How bitter will HBO's Hopkins-Pavlik rebroadcast be?

I think pretty much everyone on ESB understands that there is NO love lost between Bernard Hopkins and HBO. HBO has dissed and tried to marginalize Hopkins for years (think Lou DiBella and Jermain Taylor here), and Hopkins just went out and destroyed one of HBO's top-shelf house fighters. I did not watch the HBO feed of the fight, but I did hear that Merchant and Lampley were making excuses for Pavlik during the telecast ("he didn't have to move up; he shouldn't have moved up, ....").

We also learned today that at least some of Team Pavlik is unhappy that Kelly's bout with bronchitis and his elbow issues were trotted out for the media to play up. In other words, it seems like someone was trying to protect Kelly's marketability by feeding the public reasons for why he didn't perform well. That's not a surprise when an undefeated fighter loses. It is kind of surprising, however, that it wasn't the fighter's camp (or at least some of it) itself that put out the information. Was HBO involved in this effort in some way, to try to minimize Hopkins' win?

Given the testy relationship between HBO and Bernard Hopkins, just how bitter do you think HBO's rebroadcast will be this weekend? Will they give Hopkins credit, or simply make excuses for Pavlik and do everything they can to take away from BHop's resounding victory?

 

There's a lot of truth to what you're saying, but it's also true that in the last few years that relationship has soured incredibly. That's more of what I'm focusing on here.

 

I'm just afraid HBO will go out of its way to try to protect Pavlik and diminish what Hopkins did. It sounds like Merchant and Lampley were already going down this road during the broadcast of the fight.

Hopkins deserves all the credit for his victory. Pavlik will be back, but this is Hopkins' moment. I'm tired of everyone in boxing trying to get rid of BHop.

 

I don't think Roy will ever fight BHop again, win or lose vs Calzaghe. I hope I'm wrong. That is one rematch I would be very happy to see made.

 

This is good to hear.

One of my friends told me that Merchant and Lampley were talking about how Pavlik shouldn't have taken the fight as the bout wore on. From what he said, it sounded like they were saying "yeah, Hop beat a MW. So what?"

 

:good

I was shocked. Not that Hopkins won, but at how he won. That was the most wrong I have been in a fight prediction in a long time, and I was happy to be so incorrect.

I like Pavlik a lot, too, but I was really happy for BHop.

 

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. The little digs to try to take the shine away from Bernard.

I didn't see the HBO feed, but I'm concerned about this, and how they will present things in the studio.

This might not seem like a big deal, the words quoted above, but it's just another attempt (like the bronchitis stuff) to steal some of Hopkins' glory and protect the house fighter.