Manny Pacquiao vs Shane Mosley set for Showtime/CBS

Dan Rafael
(4:12 PM)
Arum closed a deal with CBS/Showtime for the Pacquiao-Mosley fight from what two sources have told me.

@ HBO

Pacman will sing a duet with Letterman.

Huge news. Maybe HBO will figure out you can't just throw a bigger wad of cash to have a better product. Manny (promoting the fight) on CBS is HUGE for boxing.

UBeeg9cats wrote:Huge news. Maybe HBO will figure out you can't just throw a bigger wad of cash to have a better product. Manny (promoting the fight) on CBS is HUGE for boxing.

get ready for insane hype like never before

Ross Greenburg just cracked open a bottle of whiskey in his office.

Ali wrote:Ross Greenburg just cracked open a bottle of whiskey in his office.

And a window

gomez1012 wrote:

Ali wrote:Ross Greenburg just cracked open a bottle of whiskey in his office.

And a window

Grant's probably doing cartwheels as we speak.

Ali wrote:

Grant's probably doing cartwheels as we speak.

And emailing pics to Greenburg lol

gomez1012 wrote:

Ali wrote:

Grant's probably doing cartwheels as we speak.

And emailing pics to Greenburg lol

LOL

Random thoughts on this.

1) Gus Johnson will literally explode during this fight.
2) Floyd Mayweather now has another excuse to avoid fighting Pacquiao " I fight for HBO he fights for Showtime."
3) No more Bang Bang Bang Bang's for Jim Lampley
4) Will this now mean HBO has free cash to spend on interesting fights ?
5) I still think Bob Arum is a dinosaur.

Great news. Aww, poor Rossy. I feel for you man....

no, not realy

This fight just went from an outrage to much more reasonable. Show a Manny tuneup on cable or free TV?

Works for me.

marbleheadmaui wrote:This fight just went from an outrage to much more reasonable. Show a Manny tuneup on cable or free TV?

Works for me.

Waaaaay too rich for CBS I would imagine

marbleheadmaui wrote:This fight just went from an outrage to much more reasonable. Show a Manny tuneup on cable or free TV?

Works for me.

You kidding. The fight will still be on PPV still. Pac is guranteed to get paid 15 million bucks. And Mosley I think 5-6 mill.

according to el gordiflon
Sources: CBS/Showtime secures fightEmail Print Comments29 By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
Archive
In a seismic shift in the boxing business landscape, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum closed a deal with Showtime and sister network CBS to handle the pay-per-view fight between pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley -- instead of HBO -- multiple sources told ESPN.com on Friday.

Pacquiao, boxing's biggest star, defends his welterweight title against former champ Mosley on May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) and Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) have never fought with Showtime's involvement and both have fought all of their numerous significant fights on HBO or HBO PPV.


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While HBO spokesman Ray Stallone said he was unaware who was doing Pacquiao-Mosley, he acknowledged that Arum had informed the network that it would not be involved.

"It's a business decision. We move on," Stallone said.

Arum would not confirm that Showtime and CBS were handling the fight.

"Top Rank has no comment at this time," Arum told ESPN.com through spokesman Lee Samuels.

Showtime spokesman Chris DeBlasio also said the network also had no comment.

Arum, however, has been enamored with the possibility of CBS' involvement in the bout because of its massive reach.

According to sources, part of the deal will include CBS promoting the fight by running commercial spots advertising the pay-per-view during prime time programming. Also in the works is a series of preview shows that would run on CBS, or possibly Showtime, which would be similar to HBO's hit reality series "24/7," which it uses to stoke interest with weekly episodes during the month leading up to major pay-per-view fights. Pacquiao and Mosley have both had fights featured on "24/7."

Perhaps it's only a coincidence, but Arum recently struck a deal with Showtime to handle the production and distribution of the March 12 pay-per-view fight he is promoting between junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto and former titleholder Ricardo Mayorga.

Arum turned to Showtime to get involved with Cotto-Mayorga because he is angry at HBO for turning down a live network fight between Cotto, long a network staple, and 2004 U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan, especially because Cotto's fight against Yuri Foreman last summer generated the network's highest boxing rating of the year.

Arum met with HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg for dinner earlier this week to discuss HBO's possible involvement in Pacquiao-Mosley while he was in New York for Wednesday's kickoff news conference to announce Cotto-Foreman. Within the next couple of days, he closed the deal with Showtime/CBS.

At one time, Showtime was a major player in the pay-per-view boxing business. It produced and distributed several cards headlined by Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez. For many years, it held the record for the best-selling pay-per-view, nearly 2 million for the Evander Holyfield-Tyson ear bite rematch in 1997. However, Showtime has drastically cut back in recent years, doing only the occasional pay-per-view.

Despite Arum going to Showtime/CBS with Pacquiao-Mosley, he and HBO are still doing business together.

Top Rank has two "Boxing After Dark" cards booked on HBO so far this year -- the Feb. 19 show headlined by bantamweight titlist Fernando Montiel against Nonito Donaire and a March 26 show headlined by featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa against Jorge Solis.

Dan Rafael covers boxing for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter.

yes saw the article on another thread rum..interesting developement for sure.

GrantZilla wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:This fight just went from an outrage to much more reasonable. Show a Manny tuneup on cable or free TV?

Works for me.

You kidding. The fight will still be on PPV still. Pac is guranteed to get paid 15 million bucks. And Mosley I think 5-6 mill.

Oh. Then screw that. Wants the big deal?

it has to be on ppv, and I damn well don't want to pay for it. I'm tired of all of Pac's fights being on PPV. There are PPV worthy fights (Cotto) and then ones that aren't (Clottey, Cheato, Mosley). I understand the economics of Pac but I hate it. If you are going to be on PPV then how about dropping to 140 and fighting Bradley vs Alexander winner. How about fighting Berto? At least fight someone with enough speed to possibly give you trouble.

marbleheadmaui wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:This fight just went from an outrage to much more reasonable. Show a Manny tuneup on cable or free TV?

Works for me.

You kidding. The fight will still be on PPV still. Pac is guranteed to get paid 15 million bucks. And Mosley I think 5-6 mill.

Oh. Then screw that. Wants the big deal?

I think its a big deal when Boxing's most marketable star signs to fight on a network that could potentially put some promotional material on a major network. Add on to that, HBO losing out and maybe having to wise up some on matchups.

I'm just happy I won't have to hear "Max Kellerman."

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=6046384

hahahahahaha @ HBO

UBeeg9cats wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:

GrantZilla wrote:

marbleheadmaui wrote:This fight just went from an outrage to much more reasonable. Show a Manny tuneup on cable or free TV?

Works for me.

You kidding. The fight will still be on PPV still. Pac is guranteed to get paid 15 million bucks. And Mosley I think 5-6 mill.

Oh. Then screw that. Wants the big deal?

I think its a big deal when Boxing's most marketable star signs to fight on a network that could potentially put some promotional material on a major network. Add on to that, HBO losing out and maybe having to wise up some on matchups.

+1

Showtime is straight up ass raping HBO

Better original series, and better boxing, and now they got Pac.

Greenburg must be crying in his office right now. From Hauser's reports, he got his ass ripped out by HBO brass over Showtimes Super-Six series, and how was getting so much media attention.

He wont have to worry about it much longer. Ross is GGGGOOOOONNNNNEEEEE with the wind very, very, soon. He has embarrassed HBO with his incompetence once to often and too publically to be allowed to continue.