Who here is impressed wit HBO's new business model? For the past few years HBO had ditched the whole "builing legends one at a time" motto. Instead, they focused on simply showcasing established fighters. It didn't matter how washed up these guys were or how bad the matchups were, all they cared about was showcasing name fighters. This strategy blew up in their face in 2008. Fights such as Pavlik/Hopkins and Jones/Calzaghe flopped terribly. It seems as though in 2009, HBO has gone back to "building legends one round at a time". They seem more focused on showcasing young talent as well as putting together quality matchups. So far this year on HBO we've had Berto/Collazo, Margarito/Mosley, Cintron/Martinez and Campbell/Funeka. In the next few weeks we get Marquez/Diaz, Kirkland/Julio, and Wright/Williams. Dawson/Tarver 2 doesn't seem too interesting. However, it at least features one of the best young fighters in the game. I see HBO putting Dawson in much better matchups should he get past Tarver again. I loved the two part segment during this past weekend's telecast where Kellerman profiled numerous top young fighters from 122 all the way up to heavyweight. Also gone are the unneccesary PPVs. Hatton vs. Pacquiao is the only PPV that HBO has lined up. You can do this when you favor younger, more exciting, cheaper fighters, instead of older, less exciting, more expensive fighters. It appears as though HBO has finally pulled their heads out of their asses. They have now combined their deep pockets with Showtime's strategy of focusing on young fighters and compelling matchups. Hopefully, the fans take notice.
HBO is starting the year very promising. Of course after the horrible ratings and buys in the last 12-18 months and the bad economy, they are forced to produce ratings, and the oldies vs. oldies doesn't work. So they are putting these young guys on screen, which is very good. Also, they refused to buy the Cotto/Pavlik PPV broadcast rights, the LW tournament is produced by GBP and not HBO, so for the network, PPV is what it's meant to be: staging huge fights, and the first and only before the summer is Hatton-Pacquiao it seems. Of course Dawson-Tarver is a joke, and Wright-Williams and Marquez-Diaz are oldies vs. young guns again (like Hopkins-Pavlik, Mosley-Margarito), but at least the young guys are promising (Dawson, Williams) or exciting (Diaz). Whether they'll do good ratings in a short period of time is doubtful... but for long term, showcasing young guns like Gamboa is the perfect strategy.
It seems like they are taking a step in the right direction. I'd be more impressed if the "decision" had been more of a conscious choice, instead of being dictated by necessity. The state of the American economy obviates the PPV reappraisal. As far as showcasing young talent goes, they only are getting around to it after they milked the old guard dry. If PBF and Calzaghe weren't staying "retired", I figure they'd be more than willing to hold their respective divisions hostage. You've also got to wonder if besides the financial failure, Pavlik - Hopkins taught HBO the value of keeping the generations apart to a certain degree. Not only did their new star get completely embarrassed, he got taken off the shelf for the better part of a year. Could these matchups between young fighters reteach the boxing public the value of a competitive loss? That would be impressive.
I have been impressed with HBO this year, thus far. I really liked Max's segment they ran this past weekend. I'd like to see more of that but utilize Lennox and Steward for that type of thing too..kind of like ESPN does with Atlas.
all i can say is im really starting to like this recesion its the only reason hbo are acting like this so i hope it continues
They're just now trying to fix the mess that's primarily their fault to begin with. And they still demanded for Dawson-Tarver II.
It's good they have that march card with some good young guys against eachother:Ortiz v Arnaoutis,Julio v Kirkland,Yordan v Guerrero.
They're investing in Chad Dawson who is one of the future stars of the sport. He had a rematch clause with Tarver; the fight had to be done. I'd rather see it than not.
the winner of kirkland and ortiz fights are kinda allready known but yordan v guerro is a seriously kick ass fight anyone can win this fight. daud is one of boxings best kept secrets its nice to see a top prospect matched hard. my moneys on him
They are somewhat known to us.But to the normal mofo on the street it's de la Hoya and Mosley and de la Hoya and.......there is that kid Mosley.But there is always de la Hoya.
Love the way HBO is handling things now. The old vs old worked a bit for the match ups we never got to see. But they pushed too many crap PPVs out the Window.
