For years the top Boxing networks have been HBO and Showtime. These networks always had the top fights. Now its looking like Showtime's tenure as a top Boxing network is coming to an end. Showtime still has Mayweather but for only a couple more fights. They currently have no upcoming fights scheduled for this year. Al Haymon, Golden Boy and Showtime had a close working relationship but that's over now. Golden Boy has begun working with Top Rank. That caused Richard Schaefer to leave Golden Boy. Many of the boxers fighting on Showtime under Golden Boy never had signed agreements with Golden Boy promotions but were signed to Al Haymon. Al Haymon has taken his stable of fighters to NBC. Fights like Thurman-Guerrero, Gracia-Peterson and Broner-Molina which would usually be shown on Showtime will now be shown on NBC. HBO destroyed Showtime in the ratings for non-PPV events in 2014 and have a lot of big stars fighting under their banner. So, the question is, how does Showtime Boxing play out in 2015?
Showtime has pretty deep pockets, and HBO only has so many dates available. They could do fights with Oscar again in the future or someone like Roc Nation.
The door is open for other smaller promoters to fill some time slots. However, Haymon and Schaefer may have done irreparable damage by putting on so many mismatches in 2014. Showtime ratings went on a downhill decline after boxing fans got fed up by mismatches. Their alignment with Maywather doesn't help either, since he is seen as the guy who won't make the big fight happen. Showtime certainly lost some if it's luster and they may have lost a bit of bargaining power against promotors. They need to rebuild a bit.
That's what people thought when GB announced they were leaving hbo. They been doing good, shotime will stick around.
Haymon's priority is NBC, so his best fighters will go there. Golden Boy's biggest draw is Canelo, who is signed with HBO. Showtime may get fights but it will be almost ESPN level in terms of quality. Showtime will be around but their quality of fights will be lower than HBO and NBC.
Down but not done. You get new management in there who takes a different tack and Showtime will rebound. Everything is cyclical.
How are they as strong as ever when all the top Haymon fighters jumped ship to NBC? Showtime management should be fired. They had a good 2013 but 2014 was horrible. Fans got sick of the mismatches and the ratings reflect that.
Haymon fighters will still fight on Showtime and so will GP fighters. Do you know how many fighters Al has. He can spread it out and it wouldn't hurt him at all. Having NBC and Showtime is great marketing. Fighters will graduate from NBC to Showtime to PPV. I don't see an issue. Haymon is just widening the stage and that's good for Showtime and NBC.
Are you Stephen Espinoza or just tied up in a straight jacket?I won't insult you-so hi Stephen.:hi::nut