Was PBC a Complete Waste of Time?

[killakali]

Point to one prospect vs overmatched opposition that's been put on by PBC not on Showtime/CBS. Don't take the sins of Top Rank and ESPN and put that on boxing, in general.

The FOX/FS1 shows have let the general public see Deontay Wilder fight, have helped set the stage for fights like Santa Cruz-Mares 2, and have helped bring along prospects and give veteran fighters a shot to come back, in largely competitive fights, for the most part.

PBC closed out 2017 with a quadrupleheader that featured a Luis Ortiz showcase and three fights that were basically 50/50.

They're opening up 2018 with Victor Ortiz vs Devin Alexander of FOX, with a deeply competitive fight for Caleb Plant against "Porky" Medina, with Harrison-Cota being a decently competitive fight on paper under that.

Showtime went two years between PPV events, both with Floyd, and the only other PPV event that seems likely for PPV in 2018 is Wilder-Joshua, with maybe the eventual WBC/WBA/IBF welterweight champion joining those two for possible PPVs.

Maybe one PPV a year, 20 shows on Showtime, and then maybe another 40 shows on FOX/FS1 (or some other broadcaster), with the vast majority of the fights aired featuring competitive fights.

Mares wanted to go straight to the Santa Cruz rematch which is a good fight yet PBC stuck us with mismatches on fox all year. Mares-Gutierrez, Santa Cruz Avalos, Figueroa vs Guerrero (who lost to a cab driver who got KO'd in his very next fight), Marcus Browne vs Seanie Monaghan. It was all garbage on FOX. They should have just did Mares-Santa Cruz on FOX instead of the filler crap.

Now they are opening 2018 with recycled garbage like Victor Ortiz who will quit after 4-5 rounds like he always does against half way decent fighters. No one cares about Ortiz or Alexander anymore. Caleb Plant is facing Porky Medina and all 8 of his losses and was destroyed in a non competitive fight last time we saw him vs Benavidez.

Now Harrison-Cota is a decent matchup. Best on the card.

Its laughable to think FS1 will have 30 dates this year when at least the first two months of the year they have a total of zero

[IMDAZED]

its a shame they pulled Eleider Alvarez away from Gvozdyk and ruined a competitive fight. That would have been good for SHO or ESPN

Yes, it is a shame. We’re in agreement.

[N/A]

Well, Wilder and Stevenson have beat up one bum after another, leaving us all thinking, "When will they fight somebody real who we really wonder who the favorite is?"

Not their fault. Povetkin & King Kong failed their drug tests and Kovalev vacated and pulled out of the purse bid.

Wilder is fighting King Kong next and Stevenson is fighting Badou Jack next. If you don't consider them real opponents, maybe you're a hater?

[NC Uppercut]

They had a decent run, but given how inactive many of their fighters have been, while getting paid pretty high given the opposition most times, has this really done anything for boxing in the long run?

I was excited to see boxing come to more main stream TV and all, but now it seems about dead. It didn't last long, didn't give us great fights and in the end, kept a lot of guys on the shelf it seems.

Any thoughts?

waste of time, not necessarily, waste of money, YES SIR

[DuckAdonis]

I just want the fighters to be more active man...

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

It was a gamble that didn’t pay off especially business wise. Haymon and his financial backers have lost a lot of money from this venture.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

I just want the fighters to be more active man...

Exactly this, guys like Spence, Thurman, Garcia etc fighting one time a year is terrible for boxing.

[daggum]

It was a gamble that didn’t pay off especially business wise. Haymon and his financial backers have lost a lot of money from this venture.

did haymon lose money if it wasnt his? boxign was just the shell he put around getting their money into his pockets. he needed something but if he really thought giving lara millions of dollars to fight bums was the way to success well hes a moron

[Scipio2009]

Mares wanted to go straight to the Santa Cruz rematch which is a good fight yet PBC stuck us with mismatches on fox all year. Mares-Gutierrez, Santa Cruz Avalos, Figueroa vs Guerrero (who lost to a cab driver who got KO'd in his very next fight), Marcus Browne vs Seanie Monaghan. It was all garbage on FOX. They should have just did Mares-Santa Cruz on FOX instead of the filler crap.

Now they are opening 2018 with recycled garbage like Victor Ortiz who will quit after 4-5 rounds like he always does against half way decent fighters. No one cares about Ortiz or Alexander anymore. Caleb Plant is facing Porky Medina and all 8 of his losses and was destroyed in a non competitive fight last time we saw him vs Benavidez.

Now Harrison-Cota is a decent matchup. Best on the card.

Its laughable to think FS1 will have 30 dates this year when at least the first two months of the year they have a total of zero

Santa Cruz wanted a tune-up, so he got a tune-up, with Mares following suit; Santa Cruz vs Mares 2 is now basically set, with Schaefer looking for a date with Staples Center and Showtime buying the fight.

Figueroa Jr was coming off of a 20-month layoff, at a weight he was debuting at, and picked a name welterweight who'd been known for his durability (Figueroa Jr was the first fighter to stop him).

Marcus Browne vs Sean Monaghan was basically a matchup between the top two American prospects at 175lbs; if you want to call that a **** fight, that's on you.

Victor Ortiz and Deven Alexander, at this point in time, are basically in similar places in their career, with Ortiz trying to prove that there's still fight in him and Alexander trying to prove that he's finally ready to be a top-level fighter again. Anyway you slice it, the fight, on paper, is competitive (Alexander isn't going to show up and just bomb on Ortiz).

In the grand scheme of things with Rogelio 'Porky' Medina, there's a pretty good gauge of where he is (debuted at 17, loss to Gilberto Ramirez and Yori Boy Campos before his 22nd birthday, got throttled by Badou Jack, but basically hung tough with everyone that he was put in with before getting blitzed by David Benevidez); not a world champion, but basically a guy that only championship-level fighters beat. If Caleb Plant, at all of 16-0 but a fighter that looks to have the goods, can come in an utter you wreck Medina, he'd be confirmed as a fighter ready to challenge at the world level.

30 FS1 dates is my prediction for a full year of the deal; this year being what it is, that likely won't happen.

1 FOX card every quarter, with 2 FS1 cards a month (more dates for the summer).

[Scipio2009]

Basically this, they're running but the brand has kind of got lost somewhere. They have got rid of a lot of gimmicks that were meant to be trademark such as the ring walk & the big screen. That can change a lot of people's perceptions.

Haymon clearly doesn't really care much about people's perception; he took his idea, stopped the things that didn't work, and formed a package that worked for terrestrial TV.