Al Haymon's Venture ship has started to sink

[The Ninth Layer]

That's all most of this forum know how to do b*tch and moan about everything and everyone not involved with their favorites winning and getting their way. Haymon gets more **** than Arum ever did. Gee I wonder why.

Arum at least matched his fighters in tough.

Heaven forbid someone even mentions Kovalev's name for this Stevenson show.

[soul_survivor]

I have to agree with the op, originally I felt the idea of boxing in the US being aired on network TV would give the sport a big boost but apart from Thurman v Guerrero we haven't gotten anything but exhibitions. On top of all that, the production has been horrible.

Last nights show was on Skysports for us in the UK so I can't say anything about the US commentary but the camera quality was far below what I've seen of Skysports, HBO or Sho broadcasts and everything just seemed so cheap. Terrible lighting, limited camera work and earlier on, poorly edited replays. It was like amateur hour lol.

[The Ninth Layer]

I think there's a world of difference between hating on something and pointing out its shortcomings. FREE BOXING ON NETWORK TV!!! or not, I'm within my right to complain about what I see as problems with the presentation of our sport and so can anyone else, without being a racist or hater or wanting Haymon to fail or whatever the OP is being accused of.

The biggest problem that I have with PBC is that it's clearly not aimed at knowledgeable boxing fans. The people posting on this website are not its targeted audience. This is why things like championship titles go unmentioned. Other fighters in the divisions where these guys are fighting are unmentioned. Fighters aren't asked what is next for them or who they would like to fight. None of that is part of the product being presented to fans.

If you watch an HBO fight you'll get things like pictures of the other relevant fighters in the division of the main event guys. It adds significance to the match because you can understand at least part of what is at stake: these boxers are trying to make their name among other boxers with their own claims to legacy. That part of boxing is completely missing in the PBC shows I've seen. Fans of the sport know that in Stevenson's division is a guy who holds three of four world titles who has been calling Stevenson out. But people who watch PBC will never know that because they're not mentioning that guy, they're not asking if Stevenson wants to fight that guy, they're not even asking Stevenson what he wants to do next.

HBO and Showtime have never gone out of their way to promote the guys fighting on the other network, but at least they still ****ing get mentioned. Even if the HBO team wasn't so complimentary to guys like Mayweather and Broner when they jumped ship, they didn't outright forget about those guys existing either. Both these networks also had no problems asking the tough questions of the fighters themselves, getting them to call out other opponents and at times even outright criticizing parts of a fighter's game plan if called for.

I think issues like production values and commentary will improve as the broadcast teams get some experience, but there are bigger problems with the show. When Quillin and Lee fight, don't expect to hear Golovkin's or Cotto's names. When Garcia and Peterson fight, don't expect them to bring up that it's a catchweight fight. Don't expect them to put Santa Cruz' picture up next to the pictures of the many other talented fighters competing in his division.

[The Gambler1981]

Arum at least matched his fighters in tough.

Heaven forbid someone even mentions Kovalev's name for this Stevenson show.

No Arum does not match his fighters any tougher, that is a total fallacy.

Arum is one of the most risk averse people in boxing~

[Barcham]

There was more excitement and more crowd involvement and more atmosphere in the first minute of the BKB broadcast last night than there was in all the PBC shows to date combined. Everything PBC is missing, BKB had. Crowds involved in the evening? Check. Ring Girls? Check. Ring announcer? Michael freakin' Buffer!!! Double check!! Interviews with fighters after the fight? Check. They even had a passable translator for interviews!

They have even come up with some interesting new tech that casuals and hard core fans alike will love that measures the hit strength of punches!!! Is it a gimmick? Damn right, but it's an interesting gimmick that brings something new to the sport.

Now, do I think BKB is the next evolution for boxing? No, of course not. It is like a sideshow. But everyone was involved from the crowd to the commentators to the fans at home watching. No one was bored. Everyone had a great time and from the thread last night that followed the show, we all really enjoyed watching it.

THAT is the kind of excitement someone has to bring to boxing to make it successful on free television with casual, mainstream audiences. Not the boring crap PBC has been delivering.

Not all rock fans like KISS, but no one can argue the fact that they put on one hell of a live show. Boxing is like Rock and Roll, BKB is like KISS. PBC is like seeing Robert Plant with the Band of Joy when you really want to see Led Zeppelin - almost, but not quite on the mark.

[Don Pichardo]

Dude, you're complaining about FREE boxing.
Keyword, FREE!

You simply cannot expect high production values. This is PBC not NFL/NBA/MLB. They don't have billions of dollars.

True. And I think this is haymons vision, to be has big as mlb, nba etc. start off slow and build up.

A prefer Pauli and Virgil. They have good insight from a boxer and trainers perspective.

I however still prefer sho and hbo for boxing though. I do not appreciate the boxers corner and crew coming out with the fighter. It's sacrilige.

[Weebler I]

There is no money in boxing except for superstars that fight in PPV. Arum with decades and decades of experience would have done this if he thinks this will make money and sponsors/commercials will support it.

Arum has set up his TruTV deal though hasn't he? so I guess he sees some value in what Haymon is trying.

Unfortunately I agree with you.

I clown Haymon bumsniffs but I think his venture is exciting and good for fans.

Unfortunately I think you're right, boxing simply isn't mainstream. I don't know about America, but here in the UK boxing isn't even in newspapers, it's on the "more sports" sections of sports websites, it's probably less popular than WWE.

Boxing could be much bigger in the UK if it returned to the BBC/ITV which is basically what is happening in the US with NBC/CBS.

If it works for Haymon it could be good for boxing in the UK.

[Barcham]

True. And I think this is haymons vision, to be has big as mlb, nba etc. start off slow and build up. A prefer Pauli and Virgil. They have good insight from a boxer and trainers perspective.

I however still prefer sho and hbo for boxing though. I do not appreciate the boxers corner and crew coming out with the fighter. It's sacrilige.

As big as NBA or MLB or the NFL? That would mean that Haymon's delusions were having delusions. Boxing was never that popular, boxing will never be that popular and boxing will never approach even 1% of the value of the deals that major league sports like basketball, baseball, football or even NHL hockey currently hold. Hockey has a $2 BILLION, ten year deal with NBC and that is only pocket change when compared to MLB or NFL deals.

[Mitchell Kane]

Arum has set up his TruTV deal though hasn't he? so I guess he sees some value in what Haymon is trying.

Yeah, but that "value" is reportedly $200,000-400,000 of TruTV's money.

[ShoulderRoll]

Everything PBC is missing, BKB had. Crowds involved in the evening? Check. Ring Girls? Check. Ring announcer? Michael freakin' Buffer!!! Double check!! Interviews with fighters after the fight? Check. They even had a passable translator for interviews!

They have even come up with some interesting new tech that casuals and hard core fans alike will love that measures the hit strength of punches!!! Is it a gimmick? Damn right, but it's an interesting gimmick that brings something new to the sport.

This guy is in love with all the bells and whistles and mentions nothing about the actual fighting itself. Fake ass boxing fan.

HBO doesn't even show the ring card girls. Why don't you make 100 posts bashing them?