Showtime....

Ward-Dawson is a compelling fight but it won't be 'general public' friendly.

 

Sure, but you get two fights versus one. Even if you discount Ward/Dawson on entertainment value, there's at least a reasonable chance that Dawson would **** things up for Showtime.

And Bute/Froch in England was in their lap and a very fan-friendly fight, with an awesome crowd.

Who's going to want to watch Bute again? It's not fair, but coming off a loss like that he's damaged goods. Probably literally. I just hope he doesn't rush into a rematch.

 

You're right on that but I don't think Ward-Bute would have been much more fan friendly.

The problem I had with Showtime in this whole situation is that on one hand they had two guaranteed fights-Froch-Bute and Ward-Dawson. Yeah, the Ward-Dawson fight might not be all action( but its a match up between two top 10 pfp guys) but you knew that Froch-Bute would be and it delivered.

On the other hand Showtime had a possible Ward-Bute fight and it wasn't guaranteed. Both Ward and Bute had to win and that was far from certain and tonight proved it.

 

The question now for Showtime is what to do next. They still have Ward and Bute, but that fight no longer makes sense unless Ward loses to Dawson. And obviously, that's not what they've wanted.

I just hope they don't divert boxing money into whatever **** TV show they've concepted.

 

I'll defend Espinoza on not picking up this fight. The problem was that Hershman signed Bute to one of the dumbest contracts in boxing well before the Super Six was finished, and then let him fight Brian Magee and a snoozer against Glen Johnson. Waiting for the Ward fight was a perfectly logical response given the millions already wasted on Bute and given how Froch had looked in his last outing. If they bought this and Bute won, this would basically open the door to HBO swooping in and picking up a fight that Showtime had been building for 2+ years, and even if that didn't happen, the network would at the very least have had to pony up even more cash for Ward-Bute.

 

Epix were the big winners last night.

 

Showtime are a bunch of ****in assholes. Froch was showcased in Showtime's Supersix and reached the final. FFS they helped to build him in the States. But, they showed Bute fighting stiff after stiff and then dropped a bollock on his biggest fight

I bet their old head of boxing (who went to HBO - forget his name) laughed his balls off.