'If Showtime loses Wilder-Ortiz goes to Fox, PBC loses a network'

[Cobracmndr6193]

PLEASE DON'T LEAVE BOXING SHOWTIME!!!!!!!!!!! ShoBox is my favorite series in the sport. I never miss a Showtime card!

[champion4ever]

The only problem I have with Fox is that they don't rebroadcast their pay per view fights on linear television like Showtime does. In addition, they live stream all of their pay per view fights over the internet on their Fox Now application where you can't DVR them either.

[PotentialToast]

This is DAZN. Showtime made a last stand with Wilder because they thought it would be Brazeale, AJ, AJ. Now they are leaking money. ESPN gambled with Fury but made a mistake paying Fury what they did so they need Fury v Wilder (and I would love to see it). AJ if he comes past Ruiz has Pulev (easy fight excused by not wanting to lose a belt) and Usyk in a Wembly monster (Usyk is easier than Fury for AJ, if it is Wilder it would be in US but he needs to fight at home to keep his UK fans happy). Wilder is saddled with Ortiz (Haymon promise to Ortiz), no Fury because of the cut before Masterchef (I'm not kidding) Whyte lays him flat as his mandatory. The time was April 2018 and Wilder missed the boat.

[daggum]

does showtime still show boxing?

[MPDKSAB]

I called this shìt when it was 1st announced months ago. PBC has a big stable but not enough to satisfy both platforms with marquee fights.

[Motorcity Cobra]

Why is everyone saying Showtime is losing boxing when whomever said this didn't say Showtime is leaving boxing? They simply said PBC will lose a network. There are other promoters out there.

[paulf]

That's ShoBox. They haven't had a non-Haymon affiliated Showtime Championship Boxing or PPV card in at least half a decade.

You know, I started to respond with the argument along the lines of "TR is at ESPN, GBP and Matchroom USA are at DAZN, with PBC at Fox exclusively Showtime has no access to any major fighters."

... but you know what? That could be good.

Showtime Boxing hit its golden age under Ken Hershman by matching little-known guys in great fights. And those fighters came from the small players like Shaw, Dibella, Goosen, Duva, Thompson Boxing, etc. Bantamweight tourney. Super Six. Donaire's rise. Cruiserweights. Fightcamp 360.

I don't know if Showtime/Espinoza have any interest in getting back to that and building guys from the ground up again, but it's either that or get out of the game if Haymon takes his business elsewhere.

[GhostofDempsey]

Showtime has been mailing it in lately. If I never have to watch another Showtime mismatch again I'm ok with that.

[2ndroundko]

This is what Haymon does, though. He goes to a network, bleeds it dry, then moves to a competitor and convinces them that they need him. Rinse and repeat. I don’t have a problem with it. Just hope we keep getting new players in the game like Fox and others that want to show boxing.

name an example of this

[sparkz2112]

HBO. He was the one that started inflating purses with Berto and Dawson getting a lot of money for tune ups. HBO didn’t want to keep throwing money at Haymon so he went to SHO.

Showtime promises a boat load of money for Haymon and his fighters. The fight cards start thinning out and rumors of Showtime running low on money surfaced in 2018. Fox suddenly appears out of nowhere to air PBC fights after rumors of Showtime running low on money come up. Coincidence?