“The Contender,” which combines reality television with boxing, became a hit on ESPN last year after a one-year run on NBC. Now HBO is going to try something similar to help promote the May 5 pay-per-view fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The pay-cable network will produce four half-hour all-access shows featuring the two fighters. The series will be titled “De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7.” The first three shows of the series will air on successive Sundays beginning April 15 at 10:30 p.m. following original episodes of “The Sopranos” and “Entourage.” The final “De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7” show will air the Thursday before the fight at 9:30 p.m.
“Those time slots tell you just how important it is,” HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg said Thursday from his office in New York.
He also said there are some differences between the HBO series and “The Contender.” One difference is no direct prize money to the fighters, although the HBO series should enhance the pay-per-view take.
Another difference, he said, “is that this is not manufactured reality. This is documentary-style reality. We’ll be capturing all the story lines as they unfold.”
Greenburg said this series compares more to “Hard Knocks,” a show HBO did in 2001 and 2002 with NFL Films that took viewers inside the training camps of first the Baltimore Ravens and then the Dallas Cowboys.
As for using a reality series to promote a fight, Greenburg said, “We’ve had this idea for a year but have been waiting for the right fight and the right charismatic personalities to do it.”
