Comments Thread For: Redemption At Stake For Alexander, Matthysse And HBO

[JakeNDaBox]

By Jake Donovan

Bernard Hopkins UD12 Jean Pascal.

Two full fight cards have since aired on HBO. But Hopkins’ historic championship win one month ago was the last competitive fight – on paper and in reality – to air on a network once widely identified as the face of boxing.

Ironic, considering that any fight featuring Hopkins in recent years hardly wreaks of entertainment or action, yet his capturing the light heavyweight crown at age 46 has been the only HBO event worth talking about in the past two months and change.

It’s unfair to claim that HBO still isn’t the industry leader. But it’s also unfair to say that what they’ve offered hasn’t been far short of their own compromised standards. Even more of a disservice would be to pretend that Showtime hasn’t rapidly narrowed the gap and is on the verge of surpassing them.

Lucky for HBO, this weekend’s tripleheader from the greater St. Louis area stands a great chance of reversing what has become an ugly trend.

The junior welterweight crossroads bout between Devon Alexander and Lucas Matthysse tops a card that serves as the first of two shots for HBO (Saturday, 9:45PM) to remind people what they’re capable of before the next Showtime-televised boxing event airs and adds to its already stellar year.

Then again, they’ve already had two tries this month and came up empty. [Click Here To Read More]

[Battle*Hardened]

Why write this right before one of the biggest lineups on HBO in years is coming up? The writers and posters on NSB are both ******ed.

[Jack Napier]

screw Alexander the Twat
really hope he loses and fades from view
would like to see Matthysse-Zab 2 at some point

[chiguy91]

hbo isn't close to being surpassed by showtime imo. with that said, this fight and its undercards should bring some exciting moments, really looking forward to it. hope matthysse gets the KO win!

[CommanderVander]

But Hopkins’ historic championship win one month ago was the last competitive fight – on paper and in reality – to air on a network once widely identified as the face of boxing.

Most people expected Chavez-Zbik to be competitive, the odds were less than 2 to 1. And Chavez scored a come from behind split decision victory in what was an entertaining fight.

Ignoring this is just ignoring the facts in order to push an agenda or a point of view.

[emhoffk]

Jake - I think you're definitely being too hard on HBO. Yeah the Chavez, Jr. and two Alvarez fights this year have been more showcase than crossroads. But besides Pascal-Hopkins II they've also given us Montiel-Donaire; Morales-Maidana; and Berto-Ortiz - as well as the Bradley-Alexander; Martinez-Dzindzruk and Gamboa-Solis fights which were solid matchups on paper even if they didn't pan out in the ring. Granted, the co-feature bouts have been pretty one-sided save for Broner-Ponce De Leon (which was a snoozer) and Lee-McEwen (a war) but all in I think HBO has served up a good mix of matchups for the hardcores and matches to bring ratings.

Compare that to Showtime which has had Pacquiao-Mosley which was a huge disappointment - both on paper and in actuality. Cotto-Mayorga - not a bad fight but not one anyone wanted to see. Bute-Magee was kind of just a stay busy fight. Obviously the Super Six semis (Ward-Abraham; Froch-Johnson) were significant fights but neither was a particularly great action fight. On the positive side, Juanma Lopez-Salido turned out to be a great upset. Darchinyan-Perez was one-sided though on paper that was a damn good matchup. Best fight on Showtime all year was Acosta vs. Rios - which was competive on paper and an excellent.

I guess I can agree that Showtime is catching up, but HBO isn't slouching. I think Showtime is just picking up their game.

Regarding this weekends fight, Alexander-Matthysse is a solid matchup. I thought Matthysse edged Judah when they fought (and BTW - Judah did not have an easy time with Mabuza - he got dropped and hurt and was behind on one of the cards and only up by two on the other two cards when he landed the big left hand). Alexander is always well-conditioned and throws a lot of shots (though always landing at a low percentage). Matthysse will have to be busier than he was against Judah to win in St. Louis. I'm not expecting a barnburner but it should be a competitive fight with Alexander winning a close one. I actually wouldn't be shocked to see Matthysse win by stoppage as Alexander hangs his chin out there on occasion - but the more likely scenario is Alexander by close dec.

Cloud should run through Mack in about 5 or 6 rounds. Stiverne-Austin should be bombs away - if not it will be a snoozer as neither guy is going anywhere at Hwywt. Stiverne beat Robert Helenius and David Price as an amateur and he can definitely punch. Problem is he's kind of short and doesn't take a punch well. Austin can punch - but he's ancient. Not even sure why HBO is showing this one - obviously Don is still a pretty good salesman.

[badass316]

Hope Matthysse sparks that POS quitter out.