It was about a year ago that Thomas Hauser really got this topic started when he wrote that HBO Sports was facing a significant reduction in it's 2010 budget. http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/hbo-and-boxing-at-a-crossroads This week, the topic was mentioned again on a couple websites, first by Gary Shaw, who said HBO's budget was being cut in... http://www.maxboxing.com/news/sub-lead/shaw-says-he-has-a-lost-perro http://www.theboxingtruth.com/article.php?id=1878
Good. Less money to waste on shite fights. Angulo just turned down $750-000 to fight Martinez, says he wanted the full million. Well fuck him. FUCK HIM. Why waste money on these bums? They are overpaid and don't want to fight.
I can see why Angulo's people wouldn't want the Martinez fight as he'd get schooled. Still it's ridiculous they'd turn it down because of wanting extra money. Angluo hasn't proven shit to this point, yet he thinks he can demand million dollar paydays?
Here is the thing......he was promised 750-large, and that his WBC rating at 154 would be unaffected, and even at 160, he is fighting a guy who is more 154 than he is 160, in Martinez. It's not like it was a raw deal. It's a chunk of change. In asking for a million, he is asking for the same money Derrick Jefferson was paid to travel to fight Wlad on Wlad's birthday.
Angulo's people actually want the fight. It's Angulo himself who turned it down. Shaw offered $750,000. Angulo wanted the full nut (I think DiBella offered Shaw/Angulo a $900,000 package for them to split). Criscio was trying to squeeze out $800,000 but Angulo said all or nothing.
Exactly... and has still appeared on HBO 3 times since then. I'm not going to pretend that Shaw doesn't pocket from his fighters as much as the next promoter, but he definitely earned his keep in keeping Angulo relevant in the wake of a shitty performance in his one step up fight to date.
I believe Martinez was willing to make the fight just a pound or two above the junior middleweight limit.
This. And it is this that forms the essence of my gripe with much of the boxing establishment. Giving Angulo a berth on HBO, even coming off a loss, has everything to do with finances and nothing to do with talent, and that, for me, is unacceptable.
It's not only that he's back on HBO after a loss, it's that there was no demand from HBO to have an immediate rematch or at least stay at the level he lost at...Angulo loses and takes a step down in competition. Similar case with Andre Berto...he narrowly wins a decision against Luis Collazo, a decision that had some controversy with it....so for his next fight, instead of a rematch, he's in the ring with a junior welterweight...a junior welterweight champion, yes, but still, a junior welterweight.
The talent is spread thinly in an awful lot of the divisions. I actually think that the boxers are getting away with a lot of shit today.
Agree. Last thing HBO wants to do is ban fighters from their network with losses. We'll have a bunch of PBF vs. JMM fights. But like you said, losing shouldn't be an opportunity to scale back your competition. And if that's the only alternative a fighter feels he has, then let him do it on ESPN2. And put someone on who's willing to face an opponent at the top level. This is a perfect example of how promoters take advantage of cable networks - or more accurately, how HBO allows promoters to take advantage of them and in turn provide shitty programming to their subscribers. What I don't understand is this attitude from DiBella, that Arum shouldn't be blamed for something cable networks allow him to get away with. What the fuck kind of business is that? Having no concern for the customer? Us, the viewers? Something's fk'd up when a company with such little regard for their customers is able to exist for so long.
Those no two ways about it. It can be called greed, but I just take it as Perro intentionally pricing himself outta an ass whuppin.
It looks even thinner when you're only being shown some of the fighters in the division...and the fighters you are being shown are usually being showcased. If you're seeing Alfredo Angulo half a dozen times on HBO and have yet to see Sergei Dzinziruk, even though he's a champion and arguably the best in the division, despite being the fact that he's now fighting in the US, your view of 154 might not be that clear. HBO's paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars to Angulo who's already been beaten by Cintron, and who's still getting showcases...and who doesn't like the price he's being offered to fight for a third time on HBO this year. How many people in the US knew who Dmitry Pirog was, or had seen him fight, before he beat Danny Jacobs? Pirog's status as a middleweight belt holder went virtually unknown in the US...until he was brought in to lose his title to an American promoted by Golden Boy. Now he has an American presence...but it's come about largely by accident. Luckily for boxing fans, G underestimated Pirog...or over-estimated Jacobs...either way, very good match-up going in, with an entertaining result. Similar scenario with Marcos Maidana. He'd had fights in Argentina and Germany, and fought for a title in a close bout with Kotelnik, but it wasn't until he was brought in as a replacement for Kotelink in what was to be Victor Ortiz's breakout fight as a headliner on HBO, did people in the US really get to see him...so what does HBO do? They turn around and give Maidana a showcase, but a fight with Alexander or Bradley hasn't panned out yet. Which is to say, when good match-ups happen on HBOHBO PPV, it's usually by accident.
Did Andre Berto price himself out of a fight with Shane Mosley and get a fight with another junior welterweight? http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/the-first-lady-of-promoting-kathy-duva
This is why I no longer pay for HBO. I've already trimmed my Boxing Budget...because paying for HBO gets you shit like this.
