according to an article about Vic Darchinyan on Maxboxing, Steve kim mentions that HBO may be having budgetary concerns. WTF? already?
HBO is losing money because of all the garbage as GBP dates they have guaranteed, so we end up with crappy fights no one wants to see, while Showtime continues to step up in production values, commentating, and most importantly fights. By the end of the year Showtime might be in a position to start challenging HBO in quality of fights.
Showtime took a step down in commentating when they went to Gus Johnson over Steve Albert. Tarver has been a nice addition, though. Blaming GBP? You're a moron. They've had two cards on HBO this year. The Maidana-Cayo, Guzman-Funeka doubleheader on BAD and last week's card, also on BAD.
just a few of the fights HBO has overspent on in the past few years: Tarver/Dawson II Floyd/Sharmba Mitchell a few boring Berto fights plus they passed on a few Klitschko fights in order to 'save money', yet they still have money problems. I remember reading that HBO had issues with their boxing budget last year or the year before.
What do you mean what the ****? The always have budget concerns. Plus they just paid out the ying-yang for pac-clottey and pac mosely, now they have to set asside the money for pac mayweather in November. It limites their overall budget they can spend.
Thomas Hauser wrote a pretty good article about it (HBO's boxing finances and strategy) last September: [url]http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/hbo-and-boxing-at-a-crossroads[/url] Worth a read.