HBO only offering $1 Million for Walters-Lomanchenko?

[BennyBlanco]

"nefarious" is simply a matter of opinion. There isnt a single sports writer, aanalyst, or economist that I have heard of who can think of a way that Haymon/Waddell can recoup a $400 million dollar investment via advertising revenues.

And before we start with the "oh he went to Harvard" and blah blah blah, its not his money so I doubt he loses any sleep over losses. And as for Waddell, there were plenty of "smart" people at Lehman Bros too, and we all saw how that went.....

The plan never was to recoup $400 million via ad revenues any more than UFC or Twitter was looking to immediately recoup their entire investment in the venture via ad revenues over the initial 9 months of their businesses. As I understand it, the plan was to build an organization that had value that exceeded the amount of the investment. Has it happened? Not yet...but what startup is fully recouped after 9 months? Certainly no recent startup of this size has been.

And why do any of us care? Hedge funds lose money all the time - literally on a daily basis - and no one sheds a tear.

Haymon took a shot with hedge fund money and it may not pan out...so what? At least he took a shot at trying to expand the sport, which is a hell of a lot more than any boxing promoter is doing.

[BennyBlanco]

Yea, it's funny that now people are complaining about purses. HBO's schedule has been complete **** for a while now. They've been paying their favored fighters pretty high purses for exhibitions. But that seems to be their model now. Focus on 5 or 6 big names and bargain bin hunt until you get the occasional big fight. That's gonna lead to a lot of crappie boxing. And it's not entirely the fighter's faults.

100% truth.

Look at the list of opponents for any HBO star...Kovalev, GGG, Crawford. B-level fighters, undersized fighters, has-beens and never weres.

Take Canelo, for example:

- At SHO: Josesito Lopez, Austin Trout (tough fight), Mayweather (tough fight), Angulo, Lara (tough fight). 3 legit tough fights out of 5.

- At HBO: Kirkland (only 3 legit wins in the 4 years prior to the Canelo fight), an undersized Cotto (3-2 in his prior 5 fights, with wins over journeyman Delvin Rodriguez, and a one-legged Sergio Martinez and a weight-drained Daniel Geale), and an undersized Khan (who struggled with a feather-fisted Algieri at welterweight, and now has to fight two weight classes higher)

[jqSide]

Here are reasons why a fan wouldn't prefer that all networks be successful:

Two premium networks featuring top fighters means two monthly subscription fees instead of just one.

Two premium networks featuring top fighters means many of the top fighters will never fight each other.


Aren't those reasonable reasons for a fan to prefer that most of the top fighters end up under the same umbrella?

Would be nice if there's only one tv carrier for boxing. I for one would prefer that so that we don't have to hear fighters pretending to call out other fighters just because they're from another network/promoter, thus fight won't happen, anyway.

Don't know where you've been hiding. Just because they're all under the same umbrella doesn't mean fans will begin to see top fighters fight each other. I assume you want Haymon to take over.

Takes years and years to see top fighters fight each other in the Haymon umbrella doe.

[Mitchell Kane]

Two premium networks featuring top fighters means two monthly subscription fees instead of just one.

Unless, after consolidating boxing under one umbrella, Haymon decides to develop his own subscription service similar to what the UFC and WWE have, and also decides to start doing regular PPV's, similar to what the UFC and WWE do.

In which case the price might very well go up.

[original zero]

Would be nice if there's only one tv carrier for boxing. I for one would prefer that so that we don't have to hear fighters pretending to call out other fighters just because they're from another network/promoter, thus fight won't happen, anyway.

Don't know where you've been hiding. Just because they're all under the same umbrella doesn't mean fans will begin to see top fighters fight each other. I assume you want Haymon to take over.

Takes years and years to see top fighters fight each other in the Haymon umbrella doe.

For decades I've wanted SOMEBODY to take over and start a proper league. Al Haymon is the first person to come along that cared more about the long term health of the sport than short term profit. So yes, I do want Haymon to take over as it is boxing's best chance to grow.

Yes the top fighters in Haymon's stable don't always fight each other right away, but that's because he hasn't achieved his goal yet. Right now his leverage is VOLUME. Lots of top fighters. Not the absolute biggest stars, but so many of the other stars that it's difficult to find opponents unless you're with Haymon or a Haymon promoter.

It's a slow process. If he had all of his best guys fight each other every week, before long he'd have very few stars left and it would harm his ability to eventually take everything over. That is why he has to be cautious RIGHT NOW, so he can eventually have everybody. At which point he'll be able to make the big fights whenever he wants.

But right now he has to make sure that when it comes time for the networks to bid for PBC that he has the most impressive stable of stars possible.

If you look at what has happened to TR, in order to get HBO dates they've had to keep matching up their guys, which then kills their guys off and before long you have nothing left. They were desperate though and had no choice.

Haymon has the luxury of taking his time so his stable and power can accumulate. I know some fans get frustrated and don't understand why Khan, Thurman, Porter, Broner and Garcia aren't all fighting each other every week. But right now, at this phase, Haymon needs to pile up as many world champions as possible and offer enough big fights to keep people interested without blowing through everything before he lands his big network deal he's gunning for.

But if HBO is ever out of the equation, or largely marginalized, and Haymon has his big network deal, then he can really ramp things up.

[original zero]

Unless, after consolidating boxing under one umbrella, Haymon decides to develop his own subscription service similar to what the UFC and WWE have, and also decides to start doing regular PPV's, similar to what the UFC and WWE do.

In which case the price might very well go up.

PPV is a dying model and Haymon knows it. He cashed out with Mayweather and it's time to move on. Meanwhile, HBO is going to double down on PPV because they don't have the money to buy fights. Which will marginalize HBO even more and expand Haymon's grasp.

I could see Haymon launching a subscription service someday, but I don't see PPV ever being a big part of his plan. There's a reason the Super Bowl isn't on PPV. Yes it would make a lot of money, but eventually football's role in the culture will be greatly reduced.

Haymon is clearly trying to reverse the damage PPV did to the sport for 30 years. I don't think he'd spend $400 million to try to re-establish boxing on network TV only to take it right back to PPV afterwards. Wouldn't make any sense.

[Zaroku]

Cut Kellerman's pay, pay Walters & loma, they are wort it...

[Pocket Dogs!]

Gotta get that Game of Thrones budget from somewhere.

[MrRolltide91]

Here are reasons why a fan wouldn't prefer that all networks be successful:

Two premium networks featuring top fighters means two monthly subscription fees instead of just one.

Two premium networks featuring top fighters means many of the top fighters will never fight each other.


Aren't those reasonable reasons for a fan to prefer that most of the top fighters end up under the same umbrella?

Yea but can one network afford all these fighters?


That would make fighters fight less


What if they want to fight 3 or 4 times a year?

[The Akbar One]

Walters should get a bigger purse than Lomachenko. He has name wins. Lomachenko has a name loss. Arum over pays Lomachenko. 750k to fight nobodies. Walters is right to ask for 1 mill to fight Lomachenko. It is a high risk low reward fight. He is trying to make it a high risk, decent reward fight.