Comments Thread For: Showtime Announces Blockbuster Schedule

[bigdunny1]

Except that it didn't do 5 million or 10 million viewers, and in the meantime SHO's ratings have plummeted.

So while they had bigger audiences on some PBC broadcasts than they did on SHO, they could very well be coming back to significantly smaller audiences on SHO than they were fighting in front of a couple years ago.

Exactly it was just spin trying to put lipstick on a bad situation. Haymon in the last year has done so much damage to the Showtime brand and the viewership numbers prove this. PBC looked terrible for Showtime at the time and proved to be just that. And now there is no guarantee PBC looking like they out of money and fighters going back to Showtime will even get them back to the ratings Showtime had pre-PBC.

[Scipio2009]

SHO is definitely back, for now.

Is the Haymon plan to go SHO in the spring/summer, and then go back to the PBC shows in the fall/winter?

It will be interesting to see what the SHO ratings do during this stretch of fights, because they've been really low recently.

People have earned themselves ulcers trying to get into Haymon's mind; sitting down and looking at the actual fight's slate, none of the fights were headed for PBC, tbh. You add Stevenson-Fonfara/Rodriguez/Alvarez to the Showtime Championship Boxing schedule (with the outside chance of picking up Brook-Bizier) and you've maxed out on the fights that would've logically headed for Showtime, pending a ShoBox card or so.

PBC still has Spence-Algieri, Berto-Ortiz II, and a slew of other fights to fight TV dates for. Let the schedule roll out.

[Scipio2009]

Great news! Much respect to Showtime for this schedule, a lot of great fights.

Side note: Is PBC dead?

short answer is no; Jacobs, the PBC 154s (Charlos/Jackson/Vanes/etc), Peterson/Berto/VasquezJr/FigueroaJr and the other 147s, the smaller guys on his roster, and the slew of rising prospects (Caleb "Sweet Hands" Plant being 'the next prospect up' imo) to feature on TV.

Showtime/CBS is definitely being rewarded for keeping the faith though.

[Dean_Razorback]

finally, Cuellar is getting his big fight

[Scipio2009]

^^^yaaaassss

[Scipio2009]

PBC's death is Showtime's gain. Based on these fights what does that leave left for PBC? They already pushed back their ESPN fights from Jan to April and now to June. They going to go at least 8 months without a PBC fight on ESPN. They only have 1 fight scheduled for March. Only 2 fights during Feb. April has only 2 fights scheduled. Nothing scheduled after April 16 and all the top Haymon fighters according to Showtime have deals to fight in Spring/Summer on Showtime. This could be Haymon waving the white flag on PBC and going back to strictly Showtime. We'll see if these fights bring back all the viewers they lost when PBC launched.

-Berto vs Ortiz II
-Jacobs' return fight
-Stevenson vs Fonfara/Rodriguez/Alvarez
(all headline bouts in the works for spring/early summer)

with the Showtime schedule now filled in, the rest of the viable fights go into the PBC fold (underneath the marquee bouts, PBC can simply fill the rest of the schedule in with solid tough fights).

[bballchump11]

This is awesome. I hope Showtime keeps the schedule consistent. That's a big reason for their dip in ratings over the past year. People forgot Showtime evens showed boxing.

[Teetotaler]

As bad as the year has been as far as fighters pulling out for injuries let's hope everything goes according to plan. Only ones that intrigues me are Provo-Molina and wilder-povetkin

[b00g13man]

Not bad at all. This pleases me.

[MC Hammer]

Great news! Much respect to Showtime for this schedule, a lot of great fights.

Side note: Is PBC dead?

I don't think so, they have 3 fights coming in the next month. boxing is always slow this early in the year for some reason.