HBO is stupid to boycott Klitschko-Chambers

I agree Chambers is as qualified as any. That said, the fight's not going to be very entertaining and there's a good chance it'll end similar to Chagaev or Iggy, one sided for far too long with little drama or intensity.

I'll put it like this I guess: If HBO passes on Chambers and uses the money saved to stage Wlad vs Arreola or Wlad vs Haye or even Wlad vs Adamek, will we complain?

 

The problem people have with Wlad is nothing new, unless the heavyweight Champion is a menace like Tyson or has the charisma of Ali...the casual fans just don't give ****...**** the casual fans.


SI article on Holyfield from 1993.


Oh, hell, the world has never known exactly what to make of Evander Holyfield, what to do with him, what it wants to hear him say. Does the world want to claim Evander Holyfield? Of course it does—the world always wants to claim its warriors. It needs them, needs them to fight, to suffer and to prevail, and in this Holyfield has been exemplary. Fight? Suffer? This man, every time he entered the ring, prayed to God for the strength to walk through fire, and until the first time he met Bowe, he did prevail. The world wasn't content with what he could do with his fists and his heart, though; the world is a hungry thing, and when Holyfield became the heavyweight champion for the first time, in 1990, the world wanted him to feed its imagination. It asked him to shape himself into a symbol, a paragon of menace or defiance or cool; it asked for his words as well as his flesh, and in this Holyfield has always been deficient, not because the words aren't there, but rather because the words that rush naturally to his lips are the words of prayer.
Holyfield is prodigious in prayer. That's what he does; that's what he's about; that's what defines and confines him. He prays, goes to church, reads the Bible, talks about God. Talk? If you want the man to talk, then indulge Holyfield's spirituality, his philosophy, and he'll talk as long as you want—two hours, three hours, forever. Take his theology away from him, though, as sportswriters tend naturally to do, and you might as well shear the hair from Samson: He becomes a lesser man. He becomes very polite, very nice and very—well, boring. Yes, from 1990, when Holyfield won the heavyweight title from Buster Douglas, until 1992, when he lost it to Bowe, that was what most people thought we had: a dutiful dullard—a small dutiful dullard as heavyweight champion.

 

It will be on one of those networks...at least I hope so.

 

They should step up and showcase it. It's a clear opportunity to get their name out there in the boxing world.

 

His footwork is horrid, when he's rushed he reacts like a deer caught in haedlights. Just stumbles back awkwardly in a straight line holding his hands out

 

I have absolutely no desire to see the heavybag with legs, Arreola fight another Klitschko. Sure, it would be a ratings getter for the network, but it would be a nothing fight. In my humber opinion, Chambers would give Arreola an easy boxing lesson.

 

I sure would complain if it was Arreola. He already got whipped by Vitali, so we'd see Arreola get beat even faster against Wlad.

Arreola came in HEAVIER against Minto than he did against Vitali. Arreola is literally EATING his career away. He does not deserve to be rewarded by being shown on HBO. Not unless he gets himself into shape for a few fights first.

Chambers on the other hand has worked for his chance and deserves it. He beat Peter, and Dimitrenko.

 

HBO is showing the best fights it can afford to buy, getting the most out of its budget.

Think about it: If Wladimir were so concerned about being on HBO, he could take a pay cut and insist the fight be held in the USA. Why didn't he? Because he wanted to maximize his money.

And why isn't HBO buying this fight? Because it wants to maximize its money.

It's that ****ing simple, but butthurt fans refuse to see that Wladimir is engaging in an identical thought process to HBO.

And no, I don't know that it will be a **** fight, but when you factor in expense, it's a pretty poor risk/reward scenario for HBO.

Also, you guys act like Wladimir is getting singled out. HBO has vetoed more opponents in the past year and a half than I think they did throughout the 1990s. They told Kelly Pavlik to **** off with his bull**** fights (and those were domestic bouts) and did not pay for the broadcast rights (they're just distributing) Hopkins vs. Jones II.

It's across the board cuts, and though they've made mistakes (Dawson/Tarver II) generally they have improved bang for their buck.

 

Arreola vs Wlad would be an outstandingly fun fight. Even if Wlad kills Arreola, it'd be entertaining.

You're also overlooking the fact that Arreola is a HUGE ratings getter. Vitali vs Chris did outstanding on HBO.

 

Deserve has nothing to do with it. Ivan Calderon deserves to be on TV based on merit, but he isn't.

HBO cares about HBO's money/stock and that's it, just like every other corporation. Why would you expect them to air a fight out of sympathy?

 

Not sure about that. Chambers has evolved into a much more boxer/puncher in the mode of Calvin Brock than say Sultan...who prior to the Wlad fight was coasting on his bicycle against Briggs and Holyfield in ridiculiously low punchout fights. And lets be real, Chambers was much more exciting against the big capable puncher Dimentrko than Haye was against the big slug Valuev.

 

Yeeessh...don't remind me about those. I still have nightmares about Briggs vs Barney Rubble.

If you really need to see the general consensus on Wlad vs Chambers, just read some of the threads on here about it. It's 99.99999999% in favor of Wlad and the majority of them are "Wlad via KO in a boring fight."

That's probably the public opinion on the fight unfortunately.

 

I wouldn't and I don't. But I do expect them to adhere to their contract. Yes, that's right, they do have a contract with Wlad and they either have to show a certain number of his fights or buy him out. That is why passing on this one makes no sense? I mean, you show Wlad vs. Austin and Thompson and pass on Chaegave and Chambers? This makes sense to you? :huh