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****LENGTHY READ, DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE TIME OR ARE ILLITERATE (WHICH IS 85% OF THIS FORUM)****
I won’t lie, the news this week of HBO Boxing finally going under left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was inevitable really, given the decline in quality and commitment but I kept hoping that something or anything would save it. Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
Now I don’t know the specifics about HBO over in America. I’m not involved in these pathetic HBO V SHO V ESPN V DAZN network wars and nor do I care about the cocksucking fanboys who cry about how Fighter X caused Network X to cancel or how Promoter/Manager X caused X to happen. I’ll leave that for the 2 dozen lobotomized motherfuckers to argue over, the kind of users who routinely shit in their hands and think it’s Playdoh.
But besides that, as a UK fan who streamed HBO hardcore, I am going to miss it tremendously. It was HBO which made me into a hardcore boxing fan. I never had Sky so all my fights were watched via streaming. In fact, before I even knew about Sky PPV and Boxnation, I came across HBO and was hooked onto it.
I’ll miss HBO’s elite production. I’ll miss their epic original programming to accompany the fights – Legendary Nights, Face Off with Max, 24/7. Hell, who can ever forget the Mayweather Hatton 24/7? I missed Manny Steward and Larry Merchant and I’ll miss hearing Max, Jim, Harold, Roy etc. Yeah they were pretty much senile, their quality had deteriorated and in some cases, blind as to what they were watching (looking at you Harold) but there was a charm about them, a charm that other commentators don’t seem to have.
But more than that, I’ll miss the memories because you see, I would stay up every week until 7 AM to watch fights (and still do) and with the HBO fights, there were indelible memories attached to them. Watching Bradley V Provodnikov transition from mismatch to a FOTY candidate, screaming the house down at 5 45 AM when Marquez knocked Pacquiao out, cussing violently at Martinez to get up V Chavez Jr, ordering Domino’s at 2 30 AM with the lads on the night of Matthysse V Provodnikov, arguing which was the better fight between Morales V Maidana and Berto V Ortiz, Manny Steward’s OH MA GOD, the endless MayPac debates, stunned when P Will got KO’d, there’s so many and these fights are just recent ones.
I am now hoping SHOWTIME can take over well. I’m openly rooting for them to do well alongside DAZN and Top Rank on ESPN. My only fear is exclusivity might give rise to mismatches happening due to guaranteed deals. I hope not, I hope the sport continues to thrive as it did last year and has this year. SHOWTIME has provided indelible moments too but this is not about SHOWTIME but about HBO.
45 years, 1111 fights later and the bell has rung. I’ll miss it more than I can properly and linguistically articulate. Thanks for the memories HBO Boxing, it was a legendary and unparalleled run.
I won’t lie, the news this week of HBO Boxing finally going under left a bitter taste in my mouth. It was inevitable really, given the decline in quality and commitment but I kept hoping that something or anything would save it. Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
Now I don’t know the specifics about HBO over in America. I’m not involved in these pathetic HBO V SHO V ESPN V DAZN network wars and nor do I care about the cocksucking fanboys who cry about how Fighter X caused Network X to cancel or how Promoter/Manager X caused X to happen. I’ll leave that for the 2 dozen lobotomized motherfuckers to argue over, the kind of users who routinely shit in their hands and think it’s Playdoh.
But besides that, as a UK fan who streamed HBO hardcore, I am going to miss it tremendously. It was HBO which made me into a hardcore boxing fan. I never had Sky so all my fights were watched via streaming. In fact, before I even knew about Sky PPV and Boxnation, I came across HBO and was hooked onto it.
I’ll miss HBO’s elite production. I’ll miss their epic original programming to accompany the fights – Legendary Nights, Face Off with Max, 24/7. Hell, who can ever forget the Mayweather Hatton 24/7? I missed Manny Steward and Larry Merchant and I’ll miss hearing Max, Jim, Harold, Roy etc. Yeah they were pretty much senile, their quality had deteriorated and in some cases, blind as to what they were watching (looking at you Harold) but there was a charm about them, a charm that other commentators don’t seem to have.
But more than that, I’ll miss the memories because you see, I would stay up every week until 7 AM to watch fights (and still do) and with the HBO fights, there were indelible memories attached to them. Watching Bradley V Provodnikov transition from mismatch to a FOTY candidate, screaming the house down at 5 45 AM when Marquez knocked Pacquiao out, cussing violently at Martinez to get up V Chavez Jr, ordering Domino’s at 2 30 AM with the lads on the night of Matthysse V Provodnikov, arguing which was the better fight between Morales V Maidana and Berto V Ortiz, Manny Steward’s OH MA GOD, the endless MayPac debates, stunned when P Will got KO’d, there’s so many and these fights are just recent ones.
I am now hoping SHOWTIME can take over well. I’m openly rooting for them to do well alongside DAZN and Top Rank on ESPN. My only fear is exclusivity might give rise to mismatches happening due to guaranteed deals. I hope not, I hope the sport continues to thrive as it did last year and has this year. SHOWTIME has provided indelible moments too but this is not about SHOWTIME but about HBO.
45 years, 1111 fights later and the bell has rung. I’ll miss it more than I can properly and linguistically articulate. Thanks for the memories HBO Boxing, it was a legendary and unparalleled run.
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