HBO Sports President Talks Rigondeaux

[!! Shawn]

Stopped reading after that.

lol Get real.

His fan base?

His fan base is 5% of this forum.

I love Rigo just like you, but he brings no money... none.

He has atleast 500,000 fans. Given how little they probably paid him for the appearance, the cost basis to keep him fighting on the network is fairly low, especially given the limited pool of fighters HBO now has to draw from.

Given that shutting him out of the network will just serve to make them look like ****s, and will probably lose them more subscribers than they will save in money paid to rigo for his appearances, its just posturing on their part to try and force rigo up in weight and into a rematch with donaire.

[Russian Crushin]

He needs to stop being so boring. He just had the lowest BAD ratings in history

[The Tase]

Its a business. Their business is subscribers. They will gain nothing by alienating his fan base. They said he would never fight on the network after the Donaire fight, they are saying it again.

They are full of ****, no network in their right mind would take the best athlete on the planet off their airwaves because viewers clearly changed over to the more compelling fight offerings on sho.

Toprank is already running dry on stars, and like it or not, Rigo is one of their marquee names, and he will continue to fight on HBO.

Rigo is a guy that is willing to fight the best all the time, scared of nobody, and putting on masterclass performances. They have been airing his entire career, they are not about to stop now.

are you serious?

what fanbase? you think hbo is losing sleep that cubans who watch boxing and the few hardcore boxing fans who enjoy rigo's painful tag and run amateur style might not watch hbo?

lmfaaaoooo

Do you know how low on the totem pole boxing is in regards to entertainment here in america? heck do you know how low boxing is on the sports totem pole here in america? Cars going in circles have more fans and clout than boxing.

America is an entertainment buying market. There is a lot of competition to get eyeballs. At the end of the day, Rigo is just like the kbros, respected but they are utterly painful to watch with their style.

Rigo needs to take a lesson from Marquez who realized he needed to be more offensive and less defensive and it has done wonders for his career. He became rich and famous because he realized how he was fighting will not endear him to the public. Heck even floyd somewhat became more offensive and less defensive.

Hbo can cut boxing from their programming and they will be just fine. Boxing is a luxury for hbo.

Cubans need to dump that amateur style and employ a professional prize fighter's style.

[Queen_Leia]

yea i dont understand why TOp Rank & now fn HBO keep ragging on Rigo.
when they should promote him how Floyd promoted himself. they both have the same styles of fighting so why the f not?
all bob has to do is be ****y as hell with him, and say hes gonna be the best ever, no one cna beat him , yada yada. he just blew out donaire. then you help him up where people wanna see him lose...but noooope they going in the wrong direction

El Chacal and Money are two different athlete -

1. They don't fight the same (not even in the slightest)

2. One of them knows English

3. HBO is ragging on El Chacal because they are losing rating. The first time he got a pass but they gave him a second chance and they still lost viewers. Money does good HBO viewership before he went PPV.

4. Arum is ragging on El Chacal because he doing his part as a promoter by getting him fights but Chacal isn't doing his by winning in a more fan-friendly style.

You can be a technical wizard and be entertaining (i.e Money, Son of God, Dinemeta) but alas...Chacal has not been taught marketing and economics 101.

[!! Shawn]

I gaurantee you his ratings are better than rigo's.

People will watch Berto, he was in two BACK TO BACK fight of the years.

Don't even try to compare Rigo to Berto in terms of entertainment.

If what you are saying is true, HBO Pres wouldnt of said what he said and this thread didnt exist.

Argue all you want, facts are facts.

I doubt Berto's ratings are better than Rigo's on a dollar for dollar basis.

Rigo is probably getting less than 500k a fight, Berto was getting 1.5 million plus.

For example, Berto vs Zavek did less than 900k viewers, Berto walked away with more than $1m payday.

Rigo just did 500k, and I guarantee he was paid less than a 1/4 of what Berto made.

[FeFist]

He has atleast 500,000 fans. Given how little they probably paid him for the appearance, the cost basis to keep him fighting on the network is fairly low, especially given the limited pool of fighters HBO now has to draw from.

Given that shutting him out of the network will just serve to make them look like ****s, and will probably lose them more subscribers than they will save in money paid to rigo for his appearances, its just posturing on their part to try and force rigo up in weight and into a rematch with donaire.

I like Rigondeaux, but who would cancel their subscription over him? Who would buy a subscription because of him? It's not like he fights every month, or every year; the people who have a subscription to HBO would more than likely have it for other reasons.

I don't know why Bob Arum doesn't put Rigondeaux on the undercard of his bigger fighters. It would raise the prestige of his cards by having a highly rated boxer perform on the cards, which would help sway the minds of hardcore fans sitting on the fence.

[CubanGuyNYC]

rigondeaux had never boxed that well for 12 rounds.
arum and his matchmakers very obviously thought donaire would knock rigondeaux out. so did i.

Bro...Arum always considered Rigondeaux a threat. In fact, he considered several fighters a threat to Nonito. There's a Youtube video over two and-a-half years old that proves it. It's made the rounds a few times.

Go to 1:15. It's all there.

[IMG][/IMG]

Arum knew full well that Rigo might topple Donaire. Whatever his reasons were, he felt the fight had to be made. I cannot see GBP keeping every single one of their fighters away from "El Chacal" indefinitely. If nothing else, the fans, who want to see their favorite fighter fight the best, will demand it. Hell, the fighters themselves, if they have any pride (and fighters tend to), will demand it.

[The Tase]

"no rigo on hbo?!?!?!? Screw game of thrones, boardwalk empire, and movies."

[CubanGuyNYC]

I call Bullshit on HBO for this one.

Righteous got it right.

HBO's responsibility as the top class boxing broadcaster should be to showcase the proven BEST fighting against the BEST, period.

I three armed fighter, doing backflips into the ring is entertaining as fuq, but if he sucks as a fighter than he should have no place on a what is always pushed to me as the respectable boxing broadcaster.

If they want to peddle this "entertainment only" bullshit, then stop telling me that you showcase the best fighters.

Jaguares got it right. Rigo was knocking everybody down and out. No one was calling Rigo boring until he shut down Donaire.

Shame on some of you posters. The things you say "Rigo needs to be punished", wtf?

People were calling Rigo boring before Donaire, the noise just intensified after "El Chacal" schooled Nonito. It's as if people were ignoring the bogeyman in the shadows. When the threat suddenly became real is when the outcry came.

[ИATAS]

"no rigo on hbo?!?!?!? Screw game of thrones, boardwalk empire, and movies."

I have the best god damn solution this is fuxking genius.

HBO should cast Rigondeaux in Game of Thrones.

Problem solved.

/thread