HBO Sports “executive search” to find a replacement for longtime department president Ross Greenburg went all the way from Sixth Avenue, across Seventh Avenue and then over to Broadway and the main offices of rival prime cable network Showtime. Word circulating throught the boxing world Thursday morning, and something that was then confirmed by two former Showtime boxing executives, is that Greenburg’s big shoes will be filled by his former rival, Showtime’s Ken Hershman. The more you think about it, this lateral move across midtown Manhattan is a compliment from HBO to Hershman and Showtime, the latter network always working with a smaller boxing budget than does the richer HBO.(Credit for the “scoop” goes to the website of trade publication, Broadcasting & Cable.) “It’s a done deal, like Theo Epstein leaving the Red Sox and going to take over the lowly Chicago Cubs,” one ex-Showtime suit told me. “I don’t when Theo starts at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field but Hershman reports for duty at HBO in January.” Hershman was a valued employee at Showtime as the guy buying or not boxing events and as the brains behind the Super Middleweight Tournament. Hershman fits in Greenburg’s post because he also handled sports programming not connected to boxing or mixed martial arts such as “Inside The NFL.”
