Golovkin’s contract with HBO ends with Canelo fight

[Ruthless-RKO]

Golovkin’s current contract with HBO will be ending with his second fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night. Golovkin has fought on HBO 14 times since signing with the network many years ago.

It remains to be seen if Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) will be re-signing with the huge network giant or not. Golovkin has been with HBO for the last six years, and they’ve helped him become a star in boxing. However, it’s unclear how committed HBO is to boxing. GGG has been with HBO since 2012 when he beat Grzegorz Proksa by a 5th round knockout.

Losing GGG would take away a lot from HBO’s Boxing telecasts. They would still have Canelo Alvarez, but his future outlook isn’t that good unless his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions continue to feed him beatable fighters like they’ve been doing in matching him against over-the-hill fighters like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Amir Khan, Alfredo Angulo and James Kirkland.

The boxing public isn’t going to be interested in seeing HBO televise Canelo’s fights against marginal middleweights like David Lemieux and Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan. If Canelo isn’t going to face the better middleweights after his match against Golovkin on Saturday, then his popularity will likely diminish no matter which network he fights on.

Many of the top middleweights in the division are fighting on Premier Boxing Champions on Showtime and Fox and on ESPN. Unless Golovkin is going to continue fighting Canelo in the future, it’s debatable whether he should re-sign with HBO for another three to four fights or not. Daniel Jacobs is with HBO. Whether Jacobs stays with HBO in the future is unknown. His promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing USA has a deal with DAZN to stream fights in the U.S. I won’t be surprising to see Jacobs having his future fights streamed on DAZN once his existing contract with HBO runs out.

Loeffler believes that GGG has a lot of options available to him for important fights if he beats Canelo on Saturday. What’s unclear is whether those fights would be on HBO or not.

By Sean Jones

[Ruthless-RKO]

What HBO decide to do on this would be a very big indication with where they're at.

We already know they don't like boxing anymore lol ..

[dagilechia]

I think that he will sign with Hearn, just like Usyk.

[Enlightened-One]

Golovkin should remain a free agent. He’s too old to sign a long-term deal with the likes of ESPN, Showtime, HBO or DAZN, because he can’t have that many bouts left of his career.

If he remains a free agent, as a self-promoted fighter, he can sell the TV rights for his bouts to the highest bidder, regardless of network. He’ll be able to pick-and-choose his opposition without facing any political obstacles.

The thing is though… HBO are known to pay huge signing-on bonus payments for fighters they tie to exclusive deals, as per the undisclosed cheque they gave to Manny Pacquiao, so that is likely to be one of the criteria that Team GGG will consider when evaluating all their options.

Basically, Gennady has to exploit all opportunities that maximise his earnings’ potential, since he needs to fund his pension pot.

That being said, if we consider the promotional/TV network landscape for the top middleweights, this may compel GGG to remain aligned with HBO, because:

• Canelo, Daniel Jacobs, David Lemieux and Gary O’Sullivan are all aligned with HBO in some capacity or other (either via GBP or Matchroom US).

• Hassan N’Dam, Martin Murray and Ryota Murata are all network free agents.

• Billy Joe Saunders may now be tied to ESPN (as per the newly-established partnership between Top Rank and Queensberry Promotions), but I'm not sure whether the Brit has the freedom to compete on rival networks or not, since this new affiliation was established after his bout with Andrade on DAZN had been signed.

• Jermall Charlo is a Showtime fighter. And I'm guessing that this applies to Sergiy Derevyanchenko as well, since he's a fellow Haymon stablemate. So rival content providers will have to pay both fighters huge sums to have their bouts televised on rival networks. We also don’t know if Showtime’s new deal with the PBC will prevent Haymon fighters from competing on rival TV networks or not, since the Derevyanchenko-Jacobs bout was signed prior to the new agreement.

• Demetrius Andrade is with DAZN, but we don’t know if this really matters or not, until the outcome of his bout against Billy Joe Saunders has been determined.

[boxing_rocks]

HBO is clearly shutting down or at least severely downsizing their boxing program. If he beats Canelo, Golovkin shouldn't resign with them or any other network.

[Nightmare Roy]

I imagine Hearn will offer him a very good fight by fight deal, whatever you think of Hearn he seems like he delivers fighters exactly what he says he will, never heard of a fighter in a courtroom battle with him.

[KiwiRider]

I think that he will sign with Hearn, just like Usyk.

Hearn as in Matchroom, or DAZN?

[dagilechia]

I think that he will sign with Hearn, just like Usyk.

Hearn as in Matchroom, or DAZN?

I meant with DAZN, but is that actually any significant difference? Im not that much into it, i thought it's generally the same

[KiwiRider]

I think that he will sign with Hearn, just like Usyk.

Hearn as in Matchroom, or DAZN?

I meant with DAZN, but is that actually any significant difference? Im not that much into it, i thought it's generally the same

Matchroom has a deal with Sky TV and DAZN is internet.

[dagilechia]

Hearn as in Matchroom, or DAZN?

I meant with DAZN, but is that actually any significant difference? Im not that much into it, i thought it's generally the same

Matchroom has a deal with Sky TV and DAZN is internet.

Thank you for explaining. I thought that only fighters signed with Hearn can fight on DAZN. Now i get it.

[Enlightened-One]

I meant with DAZN, but is that actually any significant difference? Im not that much into it, i thought it's generally the same

Matchroom has a deal with Sky TV and DAZN is internet.

Thank you for explaining. I thought that only fighters signed with Hearn can fight on DAZN. Now i get it.

Sky provides coverage to UK sports fans. DAZN has already stated that the UK market is not on their radar.

Other than that, there's really not much difference between both companies, as they both offer streaming services in some sport of capacity.

Sky Sports cannot stage any UK-based fight cards without Eddie Hearn's involvement. There is a legal agreement in place to ensure this (as part of Matchroom UK's long-term contract with that British network). And as far as I know, Eddie Hearn's Matchroom US is the only boxing content provider that DAZN works with.

DAZN and Sky Sports have both agreed to share the boxing events they televise with each other, since they aren't rivals, as they deal with a completely different set of territories.

[KiwiRider]

Matchroom has a deal with Sky TV and DAZN is internet.

Thank you for explaining. I thought that only fighters signed with Hearn can fight on DAZN. Now i get it.

Sky provides coverage to UK sports fans. DAZN has already stated that the UK market is not on their radar.

Other than that, there's really not much difference between both companies, as they both offer streaming services in some sport of capacity.

Sky Sports cannot stage any UK-based fight cards without Eddie Hearn's involvement. There is a legal agreement in place to ensure this (as part of Matchroom UK's long-term contract with that British network). And as far as I know, Eddie Hearn's Matchroom US is the only boxing content provider that DAZN works with.

DAZN and Sky Sports have both agreed to share the boxing events they televise with each other, since they aren't rivals, as they deal with a completely different set of territories.

Thanks EO
You are good at the details.

[pound per pound]

If Golovkin wins, and O' Sullivan gets past David Lemieux, I could see an all HBO fight between the two. In fact even if O'Sullivan looses in a good effort he can get a title shot!

If by chance they both lose, they can also be matched vs each other.

HBO and Golovkin have been good for each other.

[Mexi-Box]

If Golovkin wins, and O' Sullivan gets past David Lemieux, I could see an all HBO fight between the two. In fact even if O'Sullivan looses in a good effort he can get a title shot!

If by chance they both lose, they can also be matched vs each other.

HBO and Golovkin have been good for each other.

HBO no longer sounds like it's interested in boxing, though. HBO and Kovalev were also good and look what happened.