HBO did everything the hardcore boxing fan wanted. Look at what happened

[Motorcity Cobra]

Not sure of any of the specifics.

Is it possible that they did good business for years before getting new ownership and moving into other things?

They were the gold standard for a sports broadcast though.

They were the gold standard until they hired Peter Nelson, who himself was a writer and hardcore fan of the sport. He implemented the strategy of the hardcore fans and it failed.

[Mammoth]

i absolutely love what ward did with the brand fight...he didnt need that for anything....he had been out of the game and missed some paydays and they knew hbo was trying to make sure he stayed away from golovkin

That was Ward's second fight at 175 lbs. Ward was smart, before rushing himself to fight the top fighters at a new weight, he made sure he was acclimated first.

[KillaMane26]

And the hardcores ate it up!!! They loved when HBO would **** on Canelo over GGG. hardcore fans are idiots and if you do what they want to do you'll go out of business just like HBO. Hardcores cheered when HBO severed ties when Haymon. The guy who controlled most of the top names in the sport. Dumb asses

Lmao right

[ShaneMosleySr]

What you’re saying isn’t true at all.

What happened was DAZN came along and decided to pay fighters huge amounts, more money than they’ve ever made before. ESPN and Fox decided they were going to keep up.

HBO said no thanks because it didn’t make financial sense for them.

HBO has the most of the most successful PPVs, regularly outperformed Showtime’s rating and has the top stars in the sport up until the very end.

But congratulations on being completely full of $h!t again.

[KillaMane26]

they let golovkin fight patsies and made ward move up....even paid ward like 1.5 for a sparring session with brand just to get him away to fight kovalev...meanwhile they let golovkin fight dom wade and kell brook(after crapping on canelo for khan)...

i absolutely love what ward did with the brand fight...he didnt need that for anything....he had been out of the game and missed some paydays and they knew hbo was trying to make sure he stayed away from golovkin so he was like "ok u know what im gonna tax you"....they paid ward for a sparring sesh on tv just to protect golovkin/canelo...i guess it was a smart move?! eh

U said so much ****** biased shyt.
Ward was out and took tune-ups b4 taking on "The Krusher" at higher weight class.

Now if he was fighting the version Canelo fought then what you said would make sense....but it doesn't mate

[AKAcronym]

"Made Ward move up." Is that the narrative we're spinning now?

[The Big Dunn]

I think HBO caused A major problem with the exclusive network deals.

Once they started doing that they changed the money structure in the sport from the beat fights earning the most money to the guys that had the highest ratings getting paid to “perform”.

They could fight anyone, the announcers would talk the opponent up and steer the viewer in the direction of believing the hbo signed guy was winning even though what you saw told a completely different story.

Then they started shipping in foreign competition and signing them to deals knowing that they would work for less. All the time setting them up to lose to the hbo guy with the bigger deal.

This was done across the board. Boxers I am big fans of, like Floyd, benefitted from this as well as guys I didn’t necessarily like.

I only wish exclusive deals went away when hbo left the sport.

[Curt Henning]

U said so much ****** biased shyt.
Ward was out and took tune-ups b4 taking on "The Krusher" at higher weight class.

Now if he was fighting the version Canelo fought then what you said would make sense....but it doesn't mate

what exactly doesnt make sense? im missing your point

[Curt Henning]

"Made Ward move up." Is that the narrative we're spinning now?

its a narrative that was spun when it happened

when ward first game back and fought smith he stayed at 171 to keep himself between 175 and 168....he then approached golovkin about a fight....hbo wanted him to move right on and forget about golovkin...and golovkin turned the fight down right away....they wanted their canelo/golovkin and wanted ward to stop talking about golovkin

ward def needed a barrera tuneup for kovalev....but he didnt need brand....brand was a sparring sesh that was televised...and ward made hbo pay him for it because he knew he could...u honestly think hbo wanted to pay for, and televise, ward/brand?

[Curt Henning]

That was Ward's second fight at 175 lbs. Ward was smart, before rushing himself to fight the top fighters at a new weight, he made sure he was acclimated first.

yeah....but i mean....honestly...i dont think the brand fight helped ward at all...i dont think he needed it....

i know it wont make sense to everyone...but my honest opinion is he knew hbo desperately wanted him vs kovalev...and he could get them to do something for him to get it....ward had been sidelined and missed some paydays....imo he was like "yeah youre gonna pay me for another fight cause i want one".....

do you really think hbo wanted to pay for, or televise, ward vs brand? do you really think ward really needed that fight? he could have gotten those rounds in the gym

barrera? ok yeah that fight made sense and helped him...got him acclimated....but the brand fight was nothing but a free payday for ward imo

i also remember hearing something along the lines of hbo only willing to allocate a certain amount of money for the "2nd tuneup" and ward took the guy who would take the least amount of money so he could take the rest of it for himself....so he took the cheapest guy....i just dont think he really needed the fight but wanted a free payday