Fightful Boxing Newsletter (9/13): Canelo vs. GGG 2 Preview, PBC TV Deals, Garcia vs. Porter
Fightful Boxing Newsletter (9/13) Table Of Contents:
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 1: Roman Gonzalez vs. Moises Fuentes (Page 1)
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 2: Gary O’Sullivan vs. David Lemieux (Page 2)
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 3: Jaime Munguia vs. Brandon Cook (Page 3)
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 4: The Main Event (Page 4)
- Showtime Championship Boxing: Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter Review (Page 5)
- PBC-FOX-Showtime TV Deals (Page 6)
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 1: Roman Gonzalez vs. Moises Fuentes
There is perhaps no bigger name in boxing’s lower weight classes in the past 10 years than Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, but in the past 18 months, he has all but dropped off the face of the sport. A controversial loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in March 2017 cost Gonzalez his WBC super flyweight title and then he got brutally knocked out in the rematch one year ago on the first “SuperFly” card.
Gonzalez was supposed to fight on the May 5 HBO telecast headlined by Gennady Golovkin vs. Vanes Martirosyan, but due to visa issues, he was unable to fly out of Nicaragua and fight in the United States, meaning his return fight would take a while longer.
Since then, Gonzalez has been completely out of the super flyweight picture where not many even consider him a contender. Gonzalez is back to square one and will now have to work his way back up and start getting confidence and it all starts with this fight against Moises Fuentes. The intrigue in this fight is not whether or not Gonzalez can win (he’s a big favorite to win if he is coming off two straight losses with the last one being a year ago), but whether or not Gonzalez can shake off the knockout loss to Sor Rungvisai and turn back the clock against a solid opponent in Fuentes. What certainly doesn’t help in Gonzalez’s favor is the ring rust since the longest Gonzalez has ever gone without fighting. It shouldn’t factor in too much, but it is something to watch out.
Although many had heard of Fuentes, he certainly sports one of the more impressive resumes in the lower weight classes of the sport. Fuentes previously held a world title at 105 pounds and has faced numerous top boxers, including Daigo Higa, Kosei Tanaka and Donnie Nietes.
A win for Gonzalez would almost surely guarantee him a title shot within the next 6-9 months, likely against WBA super flyweight champion Kal Yafai. Yafai may have another title defense, possibly against undefeated Australian contender Andrew Moloney before the end of the year, but after that, Gonzalez will likely be the first in line to challenge for the title in 2019, if it were up to Yafai, who has been lobbying for a fight against Gonzalez for well over a year.
Tale of the Tape:
Roman Gonzalez:
Record: 46-2 (38 KO)
Age: 31
Height: 5’3”
Reach: 64”
Titles Won: WBA Minimumweight, WBA Light Flyweight, WBC Flyweight, WBC Super Flyweight World Titles
Notable Opponents: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Carlos Cuadras, McWilliams Arroyo, Brian Viloria, Akira Yaegashi, Juan Francisco Estrada, Yutaka Niida, Manuel Vargas
Moises Fuentes:
Record: 25-5-1 (14 KO)
Age: 30
Height: 5’6.5”
Reach: 68”
Titles Won: WBO Minimumweight World Title
Notable Opponents: Daigo Higa, Kosei Tanaka, Donnie Nietes, Ivan Calderon, Raul Garcia
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 2: Gary O’Sullivan vs. David Lemieux
Even though there are no titles at stake, this fight is perhaps the most compelling fight on paper. The question will be how Lemieux will feel cutting weight to make the middleweight limit. Lemieux missed weight in his last fight and his manager said after the fight that Lemieux would be moving to super middleweight. This appeared even more apparent after Lemieux was placed in the top 15 in the WBC rankings at super middleweight.
Lemieux has been on somewhat of a downward spiral in his career since his loss to Gennady Golovkin a few years back. Lemieux’s best win was a sensational knockout victory over Curtis Stevens in 2016, but after that, he was thoroughly outboxed, outmatch and classed by WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders last December. In addition, Lemieux missed weight in his last fight and seemed headed for super middleweight. But then the feud between him and O’Sullivan started and gave Lemieux another excuse to remain at middleweight as a pay-per-view fight is extremely hard to pass up especially if this is as good as it will get Lemieux now if he doesn’t get some major wins soon.
O’Sullivan, who for months, had claimed to be Alvarez’s first opponent after his rematch against Golovkin, was looking for an opponent for September 15 and a fight against Lemieux does make the most logical sense. Lemieux is a quality middleweight that is not at a world class level in 2018, but can give anybody else in the division some trouble. Although the winner of that fight would not be anyone’s first choice to fight the winner of Alvarez vs. Golovkin, with millions of people tuning in to watch the fight, it wouldn’t be terrible matchmaking if Alvarez and O’Sullivan fight each other next regardless of the results, though it wouldn’t make sense if Alvarez wins and O’Sullivan loses and Golden Boy Promotions matches the two boxers next for a fight at the end of the year or in early 2019.
The winner of this fight could potentially fight Alvarez on a rumored December boxing card at Madison Square Garden, but that also depends heavily on whether or not the Mexican can take down Golovkin and it’s a 50-50 chance that happens. But even if Alvarez doesn’t end up victorious in his fight, the fight between O’Sullivan and Lemieux has a strong chance to be the most competitive fight of the entire undercard.
Tale of the Tape:
Gary O’Sullivan:
Record: 28-2 (20 KO)
Age: 34
Height: 5’10”
Titles Won: WBA-NABA Middleweight, WBO Intercontinental Middleweight Titles
Notable Opponents: Antoine Douglas, Chris Eubank Jr., Billy Joe Saunders
David Lemieux:
Record: 39-4 (33 KO)
Age: 29
Height: 5’9.5”
Reach: 70”
Titles Won: IBF Middleweight World Title
Notable Opponents: Billy Joe Saunders, Gennady Golovkin, Hassan N’Dam, Marco Antonio Rubio
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 3: Jaime Munguia vs. Brandon Cook
Munguia, the current WBO junior middleweight titleholder, is expected to defend his title in the co-main event fight, marking his third world title fight in just four months. Munguia won the title off of Sadam Ali back in May when Munguia knocked the former champion. Munguia then retained his title against mandatory challenger Liam Smith on July 21. Afterwards, one would normally think that Smith would probably fight at the end of the year at the earliest, considering that Munguia has fought four times in 2018 already.
As for Munguia’s opponent, it will most likely be against Brandon Cook. Cook went on Twitter to say that he has an announcement coming soon and that it is a major one. A fan asked him if that announcement was going to be a fight on the September 22 boxing card at Wembley Stadium, but Cook denied it saying it was an opportunity he cannot pass up.
Of course, anybody with common sense and more than 15 seconds to think about would come to the obvious conclusion that this announcement is going to be a shot at the WBO 154-pound title on the September 15 PPV. Cook is ranked No. 4 in the WBO rankings at that weight and Munguia is able to defend his title against anybody ranked in the top 15.
A fight against Cook means this would be Munguia’s fifth fight in just seven months. While this would be an appropriate schedule for a 21-year-old rising prospect, for a world champion this would be somewhat uncommon.
In this day and age, one would forget about how champions and great boxers from decades ago fought on a more frequent basis than the top boxers of this current era, whom would fight once or twice a year (maybe three times, but even that isn’t common). It’s obvious that Munguia is clearly being pushed by Golden Boy and HBO to be the next Mexican superstar boxer and he does have the tools to get there.
Munguia is an entertaining fighter, a knockout artist and has plenty of time to fight in big fights and to work on any mechanical and defensive flaws shown in the fight against Smith. In that fight, Smith clearly had the power advantage, but often left himself wide open, mainly when he’s throwing hooks to the side of his opponent’s head, leaving Munguia open to any counter jabs, which Smith was able to do at times. Munguia also needs to work on tightening his punches as any boxer that has power comparable to Munguia, like Jermell Charlo or Jarrett Hurd, would easily dispose of him inside of five rounds if Munguia is not careful. Smith did not have such power to stop Munguia and Munguia started to improve about halfway through the fight, string together a series of punches and stop Smith.
When Munguia fought Smith, the HBO team clearly was trying to build Munguia as this can’t-miss, unbelievable megastar in the making.
When Munguia knocked out Ali, everybody was excited to see him make noise at 154 pounds and then perhaps at 160 pounds, but when HBO talked about Munguia on the Smith fight, the praise was hyperbolic in mythical proportions, Tyson-esque in its nature, which started to turn fans watching the show off a little bit (I watched the fight live with the Spanish commentary team, which was far more tame in its depiction of Munguia’s abilities by comparison).
With Munguia coming out of the Smith fight with relatively little damage done to him, Golden Boy and HBO are looking to strike while the iron is hot and there is no bigger event to make a potential new Mexican superstar than the September 15 PPV, which falls on Mexican Independence Day weekend.
Cook isn’t the hardest puncher out there at 154 pounds and I don’t think he provides a bigger challenge than Smith, on paper. What’s going to be interesting is how Cook and Munguia handle the information on how to beat the young champion provided by Smith. I wouldn’t be surprised if the somewhat short training camp will be focused primarily on fixing his fundamental issues, which can be fixed. The issue of fighting this many fights in such a short span isn’t the problem, but it’s putting him out there before really fixing the issues in his boxing, which are glaring problems and ones any of the other champions can easily take advantage of.
Cook may not be the opponent to have the necessary tools to take out Munguia and he provides a sufficient enough of a challenge for Munguia to keep getting experience (another problem Munguia would have against the other older, far more experienced champions).
The best case scenario for Munguia would be to dominate Cook in say five or six rounds, showcase hs incredible power while showing better defense and tighter punching. Munguia would then go for any of the top challengers starting in 2019, hoping to build towards a unification fight with either Hurd or Charlo down the road.
Tale of the Tape:
Jaime Munguia:
Record: 30-0 (25 KO)
Age: 21
Height: 6’0”
Titles Won: WBO Junior Middleweight World Title
Notable Opponents: Sadam Ali, Liam Smith
Brandon Cook:
Record: 20-1 (13 KO)
Age: 32
Titles Won: WBA-NABA Junior Middleweight, WBA Intercontinental Junior Middleweight, IBF North American Junior Middleweight Titles
Notable Opponents: Kanat Islam
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin Preview Part 4: The Main Event
The rematch one year in the making is finally here. The atmosphere for the second fight is completely different to the first fight, but at the end of the day, it will be the same two fighters competing for the unified 160-pound titles and the unofficial title of being the top star in boxing today.
The fight, for Golovkin’s WBA, WBC and IBO middleweight titles as well as the vacant Ring Magazine belt, looks to end a rivalry that has been brewing for a long time. The two were supposed to have their rematch back in May, but after Alvarez tested positive for clenbuterol back in February, the fight was scrapped for Cinco De Mayo weekend.
The first encounter between the two boxers was a middleweight classic with both men landing some of their best shots at each other, but it did not produce a winner. The 2017 fight ended in a controversial split draw that saw Alvarez get a 118-110 score from judge Adalaide Byrd, a score that has since then been ridiculed by the boxing world, but set the stage for the rematch to eventually happen.
Unlike the first fight, where it was a simple battle of the best fighting the best, this rematch has gotten much more personal, with the two men holding a grudge for each other that stemmed from the failed May 5 rematch. For Golovkin, he still does not believe that Alvarez did not willingly ingested clenbuterol while Alvarez believes his character is being attacked and resent Golovkin for it.
The key for Golovkin in this rematch is whether or not he can get a better start offensively compared to the first fight. In the first encounter between the two, Golovkin was somewhat cautious and didn’t throw nearly as much punches as he normally does in the first three rounds of the fight. Whether or not Golovkin respected Alvarez’s countering abilities or his power too much may be the reason for the slow start. Trainer Abel Sanchez is definitely looking to correct that throughout training camp and a faster start could mean a better chance to win the fight if it goes the distance.
Another thing Golovkin will have to work on is his body punching. To say Golovkin’s body punching was below average in the first fight would be an understatement and nonexistent would be a far better word for it. After having only landed eight body shots against Alvarez in the opening fight, Golovkin will need to connect more body punches in order to chip away at Alvarez’s stamina.
For Alvarez, the key to the fight would be managing to exploit Golovkin’s defensive miscues, particularly whenever he lets his hands go. Although Golovkin has been pretty much unstoppable at this point, he is still primarily a pressure fighter and Alvarez is fast enough to maneuver his way out of Golovkin’s punches. We’ve already seen Alvarez be able to take a punch, so it’s a question of whether or not Alvarez is willing to go toe-to-toe with Golovkin.
Alvarez will also need to stay away from the ropes as much as possible. In the first fight, Alvarez was lucky to have Golovkin not take advantage of Alvarez’s flawed defense when he’s up against the ropes, but with the benefit of hindsight and a whole year to improve, Alvarez will likely not be as lucky in the rematch as he was in the first fight if he continues to stay on the ropes and leave an opportunity for Golovkin to throw body punches at Alvarez.
If you want to take a guess as to what the final buyrate will be, be my guest. The easy answer for what would be considered a successful buyrate would be at least 1.3 million buys, the reported buyrate for the first fight. One thing the 2017 fight has going for it is that it no longer has it contend with the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor pay-per-view taking place three weeks prior. That alone could be potentially resulted in around 100,000 buys.
One thing going against the pay-per-view is that the relatively lackluster marketing for the fight won’t be enough to bring the non-boxing fans. The question is whether or not people will go out of their way to buy for the pay-per-view because fans will, but it’s the non-boxing crowd where the pay-per-view can certainly be successful. Unfortunately, outside of some ESPN coverage, there hasn’t been any big mainstream coverage on the event, meaning some people who could be enticed to watch the show may not even know that the pay-per-view is event taking place on Saturday.
Oscar De La Hoya recently said he believes the fight can do two million buys, making it the fifth U.S. boxing pay-per-view to reach that number. There is a chance of that happening, but a more reasonable number is around 1.5 million buys.
Tale of the Tape:
Canelo Alvarez:
Record: 49-1-2 (34 KO)
Age: 28
Height: 5’8”
Reach: 70.5”
Titles Won: WBO Junior Middleweight, WBC Middleweight, WBC Junior Middleweight, WBA Junior Middleweight World Titles
Notable Opponents: Gennady Golovkin, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Liam Smith, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland, Erislandy Lara, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Austin Trout, Shane Mosley
Gennady Golovkin:
Record: 38-0-1 (34 KO)
Age: 36
Height: 5’10.5”
Reach: 70”
Titles Won: WBC Middleweight, WBA Middleweight, IBF Middleweight, IBO Middleweight World Titles
Notable Opponents: Canelo Alvarez, Daniel Jacobs, Kell Brook, David Lemieux, Marco Antonio Rubio
Showtime Championship Boxing: Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter Review
Showtime returned to the Barclays Center for the fourth time in 2018 and had perhaps one of their most well-rounded boxing cards of the year, highlighted by a WBC welterweight title fight between Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter.
Porter ended up as the big winner of the night, claiming the vacant WBC title that was surrendered by Keith Thurman months ago after not defending the belt once. The title fight ended with Porter winning a very narrow decision to claim his second world title.
The event capped off a feud between the two welterweights that has been going on for well over a year. Strangely enough, this all started when WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman had stated he would consider making a final title eliminator between Garcia and Porter for the summer or fall of 2017. Porter would then address the rumors by dressing up as The Undertaker and cutting a pro wrestling-type of promo in a Macho Man Randy Savage voice.
The two would go back-and-forth and the two sides would go on to fight in their respective WBC title eliminators. When Garcia won his WBC eliminator this past February, Porter stormed the ring and challenged Garcia to a fight with the winner facing Thurman in a rematch for the welterweight world title.
Months after that face-off, Thurman vacated the WBC title as he has yet to defend it due to elbow surgery (but would go on to keep the WBA welterweight title he had prior to the fight against Garcia. Since both Garcia and Porter had won title eliminators, they were naturally the only two fighters who could fight for the vacant title.
The main event for the Barclays Center card averaged 619,000 viewers and peaked at 690,000 viewers, making it the fourth-highest viewership for a Showtime-televised fight in 2018 with the other three being Mikey Garcia vs. Robert Easter Jr., Adrien Broner vs. Jessie Vargas and Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz.
As for the other fights on the Showtime tripleheader, Yordenis Ugas’ victory over Cesar Barrionuevo averaged 447,000 viewers and peaked at 510,000 viewers and Charles Martin vs. Adam Kownacki averaged 395,000 viewers, peaking at 503,000.
Showtime also streamed on YouTube certain fights of the untelevised portion of the undercard with the top fight being Amanda Serrano’s historic WBO junior welterweight title win, making her the third boxer in history to win a world title in six weight classes. The two-hour undercard stream on YouTube currently has approximately 127,000 viewers as of the evening September 12.
Overall, the viewership numbers were not bad, but I personally had expected them to be much higher. If anything, this just goes to show how much Garcia’s momentum had cooled off after his 2017 unification fight against Thurman attracted more than three million viewers on CBS back in March 2017. Typically, welterweight title fights do well in the viewership when the matchup is an even one.
But the fact that Garcia had fought just once since that Thurman loss (an uninspired knockout victory over Brandon Rios in February) and Porter only fought twice since the end of summer 2016, the non-boxing fans wasn’t going to be attracted to this fight at all. The show had an official attendance of 13,058, which was well within range of expectations given how hot the ticket sales were in the last few weeks before the fight.
The problem wasn’t attracting boxing fans to watch the fight (there was absolutely no question this was the most attractive welterweight fight this year by a country mile), but there wasn’t much extra promotion to make this fight feel more special than some of Showtime’s previous boxing cards this year.
The one thing that Showtime did work hard on was the inclusion of multiple boxing stars in attendance of the fight, including Thurman, IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., WBA super featherweight champion Gervonta Davis, former champions Andre Berto and Adrien Broner, unified junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd, WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo and interim WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo. However, this really was more for the Barclays fans to make the experience a more memorable one and television viewers at home didn’t really factor much into this decision. I will commend them on doing stuff like this as it makes the live experience that much greater and would be a great way to boost ticket sales at the last minute.
Showtime Championship Boxing September 8 Results:
Amanda Serrano defeated Yamila Esther Reynoso by UD (99-91, 99-91, 99-91) to win the vacant WBO women’s junior welterweight title: The fight went relatively smooth for Serrano as she outboxed and outbrawled Reynoso, a two-time world title challenger. Reynoso hung in there, providing at least a tough challenge for Serrano to win by knockout. Unfortunately for Reynoso, she wasn’t able to stop Serrano’s onslaught of punches and by the ninth round, Reynoso was bleeding badly from her nose. Reynoso did manage to land several hard right hands throughout the fight and even cornered the champion at times. Serrano was able to fend off virtually everything Reynoso threw at her. Serrano is now the third boxer in history to win a world title in six weight classes, joining Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya as the only boxers to have ever accomplished such a feat. Serrano is interested in moving up in weight again only to challenge for the undisputed women’s welterweight titles being held by Cecilia Braekhus. That fight does seem unlikely, but if it does happen, and Serrano actually defeats Braekhus, there should be little doubt that Serrano is the greatest women’s boxer of all time.
Adam Kownacki defeated Charles Martin by UD (96-94, 96-94, 96-94): This was the best televised fight of the night across both HBO and Showtime. Kownacki and Martin started the fight by trading numerous shots, but for the first five rounds at least, Martin had been receiving slightly more damage from those exchanges. Kownacki then hit a wall starting in the seventh round and was not throwing as much as he did in the first half of the fight. Martin then started to hurt Kownacki in the ninth round and even had chances to potentially knock him down. The final round saw both men land hard left and right hooks to each other. Martin was the first to get seriously hurt in the round and was even holding onto the ropes, but referee Michael Griffin didn’t seem to notice. With about 45 seconds left in the round, Martin stunned Kownacki with a couple of hooks to the temple and both men ended the fight with more big power punch exchanges. The punches thrown throughout the fight were slow, but they packed a punch and the action itself was nonstop. This was the biggest win of Kownacki’s career, but he will need to work on his stamina a bit more if he hopes to seriously challenge for a world heavyweight title. Looking at his progression and the heavyweight title picture, I project that Kownacki will be ready to fight for a title in 2020 at the earliest.
Yordenis Ugas defeated Cesar Miguel Barrionuevo by UD (120-108, 120-108, 119-109) to win a WBC welterweight title eliminator: In a vacuum, this fight was fine for it being a guy dominating throughout all 12 rounds, but this Brooklyn crowd was already booing this fight early after witnessing the fight between Kownacki and Martin just then. Ugas essentially worked the body and cut off the ring for Barrionuevo in every round. Barrionuevo was making his U.S. debut and in every conceivable way, this was a failure. Barrionuevo wasn’t someone popping on anyone’s radar, but with 24 KO victories and five of the last six fights ending in a knockout victory, the least anyone expected was to at least push Ugas around for a little bit. This was a WBC title eliminator, but by no means does this win make Ugas the mandatory challenger and even if it did, Porter’s first WBC title defense would not be against Ugas after this fight. This was a dominant performance for Ugas, but it didn’t make anyone want to see Ugas challenge for a title anytime soon.
Shawn Porter defeated Danny Garcia by UD (115-113, 115-113, 116-112) to win the vacant WBC welterweight title: On a stacked welterweight division, there hasn’t been a lot of competitive fights, but this one delivered at the very least on giving Showtime viewers and attendees at the Barclays Center a back-and-forth fight that will come down to the wire. At the very least, this was the most competitive welterweight world title fight since Garcia’s failed unification attempt against Thurman at the Barclays Center 18 months ago. The theme of this fight was that Porter would overwhelm Garcia with his high volume of punches thrown and taking Garcia out of his gameplan while Garcia would simply pick and choose his spots and land the higher percentage punches.
The first few rounds saw Garcia open up with select left hooks finding the mark on Porter. In the first round, Garcia landed a counter left hook to momentarily stun Porter, but Porter was able to shake it off. The bout would then be physical and scrappy as expected and Porter took the fight to the inside. The two boxers would clinch numerous times throughout the fight, but there was not an idle moment as both men tried to land their punches.
Porter started to get into second gear starting in the seventh round when he landed his body shots more often. Porter’s footwork improved as the fight got deeper, allowing him to dodge some of Garcia’s punches and put the former IBF welterweight champion in better position to land his punches. The eighth round was perhaps Porter’s best round of the fight, when he threw nearly 100 punches, a career-high for him. Garcia went back to throwing hooks in the ninth round, looking to make a comeback after Porter’s flurry of shots from the round prior. Garcia managed to land a double counter left hook midway in the ninth round, gaining some much-needed momentum. The final round saw Porter stick and move, then work the body with several three-punch combinations to Garcia’s ribs. Garcia landed a four-punch combination of hooks upstairs and the last 30 seconds of the fight saw both men trade body shots until the end.
After the fight, Spence appeared in the ring, looking to have a face-off with Porter, hinting at a potential unification fight. Porter said it will be the easiest boxing fight in the world to make, though that was just a line thrown in for the crowd at Brooklyn. A unification fight between the two is somewhat unlikely even after talks of Spence fighting WBC and IBF lightweight champion Mikey Garcia seems to have cooled off just for a bit. Porter will likely have to defend his WBC title against either Thurman, Ugas or Berto as his first defense.
PBC-FOX-Showtime TV Deals
With the sport of boxing starting to have a growing presence in the United States, Showtime and FOX are ready to continue broadcasting events with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions and its stable of world-class boxers.
Showtime and PBC announced a three-year extension to its current broadcasting deal. According to the announcement, “the deal calls for a monthly series of events” to be televised on Showtime.
The deal gives Showtime more opportunities to stake its claim as the top boxing network in the United States in an ear where HBO is gradually decreasing the number of boxing events per year and ESPN is getting back into boxing thanks to its partnership with Top Rank Boxing.
Earlier this year, Showtime staged a special event called the “Boxing Upfront,” announcing a series of world championship fights taking place throughout the year. Though some fights that was previously announced weren’t able to be made, Showtime’s 2018 ensured that it was the U.S. television network that has ensured consistent broadcasts with world championship fights being regularly shown.
The new deal calls for even more boxing broadcasts to be shown on Showtime starting in 2019 after Showtime projects to have more than 30 boxing events broadcast by the end of 2018. No fights were announced for 2019 in the announcement, but Showtime is currently planning its boxing schedule and will unveil its first slate of boxing events in January 2019.
PBC and FOX agreed to a multi-year television deal that will have the boxing promotion have a larger presence on the network for years to come. The report states that PBC will work with an annual budget of more than $50 million to organize boxing cards on both FOX and FS1.
That deal also gives PBC a budget estimated at over $50 million which, according to an industry source who spoke to Ring TV, would result in PBC having a bigger annual budget than the $125 million annual budget Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA has with its own U.S. streaming deal with Perform Group’s DAZN.
In the FOX deal, which kicks off this December, calls for “10 championship-level fights on FOX, with at least another 12 shows on FS1.” This would be a significant increase from the amount of boxing cards being shown on FOX. This year so far, there has been only a few boxing fights on FOX, but none of them were world title fights.
PBC is now the third major boxing company to strike big broadcasting deals in the United States. Aside from PBC’s deals with FOX and Showtime, as well as Matchroom Boxing USA’s streaming deal with Perform Group, Top Rank Boxing also signed a broadcasting deal with ESPN, an extension on its current deal that will now run for the next seven years.
The last time FOX had a boxing card was this past August when Andre Berto defeated Devon Alexander by split decision in the main event. That fight averaged more than a million viewers, making it one of the most-watched boxing fights on television in the United States this year.
