HBO to no longer feature live boxing, as of 2019.

[Zhuge]

I'm fairly surprised by this. While their dedication to boxing has certainly waned, I'm surprised to see them move away from it. Then again, I was also surprised when ESPN canned Friday Night Fights. I have to wonder if Showtime will be next? After all, they are no longer competing with HBO for fights -- will it continue to be worth the money to them to show them? How many of their subscribers care about boxing these days?

[JCS]

Apparently Lampley is sticking around... maybe his Fight Game show does as well....

[SenorPipino]

Apparently Lampley is sticking around... maybe his Fight Game show does as well....

I would think they would can that program.

No reason to promote boxing anymore when it no longer benefits HBO.

Eventually the network will pretend that it never televised boxing.

[SenorPipino]

It brings a tear to my eye, but the handwriting has been on the wall for several years.

I've mulled dropping HBO for several years as its boxing quality declined. But I never pulled the plug.

Now the decision is easy, although I'll wait until after the Ali documentary airs.

But I'll miss Kellerman. His HBO personna was a toned down version of the loud New Yorker we saw 20 years ago on ESPN2.

Love him or despise him, Kellerman has become quite a name in boxing broadcasting and there's no question that he'll turn up elsewhere.

RIP HBO boxing. We'll always have great memories of some of your mythic fights.

HBO Boxing broadcasts are what pulled me in, and made me a fan in the first place. So it's definitely sad to see it come to an end.

What's the first HBO bout you remember watching?

Mine was the classic 1982 Orange Bowl showdown between Arguello and Pryor.

It paved the way for HBO becoming synonymous with top notch, quality boxing.

[victor-romeo]

I'll drop HBO after Jacobs-Dervechenkyo. You could see this was the direction they were headed but didn't think they would go for the all out dropping of it.

KInd of Scary as HBO was a kind of safety net for boxing after the big networks stopped carrying boxing. next I will get espn app and maybe try DAZN not ready for showtime yet.

[boxing_rocks]

[victor-romeo]

Great graphic and scary, you can see how many of the fighters I have followed I learned about there, even ones who left them like Floyd and Lomachenko, I fear for American boxing without HBO....

[gilgamesh]

It brings a tear to my eye, but the handwriting has been on the wall for several years.

I've mulled dropping HBO for several years as its boxing quality declined. But I never pulled the plug.

Now the decision is easy, although I'll wait until after the Ali documentary airs.

But I'll miss Kellerman. His HBO personna was a toned down version of the loud New Yorker we saw 20 years ago on ESPN2.

Love him or despise him, Kellerman has become quite a name in boxing broadcasting and there's no question that he'll turn up elsewhere.

RIP HBO boxing. We'll always have great memories of some of your mythic fights.

HBO Boxing broadcasts are what pulled me in, and made me a fan in the first place. So it's definitely sad to see it come to an end.

What's the first HBO bout you remember watching?

Mine was the classic 1982 Orange Bowl showdown between Arguello and Pryor.

It paved the way for HBO becoming synonymous with top notch, quality boxing.

The replay of Lewis vs Rahman 2. It was a Free HBO weekend. I saw the upcoming schedule of bouts, and recognized the name of Evander Holyfield who was gonna be in an upcoming bout, and I just became intrigued enough to start following the sport, and staying tuned.

Leonard Dorin vs Raul Balbi at the beginning of 2002 was the one that hooked me for life.

[Deadendgeneration]

Wasn't Canelo HBO's golden goose and his deal just ended. Perhaps he decided to look for greener pastures and they realised they had no more real money makers.

Apologies if I'm wrong, it's hard to keep up with the American scenes and who's on what network.

[boxing_rocks]

No, it was a strategic decision by HBO which had nothing to do with any particular boxers. Here is a good article explaining the move:

http://ucnlive.com/hbo-bows-boxing/#.W6 ... io.twitter

[Blodhemn]

Good riddance. Dropped them a while ago. HBO did more harm than good over the last few years. Budget matchmaking -with worthless, broken commentary promoting bad decisions. Yes, let's just pay for PPV for the few good matchups while the tv crew forces a narrative. It's like paying someone to lie to you, which some people enjoy, but that sort of thing usually exists in seedy areas and that's pretty much boxing - just a seedy sport.

[Evander]

HBO have been showing signs of bailing on the sport for sometime.
I'm not going to dog them as they have been superb for he most part and have an excellent track record overall.
Maybe they need to step away for a period and let boxing make it's way and then regroup later on.
The boxing team at HBO are very good and will be missed for the time being, let's hope it's only on a temporary basis.

[drunkenpiper36]

I grew up on HBO. First fight I ever saw in there was Hagler vs Leonard. I’ll still watch their channel because they have awesome series like game of thrones and many others.

[wvboxer]

I'm sad. HBO really got me into boxing in the 80's. That's my golden age really. 1985 - 2000. I followed a few fighters after that like Shane Mosley but I haven't followed the sport much for years. Just no one that grabbed me. I guess I'll catch some fights in ESPN & Fox. I don't have Showtime & don't stream much. I don't want to have to make an effort to watch boxing. I just want to turn on the tv & it be there. I'm too old school I guess.

[SenorPipino]

The word on another forum was that HBO was trying to line up a December doubleheader featuring both Bivol and Munguia.

Anyone else hear about this or is it just some posters imagination?

[boxing_rocks]

It's like paying someone to lie to you

So, like paying taxes ?

[SenorPipino]

It's like paying someone to lie to you

So, like paying taxes ?

Or supporting a wife.

[Oiky]

Saw it coming they was slowly falling off the wagon more and more wasn't they

[boxing_rocks]

https://www.BS.com/lampley-on- ... ll--132365

“HBO identity is to be No. 1 and the talent pool tectonically shifted against us over the past few years. Cost of becoming dominant again not worth paying for what research says about viewer impact. HBO identity is to be No. 1 in all we do. If I were CEO I probably would have made same call.”

Unrelated:

Lennox was by far the best heavyweight I covered. Prime Lennox was too good for Mike and Evander.

“Whacked Bowe in Olympic final and Riddick refused to fight him in pros. Prime Lennox too good for Wladimir, too. His overhand right one of the hardest punches ever in the sport. Making it to round eight vs. Lennox was Mike's greatest show of courage, for which he got no credit.”

[Enlightened-One]

https://www.BS.com/lampley-on- ... ll--132365

“HBO identity is to be No. 1 and the talent pool tectonically shifted against us over the past few years. Cost of becoming dominant again not worth paying for what research says about viewer impact. HBO identity is to be No. 1 in all we do. If I were CEO I probably would have made same call.”

HBO’s Jim Lampley frequently and aggressively criticised the PBC and often celebrated their alleged demise, now he’s soon to be unemployed, it seems ironic that both him and his employer will be exiting the sport of boxing long before Al Haymon does

[marvelous marv]

HBO doesn't want to be involved unless they are number 1 in providing fights. Hard to do when you wont work with PBC or Top Rank. They had access to both stables first and let them get away.

I think they really messed up by not picking up the WBSS last year. It would have provided a lot of high level fights. Could have helped them survive.