Think HBO trys to smooth it over now?

I'm gonna say no here. There is no interest in this fight from people other than the hardcore fans like myself.

 

I don't remember Wlad "beating him to death" but I do remember Vitali doing so. If Peter comes in shape he can be dangerous but the question is will he? All he's got is a puncher's chance. I think HBO passses on this one though.

 

ESPN grabbed this but it won't be shown "live" from what I understand.

 

As much as I'd like to see heavyweight boxing back on HBO, HBO is correct. There is no interest in it anymore. I doubt that they [HBO] care about Wlad vs Peter any more then they did Wald vs anyone else. HBO did invest a lot in Wlad, many of his fights were shown. He was given more than ample opportunity to showcase himself. But for soem reason, he never manged to capture the interest of the American (HBO sports division is primarily a US company) public.

The only way I think America will ever care about Wlad is if he does a heel turn and cuts a promo on how American heavyweights are fat and lazy, and he'll beat them all up. But, Wlad is way to dignified and classy for that. Besides Wlad doe not need America. He's so huge over in Germany it's not worth his effort to impress jaded american heavyweight fans. So Wlad is okay being huge in Europe, HBO is okay not showing him in the US... The only losers are we the, few remaining American heavyweight boxing fans. But there's not enough of us to matter.

 

HBO made it pretty clear they are only interested in one of the Klitschko's vs either Adamek or Haye.


They are making a mistake by essentially abandoning the Division like this.

Their biggest mistake was hitching their wagon on Arreola. They put him on time and time again against mediocre fighters and when he stepped up he lost every second of every round.

 

I''m not sold that the Heayweight Division is gone from HBO just that the K2 brothers are unless it is against Haye or Adamek. I thimk a Haye vs. Adamek fight makes HBO so does Haye vs. Arreola or maybe even Hopkins or Holyfeld. I know HBO says there is no interest in the Heavyweight Division and they would be right but HBO said they would be first in line for the right matchup.

 

I don't see how this fight would change their mind... Wlad already beat Peter and so did his brother.

For that reason this is not an exciting fight for the casual fan.

 

:good

:good

 

If Peter were still 265, I'd agree 100%. But he's lost around 30lbs since the Chambers fight....if he comes in the fight on Sept 11th around 240, could be a very good fight. I still got Wlad by KO in 8, but Peter will put up just as good of a fight, or better, than anyone else.

 

HW boxing is going down because the guys with the rights to the fights refuse to advertise their product.

When Ali retired, and Holmes took over, boxing was still free to watch, and very popular on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. ABC, wide world of sports.

But when Tyson took over the division with his furious onslaughts, and cable tv came into play, we got PPV, and boxing, HW boxing in particular started it's descent.

While Holyfield, Foreman, Bowe, and Lewis kept it interesting, their PPV draw was nothing like that of Iron Mike's, but the fight's kept going to PPV.

That in and of itself hurt the division, but when Vitali and Wlad took the title from Lewis, HBO and Showtime quit advertising their product, and the division lost out.

I talk to people at the gym all the time about boxing, and they know PBF, Pac, and BHop, RJJ, etc, but never heard of the Klitschkos.

The younger generation is bombarded with mma advertising, and follow it accordingly, while they might see one ad for a big fight like Diaz/Marquez and wonder why they have to pay 50 bucks to watch it.

If ABC started WWoS, or Espn came back with TNF and FNF, with good cards once or twice a month, the game, and the HW division would reemerge as the ratings getting sport is used to be.

PPV killed it, along with lackluster ad campaigns.