Who is Winning the TV Battle? Consensus: HBO
I have to choose PBC without a doubt. There have been a few big disappointments shown and more last minute replacement opponents than I like to see, but otherwise Al Haymon and his Premier Boxing Champions are killing it right now.
Kudos to Haymon for bringing highly entertaining matchups and title fights back to network TV.
Pick: Premier Boxing Champions
Lou Catalano, Senior Writer
This is less than a battle and more of a forfeiture. Showtime apparently shot its load for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, because they’ve barely aired any boxing at all.
Al Haymon’s “Premier Boxing Champions” network fights have taken a significant number of fights away from Showtime as well.
HBO is winning easily, and probably have already locked it down for the year.
Pick: HBO
Tony Calcara, Staff Writer
Premier Boxing Champions is making noise and is great for the sport. There have been some solid, exciting bouts.
Showtime continues to put on a good show and I love their televising 90 minutes of undercard action on an alternate Showtime channel.
HBO, however, continues to be the measuring stick and presents a superior product all the way around.
Pick: HBO
Leann Perez, Staff Writer
While Showtime and HBO are still bringing in some solid numbers in viewing, Premier Boxing Champions is killing it with primetime television.
First it was with PBC on NBC, but now you can see Premier Boxing Champions on NBC Sports Network, CBS, Spike TV, Bounce, ESPN, and soon Fox Sports 1 as well.
Whether the fights are decently matched or not, or you have an issue with the Al Haymon takeover, you gotta admit it, the man is taking over. One TV at a time, and for free!
Pick: Premier Boxing Champions
Brandon Glass, Contributing Writer
HBO. The emergence of Terrence Crawford, Lucas Matthysse vs. Ruslan Provodnikov, Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland, and Sergey Kovalev vs. Jean Pascal are a few solid reasons why. ‘Nuff said.
Pick: HBO
Yazket Espino, Staff Writer
Have put competitive matchups in almost every boxing telecast.
Pick: HBO
Mike Burnell, Staff Writer
HBO is winning the battle with the number of quality cards and matchups featuring current stars and some excellent prospects.
While HBO/Showtime have better cards than Premier Boxing Champions, I definitely have to give an honorable mention to PBC for bringing free boxing back to network to TV.
Pick: HBO
Alex Burgos, Editor-in-Chief
While Premier Boxing Champions has done a lot to bring boxing back to the mainstream, this category simply boils down to quality over quantity. HBO isn’t free TV, but it’s also not hard to find (or subscribe to).
Almost all of the fight of the midyear candidates were aired on HBO. That says a lot for quality. I won’t complain about the PBC cards because it seems like there is a fight on every weekend (and that’s a good thing), but I’m also not going to rush and say Al Haymon and PBC are the greatest thing to ever happen to the sport either.
Pick: HBO
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