New HBO Boxing Series for Up and Coming Talent

HBO2

It wasn’t too long ago that HBO co-president, Richard Plepler wanted a plan from his head of HBO Sports, Ross Greenburg, to resuscitate their lagging boxing program. In this article from Thomas Hauser at Secondsout.com (HBO and Boxing at a Crossroads), written on September 30th, 2009: "The key players in the drama that’s unfolding are HBO CEO Bill Nelson, co-president Richard Plepler, and Lombardo. Sources say that these three men have been frustrated by the absence of a coherent overall plan for boxing at HBO. Plepler (who has an extensive background in public relations) is said to have taken particular notice of the publicity that Showtime received when it announced its 168-pound championship tournament. He wonders why HBO Sports, with a far larger budget, has stirred so little media interest in its own boxing programming.

At an early stage of the budget discussions, the powers-that-be asked Greenburg for a comprehensive plan that outlines his vision for the future of boxing at HBO. In making their request, they told him that simply saying HBO intends to buy better, more competitive fights in the future doesn’t constitute a plan. That’s what HBO should have been doing all along. They want a plan."

Well, since that time, they have lost the services of pay-per-view stalwart Miguel Cotto and perhaps the most important prizefighter on the planet, Manny Pacquiao, while alienating the likes of promotional titan Top Rank, which handles these two standouts along with having the best track record in developing talent from scratch. Hauser, in subsequent articles, has outlined how Pacquiao and Bob Arum ended up across the street at Showtime.

The word is that Greenburg was proposed a new series that will air on HBO2 as a monthly series, focusing in on young, up-and-coming talent. The license fee for this program will be approximately $150,000 per show. It seems like a pretty good idea on the surface; more boxing (whether it’s on an upstart network or an established one) is never a bad thing. It provides more opportunities for fighters to work and showcase their abilities.

There is a fly in this ointment, however. Greenburg has already promised nine of the 12 dates to the trio of Golden Boy Promotions, Lou DiBella and Gary Shaw, who pitched the series to Greenburg, with a promise that with those dates, they would work with all the members of the Boxing Promoters Association. This means the network is now thinking about another output deal, which many believe helped get them into this current situation. A couple of promoters who got wind of this have already stated their objections, wondering why certain “promoters” (some being just glorified television packagers who can only do shows with the safety net of a network license fee and casino money) have guaranteed slots. They were told that the remaining three dates of this series- should it come to fruition- will be up for grabs.

Bob Arum of Top Rank, who, according to Hauser, was ordered not to be treated punitively by Greenburg going forward by the higher-ups at HBO, told Maxboxing on late Tuesday afternoon, "This is what Ross says is happening and our position is that we are not going to be treated as second-class citizens and we have no interest in taking any part in this and it’s going to be very, very hard with an entity going forward that treats you as a second-class citizen."

Arum- along with some other promoters- believes that a series like this, with all 12 dates, should be open and that whoever provides the best content should get those individual slots. Even with the promise of working with all the other promoters, those who are in charge of those slots not only have a competitive advantage but they are also in position to leverage their way into the careers of fighters by having these dates in their back pockets. Why continue to enable those who can’t cultivate and market attractions and punish those who can?

On the surface, the advent of a new series designed at showcasing new talent is a step in the right direction.

The way it might be executed is five steps backward.

There is a fly in this ointment, however. Greenburg has already promised nine of the 12 dates to the trio of Golden Boy Promotions, Lou DiBella and Gary Shaw,