HBO Sports President recognizes good fights in lighter weights
HBO knows that they are well due for a philosophy change in regards to boxing.
For the better part of the year, the network has given fight fans little to hope for. There was a quality bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley, sure, but various others that didn’t end up coming to fruition (Mosley-Berto, for example).
All of that changes in November and December, with the network offering a sweeping menu of top notch bouts. Some of these bouts include Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams on November 20, Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis November 27, and Amir Khan-Marcos
Maidana December 11. That’s not even mentioning December. These bouts are all great offerings, but HBO admits they will have to tinker a few things in the future in order to maximize opportunity.
Dan Rafael reports that one change included shuffling through lighter weight divisions and televising their bouts, something the company wasn’t prone to do in the past. In an interview with ESPN, Greenburg gave an example: “We reached out into the smaller
divisions for Montiel-Donaire. We're going to look for the best fights available, regardless of weight class.”
He continued: “This fight sends a message. We have to change our perspective here. If something appeals to us in the heavyweight division, a [Wladimir or Vitali] Klitschko fight, a David Haye fight, a Tomasz Adamek fight, we'll be there too. We just need
to look for the best fights and the best divisions. Everywhere from flyweight to cruiserweight, we're looking for good fights."
Yet whereas ‘good’ fights used to mean heavyweight bouts, that formula doesn’t hold anymore. Anybody involved in boxing in the last decade can testify to that fact — the heavyweight division is in shambles and other divisions have been picking up the pace.
Greenburg clarified that the interest in light divisions, part of putting on better fights, is also about attracting the everyday fan. "Not only for the hard-core fan, but to lure back the casual fan,” he said.
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