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

[Mammoth]

Remember when Nelson was hired by HBO and then promoted. What was the thing they talked about most? How he's a former writer and hardcore fan of the sport. How he can name talk about obscure fighters and obscure fights. Those fights that hardcore boxing fans love but the general public doesn't give a **** about. The boxing writers praised the hiring of Nelson. When he was promoted there was a brain drain at HBO. Guys like Taffet who had worked there for years decided to leave. They knew Nelson's vision wasn't going to last.

No question that Nelson didn't do HBO boxing any favors. I just can't credit it all to him since by the time they pulled the plug their roster was pretty weak, Top Rank had already jumped ship to ESPN and HBO didn't really seem interested in investing in the sport.

[Mammoth]

Nelson was a big part of the reason why Arum was upset with HBO too though. I will mention that.

[Mammoth]

Hmm.... yeah Nelson probably was the a major part of why HBO got out of the boxing business but no hardcore fan was asking for Machado vs Corrales as a main event.

[The D3vil]

Bob Arum said it best

“They make their money on entertainment — on ‘Sopranos,’ on ‘Sex and the City,’ on ‘Billions,’” Arum said. “That’s their business. It’s ****** business for them to put money into boxing where the fight opens and closes the same night. If you put that money into a series and that series hits, then you can syndicate it for billions of dollars. Five years from now, everything will be streaming — entertainment, sports, everything will be streaming.”

[Jsmooth9876]

yeah horrible of the pbc to give you a FOTY candidate ppvs like spence/porter and pac/thurman! i guess every pbc ppv stinks and everyone hbo did was great!

Those were good fights and I paid for Pac thurman and chipped in for Spence vs Porter.

PPV in general is trash and 90% of the fights on PPV should be on regular showtime or FOX. If you like paying $75 every few months to watch mediocre fights, that's your prerogative, I'm not doin it.

I'll buy Wilder vs Fury because it's an intriguing matchup this time around after the first fight. Can't think of one other fight that will probably happen this year that I'd buy unless Loma vs Tank happens which we know wont.

[Citizen Koba]

Hardcores loved it. They thought the general public would care. They don't And there aren't enough of these hardcore idiots to support the sport. Self righteous fools.

I think it's more just that their model wasn't sustainable or at least just not profitable enough to make it worth their while. They'd invested heavily in building stars over years presuming a long term ROI as the dominant network only to watch them cross to other promotions at the peak of their profitability. Must have given mangement pause I imagine.

Choosing to put on fights 'for the hardcores' the Superflys, the GGGs the Kovalevs - good, exciting fighters who could be had on the cheap - were a consequence of diminishing budgets, not a cause of them.

It also can't be ignored that Haymon was also waging an effective business war on HBO, and judging him as a businessman he can only be praised for this, both by taking some of their best talent, and ensuring what were left had few compelling or lucrative match ups to make (swiping Adonis and JCC jr from under their noses as they were hoping to make starbuilding fights for Kovalev and GGG was a masterstroke by Haymon). Simply HBO had grown complacent and disillusioned with boxing already having seen years of diminishing returns and Haymon's aggressive rivalry just provided the final push.


So. What's your conclusion anyway... what recommendations are you giving to the posters here? Are you saying that if we genuinely loved the sport we should stop watching the quality matchups between little dudes and guys with funny names and get with the PBC program to save boxing?

[Motorcity Cobra]

No question that Nelson didn't do HBO boxing any favors. I just can't credit it all to him since by the time they pulled the plug their roster was pretty weak, Top Rank had already jumped ship to ESPN and HBO didn't really seem interested in investing in the sport.

Top Rank jumped ship because of him. Remember Bob saying he's not going to let Nelson control his matchmaking?

[Motorcity Cobra]

I

Choosing to put on fights 'for the hardcores' the Superflys, the GGGs the Kovalevs - good fighters who could be had on the cheap - were a consequence of diminishing budgets, not a cause of them.

It also can't be ignored that Haymon was also waging an effective business war on HBO, and judging him as a businessman he can only be praised for this, both by taking some of their best talent, and ensuring what were left had few compelling or lucrative match ups to make (swiping Adonis and JCC jr from under their noses as they were hoping to make starbuilding fights for Kovalev and GGG was a masterstroke by Haymon). Simply HBO had grown complacent and disillusioned with boxing already having seen years of diminishing returns and Haymon's aggressive rivalry just provided the final push.


So. What's your conclusion anyway... what recommendations are you giving to the posters here? Are you saying that if we genuinely loved the sport we should stop watching the quality matchups between little dudes and guys with funny names and get with the PBC program to save boxing?

This is exactly what the hardcores wanted. Haymon out of the sport, more guys whose name you can't pronounce and lower weight classes.
Go back and read articles when Haymon was let go and also when Nelson took over.

[Dean_Razorback]

dude how many threads have you started since the beginning of the year? and all this because tank look like shit vs shot to shit, chinny, one legged gamboa. is it sad to know davis won't be willing to fight loma until the ucranian becomes a fossil?

[Citizen Koba]

This is exactly what the hardcores wanted. Haymon out of the sport, more guys whose name you can't pronounce and lower weight classes.
Go back and read articles when Haymon was let go and also when Nelson took over.

Massively generalising, man. There's plenty of guys on here who just want the best fights whereever the dudes come from and whatever weights they're fighting at and don't much care what promotion brings it to 'em.

Obviously there's also been a lot of resistance and hate pushed Haymons and PBCs way - hell, I was unhappy with 'em myself early days when it looked like they Al was doing everything in his power to stop some of my favourite fighters getting the best opportunitiies.

Again though, I gotta ask what your point is... seems to me you're trying to say folk who want to watch the best fights irrespective of nationality or weight are somehow at fault here or being disloyal to the sport or something... care to clarify that a little?