Last week, this space discussed the possibility of Oscar De La Hoya ? in the wake of returning his star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to HBO from Showtime in a significant business move ? one day brokering the same kind of deal with a major network to get boxing back on free television.
But another compelling boxing figure may have beaten him to the punch.
Al Haymon, boxing’s silent, shadowy and influential power broker, is reportedly in the midst of a $20-million deal with NBC to air 24 boxing shows in 2015 ? four of them in prime time. Haymon, a longtime manager and adviser who is as controversial as he is successful, is often criticized for fostering awful mismatches that benefit his fighters. But if this deal goes through, it could be the beginning of the end for the current pay-per-view and premium cable stranglehold on the sport. New era for boxing
Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events, which has a contract with NBC that will soon expire, didn’t offer good news for boxing television titans HBO and Showtime during an interview this week with boxingscene.com.
“(Haymon’s) promised NBC that he’s going to take his fighters off premium cable,” Duva said. “He’s going to put Showtime and HBO out of the puzzle and he’s going to do away with pay-per-view and create an over-the-top network.”
That is as significant a statement as has been uttered in boxing in a quarter-century.
In the 1980s, boxing was regularly seen on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” CBS’ “Sports Spectacular” or NBC’s “Sportsworld.” But then premium cable began to slowly take the bulk of the major boxing events away from network television and, by 1989, virtually all of the significant fights were on HBO and Showtime.
