HBO and Greenberg

Steve Kim of maxboxing.com (a pretty decent boxing site that has been around 10 years) was on ESPN's heavy hitting podcast with Joe Tessitore. He said one thing that reinforced alot of the statements by Grantzill about Greenberg at HBO.

Kim said Greenberg made a comment after the Bradley vs. Alexander fight that he didn't expect a dud like that.

Kim said he told Greenberg he wasn't shocked and kind of expected that kind of fight.

Kim was making the point that styles make fights and yes Alexander vs Bradley had a decent likelihood of ending up a rather ugly affair in his mind.

Greenberg just saw 2 of the top 3 guys at 140 and had no concept of how their fighting styles might or might not mesh. Greenberg didn't even think about how those two together might look in the ring.

I'm not saying that Bradley vs Alexander was a bad fight to make. It wasn't.

It just seems to illustrate that Greenberg doesn't operate from the same base of knowledge that a boxing guy does. While Kim who is just a writer knew that fight could very easily end up ugly, Greenberg didn't have the base of knowledge to really understand that likelihood.

greenberg is just assuming that boxing will just run itself as long as he approves the fights. thats why he is an idiot.

Yeah, he's a TV programmer that doesn't know shit about boxing.

He won the Sam Taub award in 1990. He's been at this for a long time and he's not just a sports guy that doesn't know anything about boxing. He a guy that's gotten lazy and has begun to rely on others who are less knowledgeable than he is. What he's doing in inexcusable and imo much worse than just being some sports guy that doesn't know boxing.

hardcorebee24 wrote:He won the Sam Taub award in 1990. He's been at this for a long time and he's not just a sports guy that doesn't know anything about boxing. He a guy that's gotten lazy and has begun to rely on others who are less knowledgeable than he is. What he's doing in inexcusable and imo much worse than just being some sports guy that doesn't know boxing.

He's a TV programmer. He's good at creating documentaries, sport show formats, ect, but he doesn't know shit about the workings of boxing or business for that. He never has.

How else can you explain out-bidding yourself for fights? HBO pays almost four times more than the highest Showtime pays out. And Showtime is realy their only rival.

He doesn't know shit about boxing, because look at over priced, shit match-ups he's approved. And then look at the great fights he didn't approve and then went to Showtime.

Hopkins vs Pascal is just a recent examle. HBO rejected it, went to Showtime and was a good fight, now HBO bought the rematch, and is paying more for that fight then Showtime spends for almost entire season of Showbox fights.

I think its a case of complacency and not that he doesn't know anything. Due dilligence would suit him well. He's lost touch because of prior success. Again he won the Taub award 21 years ago and has held his position for quite some time.

hardcorebee24 wrote:I think its a case of complacency and not that he doesn't know anything. Due dilligence would suit him well. He's lost touch because of prior success. Again he won the Taub award 21 years ago and has held his position for quite some time.

Didn't he win that award because one his programs? Like I said, he's a good TV programmer. He has kept his spot because of that.

I just do not see how you could know boxing, and then become this utterly clueless about the sport. Do you think Greenberg ever studies up on the goings on of boxing, watches small boxing shows to see possible up and comers. . Shit, he asked me if I even knew who did the Ring Rankings for christ sake.

Maybe it is complancey. No matter, HBO Sports will never improve as long as he's still calling the shots. HBO Sports needs a Ken Hershman.