"Froch isn't a big enough opponent for Bute, we'll hold out for Bute v Ward" Bet they'll be begging Carl to take the rematch now 'cause they ain't gonna get anything bigger from their last contracted fight to show Bute. If Carl's confident he can take him again then he'll get a truckload more in the rematch with a big American broadcaster. Fairly certain Bute won't be heading to HBO, so don't worry Showtime, you can still make 50p and a Mars Bar out of Bute v Brinkley II. Egg on their faces, truly.
Obviously Showtime needs to fire who ever is over boxing, this along with losing Ward and Dawson is enough to show he is inept. Also singing Bute to contract when he fought no one also should confirms that.
Damned. Doesn't Showtime owe Bute one more fight with a hefty price tag attached? Wonder who they will get for that?
They most likely are going to have the cash that mother****er out quickly. I'm guessing it will be a Froch rematch just for the cash.
I think that might not be a bad idea. I actually give Bute a chance in Montreal. Froch actually started this fight with his guard up for a change. Bute should do the same. He simply wasn't ready for Froch to go balls to the walls early and got caught.
Showtime was a huge loser tonight. They gambled everything and placed a poor bet: 1) Bute had to beat Froch **AND** 2) Ward has to beat Dawson There was a reasonable chance for each of things to happen, but for them both to happen was <50%. We talk about risk/reward in boxing, and Showtime made a very poor choice.
100% agreed and thats why Showtime should have just picked up Froch-Bute and Ward-Dawson. It was way too big of a gamble to hope both Bute and Ward got through their fights before facing each other. They passed up two good fights just to try to get one and it all backfired like a lot of people knew it would.
Just think about tonight. They air Froch/Bute and any subscriber who tunes in sees a spectacular, fairly quick knockout with a raucous crowd. It's everything that boxing should be for the average viewer. The payoff, even had it worked out, was a less entertaining fight in a more sterile atmosphere. And this doesn't even consider Ward/Dawson and the uncertainty there. Extremely poor move for a company that has invested so much into the 168-pound division. I'm a Showtime subscriber and feel sorry for them, but this was a self-inflicted wound. I just hope they don't give up on boxing.
I understood Showtime wanting to get a Ward-Bute showdown, they had put a lot into making that fight come off, I would have really liked to seen it. But I'd take the combination of Froch-Bute and Ward-Dawson over Ward-Bute any day. I know the Berto situation isn't Showtime's fault but when you add today's fight with Berto it hasn't been a good week for Showtime.