Comments Thread For: Showtime's Espinoza Talks Ratings, Content Critics, More

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Rick Reeno - One of Showtime's biggest boxing events of 2012 took place last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Headlined by a junior welterweight rematch between Danny Garcia and Erik Morales, the Showtime televised card featured four championship fights in total. After the smoke had cleared, Showtime Championship Boxing generated their third highest rating of the year. The only Showtime boxing events to generate higher ratings this year - June's welterweight fight between Victor Ortiz and Josesito Lopez and September's quadrupleheader featuring Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

"I've been informed that the rating was fantastic for the event. I'm very happy for Showtime. Show after show, we are bringing great ratings for Showtime," said last Saturday's promoter, CEO Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, to BoxingScene.com.

Showtime's boxing related programming has experienced a lot of change in the last twelve months. Last November, Stephen Espinoza was hired as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports and Event Programming. Espinoza replaced Ken Hershman, who accepted an offer from HBO to take over Ross Greenburg's old position as the President of HBO Sports. [Click Here To Read More]

[Simply Zyzz]

this dude has done a phenomenal job with showtime, i still remember when showtime was just the b-side of boxing.... at time even on par with espn friday night fights...

*** what the haters say, this dude wont let arum push him around and as far as their relationship with golden boy,who ***ing cares! they are putting on good fights!

[AddiX]

I think he's done an ok job, but he's ruined shobox which is suppose to be for upcoming fighters, and now it is for al haymons scrubs.

And until he puts on some top rank fights, and perception that he doesn't do business withntop rank, will remain true. It's very hard to look at what fights Showtime has put together with him there and tell yourself he's not almost exclusively in business with GBP and al haymon.

[ShoulderRoll]

lol @ Top Rank. Donaire vs. Mijares would have been a crap fight.

Mikey Garcia vs. Orlando Salido was actually a good matchup but why did Bob insist on messing with the date of Mares vs. Moreno? That's just the sleazy way he does business.

[JKidd2624]

I think Espinoza is doing a great job with the championship boxing and high profile fights. Showbox seems to be diving a bit more, but I wonder if that has any connection to what HBO and ESPN have signed together? Or if it's just a side effect to Showtime having better and more high end boxing cards overall? What I mean, when was the last time HBO had a free quadruple header? Or even a triple header?

Either way, I could care less if they essentially only put on GBP cards. Golden Boy has been putting on better overall cards anyways, and I love seeing TR getting turned down because I despise Bob Arum with a passion.

[warp1432]

Espinoza's dates don't match up:

Originally Mares Moreno was scheduled in August to compete for 10/13

http://www.badlefthook.com/2012/8/14/3243250/mares-vs-moreno-october-13-2012-showtime-boxing-news-abril-bogere-gary-russell-jr

Then 15 days later they moved it to 10/27
http://******.craveonline.com/blog/1...eal-for-oct-27


And in this article states the beef between Arum and Showtime way before Mares-Moreno was finalized. Salido Garcia was dead on Showtime as far back as June. This article was written in July, before Mares-Moreno was even done.

“I spent months trying to get Top Rank to make Salido-Garcia. Ironically, they only started offering it to me after they screwed me over on September 15th,” stated Espinoza of Top Rank, who announced on the night of June 16th in El Paso, Texas, after Chavez Jr. impressively stopped Andy Lee, the WBC middleweight titlist’s next bout would be against the recognized middleweight king, Martinez, on that date. This also lands on the weekend of Mexican Independence Day and is a coveted pay-per-view slot. But Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, who dealt with Espinoza, takes issue with his claim. “That’s not true; that’s not true at all. We were talking about it May 30th and I have emails going back to June 4th and 5th confirming what the date is and then on June 18th, I sent [duBoef] an email about which date he was locking in on in October to discuss the budget.”

According to duBoef, there was clear intent to take the Salido-Garcia fight to Showtime. “That’s what happens,” he said of the process. “Do you like the fight? Yes. What weekends can you go? Let’s talk about the weekends you can go.” They were wanting to see the Strikeforce calendar- and in the meantime, I was waiting for him to come to me with a budget and we were going forward. Then on June 18th, (the Monday after Chavez-Lee), I sent him a note about, ‘Let’s talk about the budget and what date were you confirming for October?’ And that was the end.”

http://www.maxboxing.com/news/max-bo...e-for-top-rank

[DoktorSleepless]

While Showtime is putting up some terrific cards lately and I'm glad I get to watch them, Showtime is paying way too much for the ratings they're getting.

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

How would that be possible if Pacquiao's return was originally booked for November 10th and wasn't switched to December until September 5th. Golden Boy moved Mares-Moreno to 11/10 once Top Rank moved Pacquiao's date.

Espinoza's dates don't match up:

Originally Mares Moreno was scheduled in August to compete for 10/13

http://www.badlefthook.com/2012/8/14/3243250/mares-vs-moreno-october-13-2012-showtime-boxing-news-abril-bogere-gary-russell-jr

Then 15 days later they moved it to 10/27
http://******.craveonline.com/blog/1...eal-for-oct-27


And in this article states the beef between Arum and Showtime way before Mares-Moreno was finalized. Salido Garcia was dead on Showtime as far back as June. This article was written in July, before Mares-Moreno was even done.



http://www.maxboxing.com/news/max-bo...e-for-top-rank

[AddiX]

Showtime spent major $ on two GBP mega events with awful undercards. The money they spent for the Alvarez/Lopez and Garcia/morales fights were gold mines for gbp.

Almost every other fight on the network is al haymon or golden boy fighters. If this Trend continues, I def wouod be worried for the state of Showtime boxing.

And why the heck are guys like jermain Taylor and andre dirrell on shobox? Leave that for the upcoming guys. It doesn't look good. It's clear gbp is successfully milking showtimes boxing budget all for themselves.

[southsidegym]

Thank You, you get it! when did who was promoting a fight became more important than it being a good fight, I remember when Arum complained about HBO buying nothing but Golden Boy fights. the fact of the matter is GBP along with Al Haymon has amassed a stable of Quality fighters and also have been putting on very good fights for a few years now( but they have been over shadowed by the may/pac drama), they have been matching their guys against each other and co-promoting alot with Shaw and Dibiella I don't understand the complaining honestly. the only fighter that they have that is being protected is Alvarez because he is a bonified next big draw regardless all of their of their other fighters are in sink or swim and if a few draws emerges from it so be it