Top Rank series on ESPN to feature: Pac/Horn, Loma/Salido 2, Crawford/Indongo

[Eff Pandas]

There's a guy who sells DVDs of old fights, by fighter and he's quite busy. He used to sell on Amazon but went to his own site. Here's his Floyd listing which is actually a really good deal.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00GEFQCAW

Bob's gonna be suing that cat soon for selling old TR Floyd fights probably lol. Copyright infringement is a mfer.

But yea I have no doubt there is money to be made there I just don't know that there's THAT much money to be made there.

Like I said just look at this site. Look at the history section lol. There's legit like 7 guys there. They are probably the 7 smartest guys about boxing on the site granted, but they are only 7 of them. Then look at this site on a regular day. Then look at how big this site gets when there is a big fight & its on live right now. The money is in live boxing not dead guys boxing. Thats what people wanna see.

So yea grab the money for dead guys boxing fo sho, but I don't believe thats where a lot of money is at for this concept TR is working with whatever the full perimeters actually are of this concept.

[Reloaded]

The right guy emerged the victor of this rivalry over their 2 fights.

Kov looked weirdly bad right from about minute 2 of the fight. Sometimes you know very early on that a fighter is not going to win. I know it was close on the cards but Ward seemed in control of the fight from the off. Kov looked sluggish and slow.

I'm a big fan of both guys but can recognise both fighters flaws - Kov's stubborn-headedness and refusal to work properly with trainers - Abel/JDJ - means he's not getting the most of his talent. He's also not as mentally tough as Ward. When Ward was hurt in that first fight, he dug in. Last night, Kov wilted. He was wilting before the last round and low blows. Kov's stamina is also very suspect. He's tried both over-training and resting for both fights and still come up short.

Ward - an incredible will to win means he will always find a way to do so, like Mayweather. But it also means he will do anything to win - headbutts, clinching, low blows. It can't be a coincidence that the same guy is always involved in these things. Ward is my dude but I'm not gonna lie about these things.

He was low-blowing in the first fight too - in a roundtable interview Kov did with journalists before the fight, he said Ward getting low blowing him. I do believe the low blows were deliberate and part of a strategy because seriously, is an American ref really going to take a point away from Andre Ward? No.

But Ward was sharper and better last night. The Kov guys are clinging to the low-blows to discredit the win to make the defeat sting less. But Ward was going to win last night, no matter what. No-one is going to tell me otherwise.

Overall, these two fights whilst never truly barnburners, added a lot to the boxing landscape. This is what happens when great fighters fight each other. So many swing rounds, so many subtle things going on, so many times they cancelled each other out. But Ward, overall, had that small edge. The guy is a born winner.

Time to move on for both guys.

Sorry about the long post, I've just been thinking about it a lot

What did you think of the fight?

Its his style that makes him get into low areas, that's why it happens, Andre is not eyeing and trying to hit low, why it happens is purely mechanical in origin and positional of both guys when it happens.

A guy will hit low on purpose in anger or for survival, not when he has his man reeling from a massive right hand and he has KO in sight.

Come on man have a think why this kind a stuff happens, same with Porter and his head, its style clashing with the opponents style, putting both guys out of position and into areas where head butts and low blows happen.

The intentional foul is easy to see so is the unintentional.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Bob's gonna be suing that cat soon for selling old TR Floyd fights probably lol. Copyright infringement is a mfer.

But yea I have no doubt there is money to be made there I just don't know that there's THAT much money to be made there.

Like I said just look at this site. Look at the history section lol. There's legit like 7 guys there. They are probably the 7 smartest guys about boxing on the site granted, but they are only 7 of them. Then look at this site on a regular day. Then look at how big this site gets when there is a big fight & its on live right now. The money is in live boxing not dead guys boxing. Thats what people wanna see.

So yea grab the money for dead guys boxing fo sho, but I don't believe thats where a lot of money is at for this concept TR is working with whatever the full perimeters actually are of this concept.

I just think most people don't discuss boxing history, fair enough. But given a chance to watch any fight back in time, ideally in restored quality? I think you'd start seeing just how alive boxing still is. It's just not talked about as much as it used to, and a large part of that is the demise of television from a traditional stance. I haven't paid for cable TV in 13 years and only have Showtime's subscription. TV is terrible, commercials are horrible. Fix that and you might strike gold.

Especially if it allows you to build your own playlist of fights. I'd kill to make a "Four Kings" playlist of just the four of them fighting each other sequenced just like the book.

[Mitchell Kane]

I just think most people don't discuss boxing history, fair enough. But given a chance to watch any fight back in time, ideally in restored quality? I think you'd start seeing just how alive boxing still is. It's just not talked about as much as it used to, and a large part of that is the demise of television from a traditional stance. I haven't paid for cable TV in 13 years and only have Showtime's subscription. TV is terrible, commercials are horrible. Fix that and you might strike gold.

Especially if it allows you to build your own playlist of fights. I'd kill to make a "Four Kings" playlist of just the four of them fighting each other sequenced just like the book.

Yeah, and it doesn't necessarily just have to be "old" fights.

If they put a bunch of Erik Morales fights on there I'd probably watch every one in chronological order.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with all this...I'm eager to learn more details.

[original zero]

not a time buy. it's a barter. ESPN not paying a license fee, but not being paid for the time either.

bob will lose money on the ESPN fights, but he got a hedge fund to invest. the idea is that the ESPN shows will promote the OTT service and eventually the ESPN fights will have fewer big names and you'll need to subscribe to the top rank network to see the big stars.

[BWC]

Aren't the fighters gonna have a problem with that? I would think they would & probably should if they are getting bigger money with HBO or could get bigger money with another network.

I'm thinking there gots to be more going on here & mainly curious what it is at this point.



What..lose money for a couple years?

I'm not sure Fight Pass as been proven to be profitable or not, but they do work with other MMA leagues & other combat sports to provide more content to combat sports fans. If this is a TR ******ing network & they're showing TR fights on ESPN who's paying for the app? Just cats who don't got ESPN I'd assume. Is there THAT much appeal in TR's roster to pay $7.99/mo or whatever? Or will they work with others?

I gotta figure he's got some better end game here then just doing a boxing version of Fight Pass or WWE Network. Or he'll be busto whenever the investor gets tired of spending money.

My assumption is still that there is some proof of concept here that boxing to a wider audience can be a money maker & that Arum either wants to control a bigger piece of the boxing world off of his own content providing app or he's looking to parlay the success of this plan into a deal with the next generation's go to source of watching sports, the Amazon's, the Hulu's, the whoever else becomes a player there. Or maybe ESPN is looking to become a bigger player there. I know they made major changes recently & there future is dependent on them changing with the times now.

Whatever is happening its bigger then just some sh^tty app & Manny & Crawford on ESPN.

There has to be a TV deal in there somewhere. Fight Pass is a nothing burger. UFC frankly is banking on a huge TV reup with Fox bigger than the current one. Without that they may be in serious trouble.

Have to think this basically Arums shot at PBC. The media will hype it up a big game changer, and PBC and this TR deal certainly are if they can land deals. I think they could both make it.

[Eff Pandas]

I just think most people don't discuss boxing history, fair enough. But given a chance to watch any fight back in time, ideally in restored quality? I think you'd start seeing just how alive boxing still is. It's just not talked about as much as it used to, and a large part of that is the demise of television from a traditional stance. I haven't paid for cable TV in 13 years and only have Showtime's subscription. TV is terrible, commercials are horrible. Fix that and you might strike gold.

Especially if it allows you to build your own playlist of fights. I'd kill to make a "Four Kings" playlist of just the four of them fighting each other sequenced just like the book.

Thats great for the boxing nerds like the guys who hang here on a regular basis like you & I, but thats a highly niche market. Boxing is already a super niche sport outside of the big HBO, Showtime & PPV fights largely. I don't think most sports fans enjoy watching non-live sports & I don't think boxing is any different in that regard.

It'll be a cool additional feature to whatever this whole thing is a play towards, but I'd bet its a tiny amount of this app/website's paid subscribers that are paying whatever a month to primarily enjoy the 4,000 hours of old fights vs the, lets say, 20hrs of live fights per month.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Thats great for the boxing nerds like the guys who hang here on a regular basis like you & I, but thats a highly niche market. Boxing is already a super niche sport outside of the big HBO, Showtime & PPV fights largely. I don't think most sports fans enjoy watching non-live sports & I don't think boxing is any different in that regard.

It'll be a cool additional feature to whatever this whole thing is a play towards, but I'd bet its a tiny amount of this app/website's paid subscribers that are paying whatever a month to primarily enjoy the 4,000 hours of old fights vs the, lets say, 20hrs of live fights per month.

Depends on how it's marketed. If all you do is show Manny, no it won't sell. But if you show Ali, Frazier, Robinson, Hearns, Hagler, Leonard, Trinidad, etc. and find a guy with a voice like Don Lafontaine (RIP) and do it right....




It'll make more money than Floyd does. And that's good for business.

[Eff Pandas]

There has to be a TV deal in there somewhere. Fight Pass is a nothing burger. UFC frankly is banking on a huge TV reup with Fox bigger than the current one. Without that they may be in serious trouble.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that. The UFC has been pretty inventive with Fight Pass & there relationships with other up & coming leagues & other combat sports (I won't be surprised if they show boxing on there one day & they are already talking to RJJ about his MMA outfit & it wouldn't shock me if they've spoken about his boxing promotion) that are shown there.

Granted its not a huge piece of the pie yet I'd imagine, but its something thats grinding along finding its audience & purpose for when EVERYONE is ******ing content vs watching on broadcast TV. ******ing is a superior form of viewing live events that hasn't even begin to take over the marketplace yet.

I just don't got much confidence such a standalone product, TR fights & old fights, can grab enough subscribers to make it a profitable venture unless there is more going on there which I suspect there is.

Have to think this basically Arums shot at PBC. The media will hype it up a big game changer, and PBC and this TR deal certainly are if they can land deals. I think they could both make it.

Yea its for sure Arum's attempt at PBC more or less. And its less of a game changer than I had hoped for I'll say that much, but then again as I've mentioned numerous times already idk that we know the full concept or have much of a theory on the real intention & long game with this concept so its too early to say with much confidence what they are doing will succeed or fail.

I just know there has gotta be more to it than it sounds like cuz you'd only need a loan, not an investor, if its only about getting an app off the ground.

[Pigeons]

Bob's gonna be suing that cat soon for selling old TR Floyd fights probably lol. Copyright infringement is a mfer.

But yea I have no doubt there is money to be made there I just don't know that there's THAT much money to be made there.

Like I said just look at this site. Look at the history section lol. There's legit like 7 guys there. They are probably the 7 smartest guys about boxing on the site granted, but they are only 7 of them. Then look at this site on a regular day. Then look at how big this site gets when there is a big fight & its on live right now. The money is in live boxing not dead guys boxing. Thats what people wanna see.

So yea grab the money for dead guys boxing fo sho, but I don't believe thats where a lot of money is at for this concept TR is working with whatever the full perimeters actually are of this concept.

I have Mike Tyson's career set on DVD and ill grab Floyd's too once hes actually finished.