Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao
After 45 years and over 1,000 fights, HBO will stop broadcasting boxing after 2018 according to the New York Times. Peter Nelson, the Executive V.P. of HBO Sports made the announcement last week at a press conference. With declining ratings with boxing, HBO finds it can get higher ratings with network dramas like Game of Thrones. Mr. Nelson said, "Because of our association with boxing, people forget we're not a sports network.We're a storytelling platform." This comes as a surprise after four decades of HBO broadcasting boxing.
The network began broadcasting boxing in 1973 when George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier to become the heavyweight champion of the world. Over the next four decades HBO would become the premier destination for boxing featuring some of the biggest stars in the sport including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao.
Over the last decade Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao were the biggest stars in boxing and on HBO. In 2013, Maywweather left HBO for a more lucrative deal with Showtime. In 2016, HBO declined to carry Manny Pacquiao's fight against Jessie Vargas, Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter and the owner of Top Rank promotions began to look for another network. In 2017, Arum and ESPN reached a very lucrative agreement with Manny Pacquiao as its top star.
After Mayweather's departure, HBO began to feature new stars including Canelo Alvarez, Gennady "GGG" Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev, and Andre Ward. Despite the great skills of all of these fighters, HBO never reached the same heights in the mainstream media as when they had Mayweather. Also competition from the UFC with stars like Conor McGregor have hurt the boxing industry.
Boxing will survive. ESPN and Top Rank have a lucrative deal and Showtime who produced 22 fights in 2018 plans to do more in 2019. With an emerging star like Deontay Wilder the future looks bright for Showtime. Fox Sports has also signed a deal with Al Haymon for Premier Boxing Championships so boxing will be available to the masses on broadcast and cable TV.
In October, HBO will broadcast its last fight, a middleweight bout between Daniel Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko. That fight will close the book on over four decades of boxing. The network will still broadcast boxing related programming as they plan to air a two part documentary on Muhammad Ali. The sport needs someone like Muhammad Ali right now but I don't know how long it will be until we get one.
Class Dismissed,
THE PROFESSOR
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