HBO Not Interested in Vitali-Haye, Not High on Heavies

GrantZilla wrote:EPIX plans to televise a heavyweight title fight apiece on three successive Saturdays, beginning Feb. 18.

New HBO Sports president Ken Hershman cannot envision his network broadcasting a single heavyweight championship match in the foreseeable future.

When asked if there’s a heavyweight fight he could see purchasing for HBO, Hershman said, “It’s hard for me to point to one.”

The former Showtime Sports executive definitely doesn’t expect to buy Vitali Klitschko versus David Haye, a fight that could be made if Klitschko (43-2, 30 KOs) defeats fellow Brit Dereck Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs) on Feb. 18 in Munich, Germany. Hershman didn’t think Haye had a chance to beat Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KOs) in their July 2 unification fight in Hamburg, Germany, and he wouldn’t expect Haye (25-2, 23 KOs) to fare any better against Wladimir’s older brother.

“I thought they did a great job, before I came [to HBO], of building the David Haye fight,” Hershman said. “But I didn’t think David had much of a chance. I just think he’s an undersized heavyweight. We saw him at cruiser, and it didn’t feel like it was that competitive of a matchup in the ring. But I thought it was promoted well as a big fight. But I don’t see anybody standing there today that I think could challenge the Klitschkos in a way that’s really going to surprise anyone.

“Now, the reality is Vitali is getting up there in age [40]. At some point, he has to slow down a bit. They’re amazing athletes, and I don’t know when that will be. But at some point [they will]. And hopefully then we can start to bring up some new talent and maybe someone will surprise us. Maybe a [Robert] Helenius or somebody like that. [Alexander] Povetkin. Maybe somebody will surprise us. But again, these are European guys, they’re not Americans.”

Therein lies Hershman’s problem. He wants to make heavyweights relevant again among his subscriber base, but he needs an American heavyweight in whom the public can believe.

Former Michigan State football player Seth Mitchell (24-0-1, 18 KOs) showed some promise in his HBO debut Dec. 10, but his impressive second-round stoppage of Timur Ibragimov (30-4-1, 16 KOs) doesn’t exactly make Mitchell ready to challenge one of the Klitschko brothers.

“That is a weight class that has just languished for so long,” Hershman said. “It’s really no fault of the Klitschkos that No. 1, they’ve been just so dominant in the ring and, No. 2, have a great business model where they are, in Germany. I don’t criticize them at all for the way they’ve conducted their careers and their business. It makes total sense. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped the U.S. heavyweight market and we haven’t seen those young Americans coming through the ranks that we feel we can invest in and that could be the future.

“It’s a dilemma, and I don’t ignore or pretend that the heavyweight division isn’t hugely important to boxing. It is. Hopefully we’ll get, in the next year or two, some prospects that we think we can really count on to really energize the U.S. component of that market. But right now, I don’t see it in the immediate future.”

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It must be a very expensive fight. I am actually interested in the fight, because I still think Haye can beat the Klitschkos. I really hope his disgraceful performance embarrassed and humiliated him enough to go out there and prove the critics wrong. Sounds like he is going to get a 2nd chance, I hope he goes balls out this time.

I'm one of the few that is actually giving him a second chance too.

shaun im with you on that fight and i dont rule out a haye win either.so hbo doesnt show the fight but another chanell will.

Haye has even less chance to beat Vitali than he did to beat Wlad. I'd still watch, but I can understand HBO wanting nothing to do with it after that "performance".

I still think they're wrong-headed in the notion that fight fans will only care about Americans. Good fights (and good fighters) will attract viewers regardless. Most of the top guys in the sport aren't American (Mexians, Phillipinos, Puerto Ricans, Cubas, Brits, Eastern Europeans, Canadians, etc.), but they still have big fan bases.

Tobe wrote:Haye has even less chance to beat Vitali than he did to beat Wlad. I'd still watch, but I can understand HBO wanting nothing to do with it after that "performance".

I still think they're wrong-headed in the notion that fight fans will only care about Americans. Good fights (and good fighters) will attract viewers regardless. Most of the top guys in the sport aren't American (Mexians, Phillipinos, Puerto Ricans, Cubas, Brits, Eastern Europeans, Canadians, etc.), but they still have big fan bases.

I agree with you 100%. However, I do think an American Heavyweight would be much more appealing than a non-American. However, if someone like Tyson came along, it wouldn't matter where they were from.

Shaun wrote:

Tobe wrote:Haye has even less chance to beat Vitali than he did to beat Wlad. I'd still watch, but I can understand HBO wanting nothing to do with it after that "performance".

I still think they're wrong-headed in the notion that fight fans will only care about Americans. Good fights (and good fighters) will attract viewers regardless. Most of the top guys in the sport aren't American (Mexians, Phillipinos, Puerto Ricans, Cubas, Brits, Eastern Europeans, Canadians, etc.), but they still have big fan bases.

I agree with you 100%. However, I do think an American Heavyweight would be much more appealing than a non-American. However, if someone like Tyson came along, it wouldn't matter where they were from.

Why the double standard for Heavyweights? I agree a star is a star, so anyone bringing the kind of buzz that a young Tyson had it wouldn't matter. But I don't get why there's the preception that Americans only care about American Heavies when they clearly follow foreign guys at other weight classes.

Tobe wrote:

Shaun wrote:

Tobe wrote:Haye has even less chance to beat Vitali than he did to beat Wlad. I'd still watch, but I can understand HBO wanting nothing to do with it after that "performance".

I still think they're wrong-headed in the notion that fight fans will only care about Americans. Good fights (and good fighters) will attract viewers regardless. Most of the top guys in the sport aren't American (Mexians, Phillipinos, Puerto Ricans, Cubas, Brits, Eastern Europeans, Canadians, etc.), but they still have big fan bases.

I agree with you 100%. However, I do think an American Heavyweight would be much more appealing than a non-American. However, if someone like Tyson came along, it wouldn't matter where they were from.

Why the double standard for Heavyweights? I agree a star is a star, so anyone bringing the kind of buzz that a young Tyson had it wouldn't matter. But I don't get why there's the preception that Americans only care about American Heavies when they clearly follow foreign guys at other weight classes.

There's a lot of good American fighters that can be followed right now. However, they are overlooked simply because the first place they are looking is at the HW division. I'm telling you, if an American HW came on the scene and took over, even the smaller guys would get more recognition.

Epix will be delighted with this.

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:Epix will be delighted with this.

I can tell you one thing I am not delighted with. Epix has a terrible streaming video player. It's unwatchable at times.

Shaun wrote:

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:Epix will be delighted with this.

I can tell you one thing I am not delighted with. Epix has a terrible streaming video player. It's unwatchable at times.

What about their tv quality ?

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:

Shaun wrote:

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:Epix will be delighted with this.

I can tell you one thing I am not delighted with. Epix has a terrible streaming video player. It's unwatchable at times.

What about their tv quality ?

I haven't actually watched it on TV

Tobe wrote:I still think they're wrong-headed in the notion that fight fans will only care about Americans. Good fights (and good fighters) will attract viewers regardless. Most of the top guys in the sport aren't American (Mexians, Phillipinos, Puerto Ricans, Cubas, Brits, Eastern Europeans, Canadians, etc.), but they still have big fan bases.

But they fight in the US. The Klits fight exscuslively in Germany, which is a logistical nightmare for a network.

Weekends are already weak time as far as viewership, but even worst in the middle of the afternoon. Add on less exposure and media coverage in the US to hype the fights when it's in Germany.

Expix is a tiny network that is desperate for anything to get some viewers. They can show these fights for a fraction of what they would demand HBO or Showtime to pay.

GrantZilla wrote:

Tobe wrote:I still think they're wrong-headed in the notion that fight fans will only care about Americans. Good fights (and good fighters) will attract viewers regardless. Most of the top guys in the sport aren't American (Mexians, Phillipinos, Puerto Ricans, Cubas, Brits, Eastern Europeans, Canadians, etc.), but they still have big fan bases.

But they fight in the US. The Klits fight exscuslively in Germany, which is a logistical nightmare for a network.

Weekends are already weak time as far as viewership, but even worst in the middle of the afternoon. Add on less exposure and media coverage in the US to hype the fights when it's in Germany.

Expix is a tiny network that is desperate for anything to get some viewers. They can show these fights for a fraction of what they would demand HBO or Showtime to pay.

Just to play Devil's Advocate here - what about NCAA and the NFL? They play almost exclusively on weekend afternoons as well, and seem to draw some pretty good viewship.

And yeah, most fighters do fight in the US, but not all - e.g. Bute has rarely fought in the U.S. Joe C. didn't until very late in his career. If they money is just as good as home (like it was for those guys and for the Klits) often they'll stay there.

tobe i agree.yes there could be a possibilty of a little less viewership at lets say 5pm or so but to dismiss that time as almost worthless is not true.wide world of sports for years had fights on saturday at that time.they did more then ok.
i cant blame hbo or even showtime showing little to no interest in the HW division as a whole.hell even some hardcore fans share that view.the idea of showing a good top HW prospect as a undercard fight on bad is a decent idea but first it should be a fight thats a test not against a slug.
its my thoughts only that if hbo passes on a haye-vitali fight that its a mistake.it realy isnt that expensive after all vitali or wlad claimed hbo reniged on a 250 000 payout to show one of there fights.
at that price or a little more its a bargin and a decent investment i feel.
i also agree if a tyson type heavy came about it makes no difference where hes from fans will get excited.including usa fans.to also dismiss any fight in canada like it came from a outpost of no where land is total nonsence.i think duran -leonard 1 was fought in canada.
the canadian fight broadcast in reality is an extention of the usa market.the movie business considers canada as part of the domestic usa market ..myself i have no problem with bute fighting there with 18000 or more excited fight crazy fans and showing it on hbo or showtime.the same goes if bo hop for example desided to fight there if he feels he has made some fans.

Tobe wrote:Just to play Devil's Advocate here - what about NCAA and the NFL? They play almost exclusively on weekend afternoons as well, and seem to draw some pretty good viewship.

Those are major programs with huge built in fanbases. The NFL airs on Sunday which people are generally home because they got work/school the next day. Can ask Hardcore, he's in the business, but Fridays and Saturdays are not primetime for for viewers. Why most networks just air reruns or info commercials during this time.

Why I said they should put some HBO fights on during the middle of the week or Sunday night.