Comments Thread For: Insider Notebook: HBO Prez Reflects on 2013, Much More

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

By Robert Morales - Boxing is a sport that seems to have more imperfections than most others. One can deal with that and stay strong, or cry about it and go home.

Ken Hershman, the two-year president of HBO Sports who previously was head of Showtime Sports, chooses the former. And since business was so darn good in 2013, he certainly has nothing to cry about.

We spoke to Hershman at length via telephone Tuesday morning. One of the first things touched on by HBO spokesman Ray Stallone, who was also on the call, was that in spite of rival Showtime's push, HBO still had the five highest-rated boxing shows in 2013 in terms of audience performance. [Click Here To Read More]

[BarnBurnerBrawl]

Hey Hershman, your hurting the fans more then your greedy pockets by severing your ties with GB .Sucks not seeing these fighters on 24/7 or talking to Max Kellerman post fight .

[AgainstTheRopes]

Hershman would rather see Golovkin fight JCC, Stevenson, Bute/Pascal who are two weight classes above GGG than the top two MWs?

[Slyboots]

Hershman would rather see Golovkin fight JCC, Stevenson, Bute/Pascal who are two weight classes above GGG than the top two MWs?

I thought that was a pretty absurd comment as well.

And is it me or does that picture of Hershman look like a young Bob Arum?

[Weebler I]

Hershman would rather see Golovkin fight JCC, Stevenson, Bute/Pascal who are two weight classes above GGG than the top two MWs?

Way to kill his cash cow.

If you look at the top 5 HBO 2013 shows, Cotto is close to retirement, Chavez Jr. is unreliable, Broner has gone to Shotime and Stevenson is old.

Unbeaten Golovkin is on the up ratings-wise with a division he can dominate for the next 2-3 years, but Hershman would sacrifice him against bigger guys. Smart matchmaking...not.

[parrish duke]

Noy what I was trying to hear. So basically he and the interviewer where saying that deciding to X GBP out of HBO whuch was a ****** move is ok because I like Arum's fighters and there are enough matchups within his fighting stable to put on the best shows. I have yet to see GGG fight outside middleweight who the hell if yiu are a real fight fan wouls not want to see GGG tey to unify to be great or atleast have that opportunity to do so. ARUM and HBO are killing us fight fans slowly - you really cannot fault GBP because it was not a mutual split, HBO severed ties with them and Arum followed suit or did it first, Arum is very bad for the sport he speaks out the side of his neck and doesn't care for the growth of the sport and the growth is in the matchups not the posturing - this interview was like a whew we dodged a major bullet this year - now if GBP and showtime can match this year then HBO / top rank will be introuble - in business the moves you make sometimes do not have an immediate impact on your business, but down the line is when they take course.

[BennyBlanco]

One of the most absurd interviews I've seen in quite a while.

Someone needs to explain to Hershman that HBO getting bigger audiences than Showtime isn't something to brag about. HBO has SEVEN MILLION more subscribers than HBO. HBO is SUPPOSED TO have bigger audiences.

(As an aside, if you look closer at the numbers, the flaw in his logic is obvious. Broner vs. Rees on HBO did 1.4 million viewers, while Broner's two fights on Showtime did 1.3 million viewers. That's almost the same rating, and when Showtime is generating almost the same audience despite having seven million fewer subscribers to draw from, then HBO is showing weakness.)_

More importantly, Hershman is screwing the fans. It's idiotic not to be open to GGG vs. Quillin as long as it's on HBO. But Hershman would rather see Pascal or Bute vs Golovkin?!?! Talk about a fight that literally no one is asking for.

In recent interviews, Schaefer has been saying he's open to doing business with HBO, which would have to mean that he's willing to take some fighters back to HBO. And now in this one interview, Hershman has shut the door on all of that. No Provodnikov vs. Garcia or Rios vs. Maidana, even if it's on HBO.

This guy Hershman is turning into Bob Arum. He's actually rejecting the possibility of good fights on his own network.

[pugil1st]

One of the most absurd interviews I've seen in quite a while.

Agreed! Very disappointing. The only honest thing he said was that he wishes they could have been a part of the Money fight. This guy is bad news for HBO. I don't think the cold war can end until he is fired and someone with a more open mind is brought in.

[Weebler I]

Someone needs to explain to Hershman that HBO getting bigger audiences than Showtime isn't something to brag about. HBO has SEVEN MILLION more subscribers than HBO. HBO is SUPPOSED TO have bigger audiences.

In the article it says it wasn't him who mentioned those audiences, it was HBO spokesperson Ray Stallone who was also on the line.

What Hershman was highlighting was HBO's success in identifying new fighters who bring ratings in after losing some fighters i.e. replacing Mayweather/Alvarez etc. with Golovkin/Kovalev/Garcia etc.

(As an aside, if you look closer at the numbers, the flaw in his logic is obvious. Broner vs. Rees on HBO did 1.4 million viewers, while Broner's two fights on Showtime did 1.3 million viewers. That's almost the same rating, and when Showtime is generating almost the same audience despite having seven million fewer subscribers to draw from, then HBO is showing weakness.)

Worth looking at the B-side in those fights. The US audience knows Malignaggi and Maidana, Gavin Rees...well the UK audience barely know him never mind the US.

More importantly, Hershman is screwing the fans. It's idiotic not to be open to GGG vs. Quillin as long as it's on HBO. But Hershman would rather see Pascal or Bute vs Golovkin?!?! Talk about a fight that literally no one is asking for.

In recent interviews, Schaefer has been saying he's open to doing business with HBO, which would have to mean that he's willing to take some fighters back to HBO. And now in this one interview, Hershman has shut the door on all of that. No Provodnikov vs. Garcia or Rios vs. Maidana, even if it's on HBO.

He did say he was "open to any ideas that people have" on the GGG-Quillen fight and left open the possibility of doing business with GBP if the situation changes.

[Canelo Phresh]

Lets ignore the fact that the gap is closing in terms of Nelson ratings and subscribers. BOB done goofed.