Comments Thread For: ESPN's Loma-Rigo Drew 1.73M Viewers; No. 2 on Cable Since 2012

[Scipio2009]

I will add that they need to do something about the commentators. Casual fans don't know much about the guys in the ring or boxing. It would be wise if the telecasters didn't spend 40% of the match degrading what's happening in the ring.

Loma was putting on a good show, he didn't need the excuse making from Kriegel and Tessitore. Bradley was smart. He tried to focus on highlighting how easy it was coming for Loma, instead of whining about holding and ducking.

All that does is put casuals on notice about something they could complain about. It's not smart broadcasting.

You call what you see; even if casual fans don't know much about what's going on, they seem to have a good sense of spotting when they're being shilled to. And, the moment that sets in, it's basically a wrap for that broadcaster.

In a sense, that's kind of why Teddy Atlas has the standing that he does; for basically a decade, Atlas was honest with the fans, calling a spade a spade, keeping the banter fun, but never shilling to the people. So, when the day came that Teddy Atlas ended up getting big fights to call (LSC-Mares, Garcia-Malignaggi, Thurman-Collazo, Crawford-Indongo, etc), he had the buy-in from the audience to let the casual fan know why to pay attention and talk them through the fight.

Lomachenko-Rigondeaux was a great matchup; no one is going to deny that. Still it ended up being a **** fight.

Tim Bradley is basically going to be a Top Rank lifer at this point; Arum did right by him, for the most part, Lomachenko was the Top Rank fighter, so you already know what it is.

Joe Tessitore is 15 years into his run at ESPN; a distinctive voice with gravitas across sports for ABC/ESPN. He literally harms himself if he were to shill to the casual fan.

If the expectation was that the Top Rank Boxing shows would simply get polish to move the fans, you'd have Tim Bradley on, pair him with the team that calls the Top Rank TV fights, and leave ESPN's team out of it.

[cali37]

Pretty good.

Hopefully Rigo not engaging will not deter fans from watching Loma in the future.

Loma probably fighting in March so hopefully a guy who is willing to throw.

I watched the fight in a bar with some friends who are casual boxing fans. They definitely will be watching Loma again. The only complaint they had was the holding Rigo was doing, but they were very impressed with Loma.

[Butch.McRae]

You call what you see; even if casual fans don't know much about what's going on, they seem to have a good sense of spotting when they're being shilled to. And, the moment that sets in, it's basically a wrap for that broadcaster.

In a sense, that's kind of why Teddy Atlas has the standing that he does; for basically a decade, Atlas was honest with the fans, calling a spade a spade, keeping the banter fun, but never shilling to the people. So, when the day came that Teddy Atlas ended up getting big fights to call (LSC-Mares, Garcia-Malignaggi, Thurman-Collazo, Crawford-Indongo, etc), he had the buy-in from the audience to let the casual fan know why to pay attention and talk them through the fight.

Lomachenko-Rigondeaux was a great matchup; no one is going to deny that. Still it ended up being a **** fight.

Tim Bradley is basically going to be a Top Rank lifer at this point; Arum did right by him, for the most part, Lomachenko was the Top Rank fighter, so you already know what it is.

Joe Tessitore is 15 years into his run at ESPN; a distinctive voice with gravitas across sports for ABC/ESPN. He literally harms himself if he were to shill to the casual fan.

If the expectation was that the Top Rank Boxing shows would simply get polish to move the fans, you'd have Tim Bradley on, pair him with the team that calls the Top Rank TV fights, and leave ESPN's team out of it.

The logic of your post works but it's not supported by reality. A guy like Tessitore doesn't have "gravitas" at all. He's completely biased and ridiculous when covering college football. Specifically, Alabama and the SEC.

Casuals don't care about that stuff. It's not that deep to them. Just look at UFC events for example. In this sport that stuff isn't helpful. You're rarely getting people to tune in. Don't **** on the event when they do.

Sky TV in the UK is a good example of how to cover a fight and talk around the events deficiencies. I always enjoy their coverage. I found the complaining distracting and unhelpful. From what's been spread around here and in the UK press, they've done a great job pulling in casuals. The coverage probably has a lot to do with that.

[The Big Dunn]

ESPN really promoted this card well. They appear to be positioning Loma as the "face" of the sport. Glad to see it did such great numbers.

[OgTripleOg]

A lot of the viewers were from the heisman trophy award which a lot of people tuned into right before the fight

[Tha_Greatest]

Arum has Top Rank Boxing on ESPN poppin' off real nice! PBC is killing **** on Showtime! Where's GBP? Where's HBO?

pbc is dead, itdied, lol, its dead, al haymon is in the dirt, lol he died, lol, nyahahaha

[Tha_Greatest]

Unfortunately it got 1.7 mil views. The "fight" was garbage and will hurt boxing's fan base no doubt about it. Klit/Fury seems to have permanently neutered HBO boxing. Garbage PBC fights on broadcast TV have apparently killed PBC. Wilder's cherry picking has decreased his fan base from 1.2m to 800k over 3 years. Loma and Rigo are boy sized jokes it was like watching a very shi*ty youth amateur sparring session.

i agree, pbc is dead, lolit is dead, errol spence , santa cruz , martirosyan , etc will probably never fight again, lol, at most once every 3 years

[chrisJS]

Damn those good numbers sure to upset a few around here.

[Bronx2245]

pbc is dead, itdied, lol, its dead, al haymon is in the dirt, lol he died, lol, nyahahaha

PBC is dead? Since when? 126, 147, 154, 175. Would these divisions exist without PBC? What's the fight EVERYONE wants to see? I believe Wilder is PBC!

[Tha_Greatest]

PBC is dead? Since when? 126, 147, 154, 175. Would these divisions exist without PBC? What's the fight EVERYONE wants to see? I believe Wilder is PBC!

pbc is dead man, lol, i went downstares last saturday and the saturdays before to watch pbc fights on nbc, spike , bounce, espn and they were off air, lol, then i remembered al haymon has no money and showtime owns pbc 's boxers, lol, their is no use for pbc anymore because al haymons dumbazz isnt needed by showtime anymore, lol, pbc got replaced by showtime and espn and top rank outranked pbc on cable non premium, lol, pbc is dead lil homie, lol