alexander is the right idea. However it might not be worth selling off your first born child for.. Which is what HBO was clearly willing to do. If this were a poker hand: Judging from what all parties involved received from this fight, HBO's cards were up and showing before the flop came down. As a result they overpaid heavily, and worse yet were not even really aware what they were buying.

[SluggerFan]

I think Hauser should be a little more clear with his criticism of Bradley Alexander, because at it's core this sort of fight is the right idea and a step in the right directon. But his major complaint, is the poor business precedent it set and the fact that sacrifices made to get that fight signed affected additional programming down the line/later in the year. Part of the agreement required HBO to somewhat force Sergio's hand with Dzinziruk? Also, guarantee 7 figure paydays to both the winner and loser.

All and all, Bradley -vs- Alexander is the right idea. However it might not be worth selling off your first born child for.. Which is what HBO was clearly willing to do. If this were a poker hand: Judging from what all parties involved received from this fight, HBO's cards were up and showing before the flop came down. As a result they overpaid heavily, and worse yet were not even really aware what they were buying.

I totally agree! Giving a guarantee 7 figure payday to both the winner and loser is ridiculous. I can understand giving the winner a guarantee of something (another payday and another high profile fight on HBO) but they guaranteed both and personally, I don't think Alexander deserves $100k for his next fight, let alone at least a million. He looked and fought like an amateur and appeared to quit when the headbutt hit the opposite eye that was bothering him. And, then to tie another fighter (Sergio Martinez) into the mix against a guy that me personally has never seen is also ridiculous. Sergio deserves a soft touch but give us somebody we know at least if you are going to force his fight down our throat. Nothing against Sergio here though, especially because he didn't even want to fight this guy Dzinziruk.

And the countering of programming that they are planning on doing is ridiculous. As they stated, it will just diminish their own ratings too. When it's PPV vs. HBO/Showtime (i.e. free), I will almost always go for the free one (I refuse to pay for Mayorga vs. Cotto). But I do have one question for everyone? If you can only watch one of these fights, which will you watch? Will you watch Glen Johnson vs. Carl Froch or Pascal vs. Hopkins II?

[ManOnTheMoon]

I agree with Hauser. He's right on point with his assessments.

[BMWM3P]

What you're saying is that boxing isn't a sport, in your opinion, it's just show business.

No, I'm saying the way things are going in boxing and with the kinds of money these people are making they at least own the paying public some entertainment.

If you keep this bull**** hardcore fan purist mentality in 10 to 20 years you won't have **** to watch because the regular joes who pay for 95% of the boxers purses won't pay to watch guys grab each other, headbutt and negate each other offenses. Whether we like it or not boxing is as much as business as it is as sport and if things keep going the way they are we won't have much of a sport left.

[aymokay]

New HBO Sports President

Thomas Hauser is my man for HBO sports president, he has figured out the real problems of HBO sports, and has good suggestions to change things for the better.

[Dave Rado]

Sergio deserves a soft touch but give us somebody we know at least if you are going to force his fight down our throat. Nothing against Sergio here though, especially because he didn't even want to fight this guy Dzinziruk.

Dzinziruk is no soft touch. He was arguably the best Jr Middleweight for years, and is only ranked relatively low now because of inactivity caused by promotional problems. It's one of the toughest fights Martinez could have taken right now.

It's sad that US boxing fans ignore fighters who fight outside the States, but that has nothing to do with the quality or otherwise of those fighters.

That said, it would be a far more meaningful fight if he were to fight Sturm, who is the clear #1 Middleweight contender in all the independent rankings. I think it's a real shame that no one seems to even be talking about Martinez fighting Sturm.

[paulf]

Most of what Hauser says is right. If Dawson-Tarver only pulls 900 people, why are all of Chad's fights on HBO? HBO plays favorites with boxers far too much, and it's really hurt the sport as of late.

Hearing how depressed the HBO team was that Williams got KTFO was an awful sign.

Like ive always said: HBO prefers to work with GBP because GBP and HBO are both into star-building. GB's constant hyping up of attractive pretty-boys as the next DLH fits right in with the way HBO loves to play favorites with guys they see as who should be the star in boxing. Then, after all the hype, they get their asses kicked by Paul Malignaggi or Marcos Maidana and that was all she wrote.

Bob Arum protects certain moneymakers, but he doesn't pull that star building bull****. He signs whoever's hot and lets the fans decide.

[Feint]

Maybe I'm missing something, but these quotes in Hauser's article seem to me to contradict each other, whereas he quotes them side by side as if they reinforced each other:

Lou DiBella is in accord, saying, "If you're boring and you fight going backwards, I don't care what your pound-for-pound ranking is; you shouldn't be on HBO. It's not about appealing to 250,000 hardcore boxing fans. You have to appeal to a wider audience."

Gary Shaw states, "Fans don't want to see easy fights. That's not what it's about. It's about the best fighting the best."

The best fighting the best is what hardcore fans want, and what Gary Shaw wants, but will often result in fights that aren't very entertaining. Whereas Lou DiBella wants HBO to only show entertaining fights, which would frequently mean freezing out match-ups between the best fighters, and would also mean completely freezing out some of the best fighters from the network (any fighters who go backwards, according to DiBella, should be completely frozen out - although I wonder if he really thinks Mayweather should be frozen out).


Hauser also writes further on:

"When feasible, [HBO] should match the #1 fighter in a given weight class against the top-ranked available challenger."

Well that's exactly what HBO did with Bradley-Alexander, and with the Pascal-Hopkins-Dawson rematches, and to an extent, with the Martinez-Dzinziruk fight - and yet Hauser appears to disapprove of those decisions.

So I'm confused.

Great points.

We all love this sport and want to see it being promoted in the right way and to as many people as possible. That said, I think too often we try to assign blame to explain why things go wrong in that promotion when in reality, there really isn’t any blame to assign.

You can match up two undefeated fighters. You can match up champions, contenders, and/or brawlers. Everything on paper could look flawless and the fact is you never 100% know what is going to happen on fight night. Blaming HBO for a bad fight is just silly.