For weeks, the question
posed by those interested was: Given the changing landscape of the boxing
business (in the form of Floyd Mayweather going across the street to Showtime),
would HBO stay in the Adrien Broner business moving forward? Like Mayweather,
Broner is under the Golden Boy Promotions banner and advised by the influential
Al Haymon. Broner is scheduled to face WBA welterweight beltholder Paulie
Malignaggi on June 22nd from the Barclays Center.
But on Monday afternoon, HBO made a rather
bold public declaration. Not only would Broner no longer be its “Problem” but for
the time being, the rest of the Golden Boy stable would not appear on their
airwaves.
A statement from HBO Sports
President Ken Hershman read, “In order to achieve our goal of the best fighters
in the most compelling matchups, we've decided to focus our efforts and
resources on those strategic relationships where we better share common goals
and business philosophies.”
So there it is; a
promotional company that once had an exclusive output deal with HBO is now
basically persona non grata.
When Golden Boy CEO Richard
Schaefer was asked by Maxboxing if the turn of events surprised him, he
answered, “Yes and no. The reason why I say yes is because [HBO] issued a
statement that they want to focus on the best fights and fighters in the best
weight classes and then they're walking away from an Adrien Broner and want to
shut the door on other fighters. Whether it's ‘Canelo’ [Saul Alvarez], Danny
Garcia, Amir Khan, Andre Berto, Lucas Matthysse, Abner Mares, Leo Santa Cruz,
Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana, Devon Alexander, Paulie Malignaggi, Lamont
Peterson and on and on and on. That's not consistent with the statement they
issued. So yeah, I'm surprised from that point.
“But I am not surprised because the fact is I haven't had any conversations with Ken Hershman, the HBO Sports president, going back to last November or December. But to put this very clearly, this is the aftermath of the biggest name in the sports world, Floyd Mayweather, leaving HBO for Showtime. So yeah, they're upset at Al Haymon; they're upset at me and I guess this is their way of getting back at us.”
As Schaefer points out,
Golden Boy has one of the deepest and most talented rosters in all of boxing.
Now they will all be shipped to Showtime (which has done nothing featured fight
cards promoted by Golden Boy since last November on its “Championship Boxing”
platform). The question is, does Showtime have a big enough warehouse for all
of its clientele? The reality is there are a finite amount of dates and money
for boxing on this or any other network.
“Yeah, we have a deep stable
and the interesting thing is the diversity in age, 40s, 30s and 20s are represented
and you look at the demographic diversity, the best urban fighters, Anglo
fighters, the general market, Hispanic and so on. So this is obviously a
network’s dream because it is the best names in the sport and they are a
diversified group of fighters and you've seen how Showtime stepped up over the
last 12-to-18 months as it relates to getting these big fights and the number
of shows they are doing and so on. So if you are a network and the question is,
‘Hey, are you interested in Adrien Broner?’ What do you think they're going to
say? This is like an early Christmas in March. So that's not going to be a
problem,” said Schaefer, who was unintentionally punny.
The game was already divided
among the two super-powers (Golden Boy and Top Rank), who are in the midst of a
long-running “Cold War” that sees them living in separate universes. Now this
business seems more fragmented than ever with Golden Boy joining Showtime and
HBO, which will now, more than ever, rely on Top Rank as its main content
provider. If you look at the upcoming schedules for both networks moving
forward, both entities have an attractive line-up of fights and there is a
clear pattern. Top Rank is doing business exclusively with HBO at this level
and Showtime is airing nothing but Golden Boy product. So in essence, what we
have is a series of in-house promotions in place. You have to wonder how long
this can sustain itself in the long run.
Schaefer doesn't seem too
concerned. “I look at the strength of our fights, our upcoming schedule; again,
you look at the depth of our stable, I'm not so overly concerned as it relates
to the kind of quality fights and match-ups Golden Boy is going to deliver and
continue to deliver.”
And those fights will all be
under the Showtime/CBS umbrella for the time being.
“The loser here is really
the HBO subscribers, which are now going to miss out on some of those big
fights,” said Schaefer, “but having said that, I don't want to say
anything about HBO. I have friends over there, whether it's a Mark Taffet or
Kery Davis or Richard Plepler. Those are terrific guys and then there are some
people there who frankly don't know between Floyd Mayweather and Jessie Vargas
and some of those people are taking positions which are really, I think at the
end of the day, not in the best interest of their subscribers and of their
company.”
THE PROBLEM
Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports
reported that Broner, a key chess piece moving forward, could be a free agent
in April (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/boxing--with-hbo-no-longer-doing-business-with-golden-boy--stars-continuning-migration-to-showtime-165423186.html).
But Schaefer is adamant in claiming that to be false information.
“Adrien is part of a
long-term deal with us and he has a long-term deal with Al Haymon as well. So I
don't know who's spreading those rumors but whoever is doing that is probably
50 Cent. He better be careful because he's a guy who really doesn't know what
he's doing. He might be a talented music guy but as a businessman, you have to
look at his record. I mean, the Vitamin Water, that was like sheer luck. It was
not because of his brains he got involved and you look at his record label, how
many guys does he still have signed? When did he do his last concert? C'mon,
now this guy wants to get into boxing?
“And now he's trying to go
after our fighters? Good luck,” said Schaefer, who now joins Ja Rule and Fat
Joe as those who have had beefs with “Fiddy.”
THE LANDSCAPE
Well, you've had the AFL-NFL
and the ABA-NBA battles in other sports where there wasn't so much competition
but really, separation till the leagues merged. Yeah, I don't see Golden Boy
and Top Rank breaking bread anytime soon and with networks aligning themselves
so openly with them, they can subsist without doing business with each other.
Perhaps this is more like the WCW-WWE feud of the ‘90s in pro rasslin’.
I see a lot of
black-and-white statements being thrown around about this latest turn of events.
Honestly, there are a lot of gray areas in this and the real impact of all this
won’t be known for a few years. At the same time, in many ways, this is history
repeating itself. As I've pointed out before, the ‘90s saw a similar situation
that had Showtime in an exclusive deal with Don King (whose main attractions
were Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez) and Top Rank associated with HBO. The
more things change, the more they stay the same. And it was during this stretch
that HBO had perhaps its most glorious decade led by the likes of Oscar De la
Hoya, Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones, Arturo Gatti and a new series called “Boxing
After Dark.”
But again, that was with the
likes of Seth Abraham and Lou DiBella running their boxing franchise. They
aren't walking through that door anytime soon.
Also, the landscape has now
changed in this business. Yes, it's true that HBO has certain inherent
advantages (such as more subscribers and better name brand recognition) but
that paradigm could be changing because it's clear that CBS President and CEO Les
Moonves has clearly made it a personal mission to have his network become a
more prominent player in this industry. There is clear evidence in terms of Nielsen
ratings and pay-per-view buys that you simply can't nurture a star on Showtime.
Time will tell if that changes.
HBO was certainly bold in
its edict (and perhaps justifiably so) but some industry insiders wonder
if being so public with its rather punitive actions toward Golden Boy was so
wise. It says here that they made the right move in rejecting Broner's bout
against the feather-fisted Malignaggi but you must wonder if the superior tact
would have been to just merely pass on this fight but always leave the door
open for his return if, say, Broner faces the likes of Lucas Matthysse. Golden
Boy is here to stay; they aren't going anywhere soon. And this latest action
now puts HBO in a position to be more reliant than ever on Bob Arum and
Top Rank to be its main content provider. Top Rank certainly has a long and
storied track record of developing attractions but there is a danger of giving
any one company or man too much power.
Isn't that how HBO, during
the Ross Greenburg era, got themselves into the predicament they did, as they
basically empowered the likes of Golden Boy and one Al Haymon for the past
decade? And speaking of Haymon, you can question how HBO dealt with Golden Boy
but it's clear his power and influence had to be mitigated. For years, Haymon
had this ability to get incredibly favorable deals that, while great for his
clients, were terrible for HBO's subscribers. But once he no longer had the
ability to flex his “Mayweather Muscles” (as they are dubbed in the boxing
world), he lost much of his leverage with them. And perhaps HBO decided that
while Broner is talented - if not just troubled (looks like he caught another
case in Miami recently: http://distilleryimage4.instagram.com/4dfa95f8902311e2830722000a1f9d75_7.jpg)
- this was simply the time to move on and start anew. Remember this: Haymon's
game plan doesn't really include actually putting his fighters in all that much
danger. It's why Broner is Bob Beamon-ing over a loaded 140-pound division.
And it's why Orlando Lora
got on this network.
The Haymon tail that wagged
the HBO dog for so long into an endless string of forgettable Andre Berto and
Keith Thurman fights needed to be docked.
Word is there was an intense,
internal debate at HBO over this decision. There is a belief that certain jobs
at the network are directly tied to being in business with Golden Boy and
Haymon. To decipher which side some were on, well, refer back to Schaefer's
quote naming certain HBO executives. Regardless, it's not clear if any real
changes will be made to HBO's front office.
It's being said that this
development is a boon to the likes of Main Events, Goossen Tutor, Banner
Promotions, DiBella Entertainment and the like but the reality is that as the
migration of Golden Boy talent has taken place over the past year or so, HBO had
become less and less “Golden” in that time frame. It's not as if 15 dates had
suddenly opened up but perhaps the few dates that did might have gone to Broner.
What this really means is those aforementioned promoters suddenly become very
valuable as third parties who can play on both sides of the street. While they
may not get dates of their own, per se, if they develop their own fighters who
are valuable commodities (such as Ruslan Provodnikov, promoted by Artie Pelullo
of Banner Promotions) they, unlike a Brandon Rios (who can't realistically face
anyone from Golden Boy) actually have more options. Top Rank and Golden Boy can
be insular for only so long within a given weight class; the intramurals would
have to end at some point.
So how will all this affect
the boxing business? Talk to me in 2015.
But as I tweeted on Monday,
what is this world coming to? First, we have Tim Bradley, of all people, in a “Fight
of the Year” candidate and now Golden Boy expunged from HBO.
MAY 18TH
According to Schaefer, a junior
welterweight tussle between Matthysse and Lamont Peterson is coming together
for May 18th. “We are working on finalizing that,” he says. And it's
part of a bigger picture for Golden Boy at 140.
“Obviously, what I can foresee
and what I have discussed with the relevant parties with Peterson, with
Matthysse, with Al Haymon as it relates to Danny Garcia, with Amir Khan - what
I would like to see this year, Lucas fights Peterson. We know Danny is facing
Zab Judah; I would like the winner of those two fights fighting each other and
then in November/early December, the winner of that fight, fight Khan.”
DIVORCE FLURRIES
So is this boxing's version
of “Kramer vs. Kramer”?...The Bradley-Provodnikov fight at the Home Depot
Center sold 2,256 tickets for a gate of $172,914 according to the CSAC...Top
Rank prospect Oscar Valdez will return May 11th on UniMas...I'm told
that the focus for Leo Santa Cruz on May 4th is newly-minted IBF
122-pound titlist Jonathan Romero. Hopefully, that fight can get done...Seriously,
“Bar Rescue” is my newest favorite show...I think it's safe to say that Andrew
Bynum's knee is more cracked than the Liberty Bell in Philly…
I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing, where you can discuss our content with Maxboxing readers as well as chime in via our fully interactive article comments sections.