According to a report in The New York Times, after 45 years in the game, HBO throwing in the towel on boxing.
The October 27 fight card headlined by Daniel Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko will serve as HBO’s last round.
According to the same report, HBO’s Peter Nelson made the announcement on Thursday morning.
“This is not a subjective decision,” said Nelson in a recent interview. “Our audience research informs us that boxing is no longer a determinant factor for subscribing to HBO.”
There has been a major resurgence in public interest for boxing, with recent Fox/Premier Boxing Champions, ESPN+ and DAZN deals promising to bring boxing to many more fans worldwide.
Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, who recently signed a $1 billion deal with DAZN, feels boxing is in a great spot.
“I think it’s a great time for boxing and to be a fight fan,” said the British boxing promoter.
While that is 100 percent true, it’s sad for many folks that HBO will no longer be a part of the sport.
There is no word on where the current crew of HBO Boxing, which includes play-by-play announcer Jim Lampley, the analyst Max Kellerman, the ringside scorer Harold Lederman and the former boxing champions Andre Ward and Roy Jones Jr., will end up, but one big-time fighters representative has already spoken out.
📺 Gennady Golovkin‘s promoter Tom Loeffler says they have already been approached by Showtime, ESPN and DAZN regarding GGG‘s future bouts. The Kazakh is only interested in ‘fight-by-fight’ deals as he wants to remain flexible at present. [@YahooSports]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 27, 2018
Interestingly, Loeffler says the most appealing non-Canelo opponent for Golovkin: Ryota Murata, a Top Rank affiliated middleweight who is enormously popular in Japan.
— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixYS) September 27, 2018
