Good read if you sorely miss HBO Boxing (why you should hate Peter Nelson's guts)

jaytxxl · Feb 7, 2022

Lesion of Doom said: ↑

This forum was convinced that HBO was ruining boxing, hated the broadcast team and generally had nothing nice to say about HBO's place in the sport. Careful what you wish for. ...

Today's big fights typically don't feel as big without them, because the production values aren't the same, the on-air talent isn't the same, and so on. The matchups became problematic during the end, of course, and I do wonder if there was any way for HBO to remain neutral. But I wish they had tried a little harder.

And yes, Peter Nelson is extremely punchable!
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Exactly Peter Nelson definitely has some blame but people are having revisionist history.. They were saying how bad HBO was and all the above..

In reality HBO saw the writing on the wall when Roc Nation entered followed by PBC and then DAZN. All of those entities inflated the market with cash and fighters wanted bigger purses without actually fighting the stiff competition. If you have Roc Nation or DAZN offering someone like Adrien Broner $8+ million to join them how much you thinks he’s gonna want to not take those offers.

Instead of breaking the bank and budgets HBO simply bowed out which I’m sure when the market fully resets they’ll get back into boxing. We’re in a market where Mikey Garcia got $7 million to fight Jessie Vargas none of which DAZN recouped. HBO simply just decided to watch the circus from the sideline than participate in it.

rodxd · Feb 7, 2022

IntentionalButt said: ↑

In case you're feeling nostalgic for the good ol' days and need a scapegoat:

[url]https://www.badlefthook.com/2018/10/5/17941442/how-much-blame-does-peter-nelson-deserve-for-hbo-being-out-of-boxing[/url]

And the bittersweet kicker is? He was ousted just a couple of years after killing the beloved institution off. (and make no mistake, he's even more responsible for the death of HBO Boxing than Vince Russo was for WCW's)

Had it only happened a little sooner and they brought in someone more like Hershman, maybe it could have been revived and restored to its past glory and still be competitive with DAZN, ESPN and PBC if not the alpha of the pack once more.

Would love to rattle a few combos off that big dumb Robbie Rotten looking face, while Jim Lampley sat on a chair a few feet away with a poncho to keep the blood off his suit (like the front row at a Gallagher show when the watermelon gets sledgehammered) calling the action.
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hbo stoppe being good in like 2007. good thing that **** got discontinued, terrible commentary team

sasto · Feb 7, 2022

IntentionalButt said: ↑

"HBO isn't a sports network"

...okay, except it WAS for a long time, with an incredibly devout fan base, you cretin. And so what if your research metrics showed that boxing didn't "move the subscriber" needle? I don't think they realized how many subs got canceled because of this move. You don't want to alienate any part (even a small one) of your core demographic in an age where there is so much saturation of competitors and so many folks cable-cutting or having a ton of streaming apps to choose from.
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I was surprised they cut it to nothing. A lot of people are fans of boxing and nothing else, so you reach customers you can't with any other type of programming.

How many people here paid DAZN to put on zero fights in January?

Lesion of Doom said: ↑

This forum was convinced that HBO was ruining boxing, hated the broadcast team and generally had nothing nice to say about HBO's place in the sport. Careful what you wish for. ...

Today's big fights typically don't feel as big without them, because the production values aren't the same, the on-air talent isn't the same, and so on. The matchups became problematic during the end, of course, and I do wonder if there was any way for HBO to remain neutral. But I wish they had tried a little harder.

And yes, Peter Nelson is extremely punchable!
Click to expand...

You don't know what you've got until it's gone!

Fox and ESPN are incapable of big fight atmospheres but Showtime and DAZN do a little better. I don't understand why Fox does so many of the PBC PPVs.

Reinhardt · Feb 7, 2022

Forza said: ↑

Nothing today comes close to the professionalism HBO had. Even if the card was not very good (which was often), you still felt like you were watching something significant. They brought a touch of class and dignity to boxing. They had standards. I don't like the direction boxing is going today, perhaps the well is finally drying up for real this time.
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Boy you nailed that, class and dignity. Todays broadcasts have the most annoying , screeching announcers, comic ring entrances , and so called expert commentary so lame that I'd rather have the bartenders opinion of the fight

IntentionalButt · Feb 7, 2022

Perkin Warbeck said: ↑

Peter Nelson had nothing to do with the decision, it was his corporate bosses at HBO who decided to cancel boxing. In fact, he wanted it to continue.

[url]Richard Plepler[/url] and other top people were responsible for the decision at the time.
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No, there are in fact plenty of interviews where Nelson discusses studying the subscriber analytic metrics and being part of their evaluation and the ultimate decision to move away from broadcasting live fights. He wanted sports programming to continue be a focus (as overseeing that was his role), things like the Muhammad Ali doc. He was very much onboard with and more than a small part of axing WCB & BAD.

Sinew · Feb 7, 2022

Hbo stance was pretty clear to me years ago. They said they do more showing Batman on Saturday night than boxing ever could.

IntentionalButt · Feb 7, 2022

Sinew said: ↑

Hbo stance was pretty clear to me years ago. They said they do more showing Batman on Saturday night than boxing ever could.
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Cool but it was still an existing built-in fanbase that formed a longtime core of their subscribership. Maybe that core was smaller than it used to be and interest was shrinking proportionate to all the rest of their diversified programming, but unless they were hemorrhaging money in a way that was actually putting the whole business enterprise in peril (which it can't possibly have been) there was no reason they had to get rid of it. They could have kept it as purely a courtesy to all the loyal fans that appreciated it operating at not all that huge a loss on their bottom line in the grand scheme of things.

HBO could've stayed the course shown boxing instead of Batman or any other blockbuster fifty-two Saturdays a year and still remain a multi-billion dollar business. They spat in the faces of boxing fans just to pinch a few pennies they wouldn't even notice or miss.

highlander · Feb 7, 2022

hell, when stallone was making "rocky balboa" h.b.o. was having a fight the next night after his use of the arena. he asked them if he could use kellerman and company in the movie. h.b.o. readily greed! in fact, when "roclky enters the ring, he walks up to kellerman and asks, "hey! how ya doing?"
kellerman, "i can't believe it! i grew up watching his fights and now i am covering one of his fights and rocky balboa just asked me "how ya doing"!
h.b.o DID know how to put on a fight and did it well!

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Good read if you sorely miss HBO Boxing (why you should hate Peter Nelson's guts)

jaytxxl Well-Known Member Full Member

rodxd By Popular Demand banned Full Member

sasto Boxing Junkie Full Member

Reinhardt Boxing Junkie Full Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

Sinew The Assassin Full Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

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Good read if you sorely miss HBO Boxing (why you should hate Peter Nelson's guts)

jaytxxl Well-Known Member Full Member

rodxd By Popular Demand banned Full Member

sasto Boxing Junkie Full Member

Reinhardt Boxing Junkie Full Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

Sinew The Assassin Full Member

IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me

highlander Active Member Full Member