This Saturday night HBO will deliver one of the year?s most anticipated fights when WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan faces the daunting challenge of fierce Argentinean puncher Marcos Rene Maidana at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. While this is certainly a grand way for the sport?s premiere network to close out their 2010 campaign, a closer look at HBO?s recent run leaves much to be desired.
From being void of the most intriguing fight that could be made in Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr., champions facing off with obscure foes and a lack of interest in the heavyweight division, HBO definitely took a few flush shots on the chin this year. Always one to keep a shrewd eye on all developments in boxing, respected author Thomas Hauser seems to have a few ideas on how the network can get things back on track in 2011.
I recently caught up with Hauser and discussed a wide range of topics including promoter Bob Arum?s success, the future of Manny Pacquiao, the presence of Golden Boy Promotions and much more. As the lengthy interview rolled on Hauser found himself digging into HBO?s current programming and he had no problem sharing his thoughts.
In his own words, read on to see what Hauser had to say…
The fortunes of HBO? ?In the United States, boxing?s fortunes are directly tied to the fortunes of HBO. And this has not been a good year for HBO. One of the reasons for that I believe is the fact that the philosophy behind HBO?s programming needs to be reconfigured. Instead of trying to build stars, HBO should focus on HBO quality fights, or what we like to think of as HBO quality fights. If it does that, the stars will make themselves. Too often the HBO fighter involved is putting somebody they consider a star or potential star against a non entity. And then if the non entity wins it is back to the drawing board. If you put two elite fighters against each other or two very good fighters against each other you will have a much better chance of a star coming out. The assumption was that Paul Williams would beat Sergio Martinez. Williams was the favorite in that fight. He won their first fight. Sergio knocked him out with one punch and now all of a sudden Sergio looks like a star. So if the emphasis of the future is in competitive fights between fighters with exciting styles, boxing will be stronger and you will get your stars. They always say that fights make fights. Fights also make stars.?
Seeing boxing change? ?There have been a number of changes in the past ten years. First off there has been a globalization of boxing. There is now as much money in Europe for boxing as there is in the United States. Boxing is becoming more and more profitable in other parts of the world. That is one of the most significant changes.
The meaning of a champion? ?We?ve also seen a further devaluing of the word championship. Championships mean much less than they did before. You have champions, you have super champions, you have interim champions, you have silver champions, you have champions emeritus. The only purpose of that is to pay sanctioning fees to the people who run the sanctioning bodies who are doing it, in large part and in many instances, to their own personal profit. It has hurt boxing very badly. People don?t know who the champions are anymore. I think the ultimate purpose of any sport is to crown a champion. In football we are now all talking about the Bowl Championship Series, whether it?s going to be Auburn, Oregon, Boise St. or TCU. We have the Super Bowl coming up. Baseball has the World Series. We have important championships in tennis like Wimbledon. In boxing there seems to be that a new number of champions are always being created. That hurts and it has accelerated over the last ten years.?
The problem with Pay per view? ?And the third thing that has happened over the last ten years is that boxing is further cutting the public off from its showcase events. And it?s not working for the sport. More and more, to see a good fight, either you have to pay up to twenty dollars a month for a premium cable network or you have to pay $54.95 for pay-per-view. How popular would Tiger Woods be if you could watch him for free on NBC but you have to pay to see him play in the Masters? It doesn?t work. They might say ?Well you could see a tape one week later on HBO of Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito. But sports thrive in the moment. People don?t wait a week to watch the Super Bowl on tape. They want to see it live.?
Building the brand of boxing? ?No one fighter can carry the sport. A fighter might attract attention at a particular point in time but given circumstances today where most elite fighters only get in the ring only twice a year, it?s impossible for one or two guys to carry the sport. Todd DuBoef, the president of Top Rank, has said from the beginning that ?The brand isn?t any one fighter. The brand is boxing?. And I think we have to do more to build the brand of boxing. People have to understand that a good fight is worth seeing no matter who is in it. There are millions of people who turn on their television sets every Saturday in the United States to watch college football. And they aren?t just watching the same three teams all of the time. There are maybe fifteen games on TV this weekend, possibly more. And there are people who are going to sit there and watch Boise State and Nevada. They might not care about Boise State or Nevada, but it?s the brand of college football they are watching. And we have to get people more interested in the brand of boxing. That?s why it?s so important for HBO to focus not on a handful of fighters but on good fights so people say ?I don?t care who?s fighting on HBO. There are fights on HBO and I know they will be good?.?
Love for boxing? ?People ask me very often why do I like boxing and I always say ?Go to a fight?. It doesn?t have to be a glitzy main event in Las Vegas or Cowboys Stadium or Madison Square Garden or Atlantic City. Go to a club fight and in some ways that is even better because for a much smaller amount of money you can sit up really close where you see the fighter?s faces. TV cosmetizes the violence. Go to a fight, watch what these guys do in the ring and tell me if you don?t get hooked on boxing.?
