HBO is stupid to boycott Klitschko-Chambers

Honestly I think I'd watch ESPN Deportes if Teddy Atlas was commentating a Klitschko fight. It's always worth the effort

Atlas- Now you see, Wlad throws that jab...el jabbo. Its not a good jab but the level of competition is so poor that el jabbo es lando. Realistically that jab wouldn't land on top level competition like Alexander Povetkin. It's not a very good jab because Wlad isn't a very good fighter. Just the competition es malo. In summation, Wlad is malo and the opponent or opponente is malo. I believe malo is french for bad...but seeing as how these languages are all tied together, you guys will get what I'm sayin.

Tessitore- Muy bien teddy.

 

its not a stay in and watch fight for me

if im in and have acess to the tv ill watch

if im out not realy bothered

 

For Friday night fights, will not be too bad either.

 

Even though disappointing this has nothing to do with Wladimir, what they're really boycotting is the heavyweight division as a whole seeing how limited the majority are. Wladimir is just doing what he's supposed to and is cleaning house like people want him to and expect him to. It's not his problem the division isn't offering enough attractive names/styles, I assure you when a decent enough "name" appears HBO will be all over it like they were for the Haye fight that got canceled. They would even host a fight with James Toney if that happened regardless of how shot and out of it Toney is. The business side of the sport cares about hype/popularity, they could care less if it's legacy or whatever as long as there are promoters behind these guys doing a good job promoting them and getting people's attention. There hasn't been enough promoters bothering with heavyweight fighters because there are none worth considering. Hell Arum tried to promote Tye Fields at some point, the good promoters are there, it's serious talent the division lacks.

 

Right. They're being more selective with their fights which isn't a bad thing.

The onus falls on Versus, Showtime, ESPN and even Fox Sports for not owning up and making an offer to show the fight.

 

Don't be a daft *****. I realiz(s)e you're English so you are pretty much programmed to hate Wlad because of David Haye...But please don't clutter the board with nonsense. A lot of people want to see this fight. And any fan of the heavyweights who wouldn't at least consider watching a free fight between the number one heavy in the world and the number one contender is either a hater or is not a fan at all.

Furthermore, if HBO turns it's back on Wlad, that probably means they're going to turn their back on the whole division. Did you consider that or are you too wrapped up in nationalistic idiocy? Really, what shot has Haye vs. Ruiz got of showing up on cable? How about any Haye fight in the future? Fact is, the more fights like these get passed over, the less likely it is that any heavyweight fight gets picked up by a major American network. :?

 

it might be a bad fight, but they should get behind Chambers, who is the most promising American Heavyweight of the moment.

 

Haye vs Wlad would get picked up. As would Wlad vs anybody popular. If Wlad vs Arreola was announced, they'd snatch that **** up in a heart beat.

Chambers is just a relative unknown...and when you consider that HBO has picked up fights such as Wlad/Brock, Wlad/Rahman and Wlad/Thompson, I'd say they've done more than their fair share of pushing the HW champion.

The budget is tighter and as such, they can't spend like they used to.

 

This is a poorly-reasoned argument. First off, many fighter have had less than thrilling fights on HBO and have returned time and time again. Even Lennox Lewis, who now works for them, had his fair share of snoozefests on Home Box Office. Second, I think it's absolutely fine if a network wants to pass on a fight that they think will be a dud. But for god's sake, be consistent. Don't show Wlad against guys who were 35 year-old journeymen like Austin, etc., and then refuse to show a fight against a young contender who has actually earned a shot at the title. atsch

 

[And they have a lot more competitive fights they are planning. You got to understand, HBO has lost a ton of Money on Vlad fights. This Thomas Hauser put HBO on blast for wasting all the money they do. And some one at HBO was reading. But Hauser, if he really loves boxing needs to becareful...HBO keeps losing money ,getting low ratings and no subscriptions from boxing then they will get out of the boxing game. and put that money in the budget towards the next soprano's series, or the wire[/quote]

First off, you don't know how much money they've lost on Wlad, so why comment? Second, they do have a contract with him, which means that they have to show a certain number of his fights or else buy out the contract. And while they sit around making up their minds, we get to set mismatches like Wlad vs. Austin, but we can't view with a legitimate contender?

 

Whether or not you appreciate the finer parts of boxing wasn't the question.

Wladimir is the legit HW Champion & Chambers has earned his shot.

 

Just because HBO televised a bunch of mis-matches in the past, should they be obliged to keep making the same mistakes? I just don't understand that reasoning.


Because you can't call youself a great boxing network and then refuse to show one of the most important heavyweight bouts of the year. Get it?atsch

 

If Chambers manages to win the title and become the first American champion for a long while, HBO's account manager is going to shoot himself in the face. And rightfully so.

Although Wlad isn't the most spectacular fighter, there are far worse and he gets the KO 90% of the time. The Ibragimov fight was also because Sultan refused to do anything.

Anyway, i'll just watch it on free German television.

 

Why are they "boycotting" the fight? Why can't they just not buy it, the same way they haven't bought any Wlad fight since Ibragimov. Wlad doesn't bring in good enough US ratings to warrant paying him big money to fight a no-name. Vitali gets much better ratings because his fights (Johnson fight aside, but that wasn't his fault) generally aren't as boring.

Why would they buy a fight that won't get good ratings?