Has your interest in boxing decreased since HBO gave up on the sport?

[JCS]

I'm just curious....

[Luckybattles]

Not at all. My interest has decreased more so because of weak undercards, big fights not being made, and the continuous pattern of bird crumbing the boxing fan base by greedy promotors. The quality of HBO fights had been on the decline years before they went off the air. So far, DAZN, and to a lesser extent ESPN+ have done a good job of keeping the sport alive while generating some new interest in the fight game.

[DrDuke]

Absolutely not. I'm indifferent towards these networks. I bother about fighters signing to particular networks only in the sense, that it can be easier to make bouts, if they feature fighters of the same network. But what exact network it is - I don't really care.

[gilgamesh]

It has, but mainly because there's not nearly enough major fights on Television anymore. So I don't get to see nearly as many as I used to. When I try to watch streams they rarely work well, and of late I've given up on even trying with them.

[ironbeard]

No. HBO in and of itself has never affected my interest. I have picked up both DAZN and ESPN+, which more than compensate for HBO, so far, in that I can pickup big fights almost anywhere that I am, on my phone if necessary. I also get a large amount of Eastern Euro / Russian cards on Kartina TV.

The problems with sh!t cards and the fights we want not getting made have existed for many years now. If anything, it seems to be getting slightly better as of late. The Spence v Porter card is an excellent one. 140 is a terrific division right now. HW has become very interesting, post Wlad. LHW has been great for years. Welter is frustrating, but really only because Crawford is isolated in Topstank.

As far as HBO goes, the only thing I miss is Lampley’s work. I don’t listen to in fight commentary. I do think that ESPN+ has assembled a new and superior fight night team. Bradley and Ward are excellent, no nonsense analysts.

Boxing fans are always going to whine. It is in our DNA. The fact is that there is exponentially more content available these days thanks to digital media, and thanks to the sport having become more popular worldwide. There are sites that I will not name here that have terrific libraries of past, recent and current fights. There is more out there than the vast majority of us have time to exploit.

Finally, the eternal refrain of nostalgia from boxing fans about how boxers used to be better and they used to fight each other more has always been overblown. Back in the day there was no access to global fights; Eastern Euro / Soviet fighters were not even in the mix; interest in most lower weight classes was minimal; boxing forums did not exist, etc.

We are the luckiest boxing fans in history, and probably the whiniest.

[gilgamesh]

No. HBO in and of itself has never affected my interest. I have picked up both DAZN and ESPN+, which more than compensate for HBO, so far, in that I can pickup big fights almost anywhere that I am, on my phone if necessary. I also get a large amount of Eastern Euro / Russian cards on Kartina TV.

The problems with sh!t cards and the fights we want not getting made have existed for many years now. If anything, it seems to be getting slightly better as of late. The Spence v Porter card is an excellent one. 140 is a terrific division right now. HW has become very interesting, post Wlad. LHW has been great for years. Welter is frustrating, but really only because Crawford is isolated in Topstank.

As far as HBO goes, the only thing I miss is Lampley’s work. I don’t listen to in fight commentary. I do think that ESPN+ has assembled a new and superior fight night team. Bradley and Ward are excellent, no nonsense analysts.

Boxing fans are always going to whine. It is in our DNA. The fact is that there is exponentially more content available these days thanks to digital media, and thanks to the sport having become more popular worldwide. There are sites that I will not name here that have terrific libraries of past, recent and current fights. There is more out there than the vast majority of us have time to exploit.

Finally, the eternal refrain of nostalgia from boxing fans about how boxers used to be better and they used to fight each other more has always been overblown. Back in the day there was no access to global fights; Eastern Euro / Soviet fighters were not even in the mix; interest in most lower weight classes was minimal; boxing forums did not exist, etc.

We are the luckiest boxing fans in history, and probably the whiniest.

Question about ESPN+ and Dazn. When you're trying to watch something Live can you pause the video, and let the data or whatever catch up if you're on a slow ass connection?

Because that'd be the only reason I don't have either yet. The skepticism as to whether or not it will work right for me in this location.

[ironbeard]

No. HBO in and of itself has never affected my interest. I have picked up both DAZN and ESPN+, which more than compensate for HBO, so far, in that I can pickup big fights almost anywhere that I am, on my phone if necessary. I also get a large amount of Eastern Euro / Russian cards on Kartina TV.

The problems with sh!t cards and the fights we want not getting made have existed for many years now. If anything, it seems to be getting slightly better as of late. The Spence v Porter card is an excellent one. 140 is a terrific division right now. HW has become very interesting, post Wlad. LHW has been great for years. Welter is frustrating, but really only because Crawford is isolated in Topstank.

As far as HBO goes, the only thing I miss is Lampley’s work. I don’t listen to in fight commentary. I do think that ESPN+ has assembled a new and superior fight night team. Bradley and Ward are excellent, no nonsense analysts.

Boxing fans are always going to whine. It is in our DNA. The fact is that there is exponentially more content available these days thanks to digital media, and thanks to the sport having become more popular worldwide. There are sites that I will not name here that have terrific libraries of past, recent and current fights. There is more out there than the vast majority of us have time to exploit.

Finally, the eternal refrain of nostalgia from boxing fans about how boxers used to be better and they used to fight each other more has always been overblown. Back in the day there was no access to global fights; Eastern Euro / Soviet fighters were not even in the mix; interest in most lower weight classes was minimal; boxing forums did not exist, etc.

We are the luckiest boxing fans in history, and probably the whiniest.

Question about ESPN+ and Dazn. When you're trying to watch something Live can you pause the video, and let the data or whatever catch up if you're on a slow ass connection?

Because that'd be the only reason I don't have either yet. The skepticism as to whether or not it will work right for me in this location.

Sorry gil, I cannot answer that for you comprehensively. I believe that is possible with DAZN but I don’t have enough experience with ESPN+ yet, since I just purchased it recently.

I may have the answer by the end of your day though, since I got it for football and US Open coverage in Russia. It is 4:13 pm where I am currently sitting.

I am certain that Saad or someone else can more definitively answer your question.

[Contendeh]

Not at all.
I cut back on eating out here and there and I got DAZN and ESPN+.
I also can catch a lot online and I know someone with Showtime.
Boxing has never been easier to watch.

[Tony1244]

No, but my interest in HBO has decreased as I no longer have it.

[Onetimeonly]

My interest has waned for a long time, but having full cards on dazn and ESPN + is way better than HBO.

[gilgamesh]

My interest has waned for a long time, but having full cards on dazn and ESPN + is way better than HBO.

Are you able to pause Live stuff Saad? Because I'd probably have to be slightly behind the Live feed given my country ass location, but if I could pause it I don't think it'd set me back too badly.

[Tony1244]

My interest has waned for a long time, but having full cards on dazn and ESPN + is way better than HBO.

Are you able to pause Live stuff Saad? Because I'd probably have to be slightly behind the Live feed given my country ass location, but if I could pause it I don't think it'd set me back too badly.

I've gotten so spoiled with the pause. Major reason I haven't cut the cable.

[gilgamesh]

Are you able to pause Live stuff Saad? Because I'd probably have to be slightly behind the Live feed given my country ass location, but if I could pause it I don't think it'd set me back too badly.

I've gotten so spoiled with the pause. Major reason I haven't cut the cable.

Sweet. Yeah I'll probably give 'em a shot here shortly then.

[Onetimeonly]

My interest has waned for a long time, but having full cards on dazn and ESPN + is way better than HBO.

Are you able to pause Live stuff Saad? Because I'd probably have to be slightly behind the Live feed given my country ass location, but if I could pause it I don't think it'd set me back too badly.

You can start it from the beginning hours later. Yeah, you can pause it. Both great platforms. I bought both for a year.

[jujigatame]

To some extent, although incidentally.

HBO was the one huge force pumping a lot of money into the sport that could bring promoters together to make big fights happen. These days you have promoters all operating their own little fiefdoms (TR, PBC, etc.) and there's little incentive to co-promote, so some completely obvious megafights just seem completely impossible to make.

[JCS]

I admit, my interest has decreased. HBO is only slightly at fault.

HBO's production value was second-to-none. Even if the fights were mediocre, the production and commentary team made the broadcast watchable.

In addition, everything is so damn scattered now.... it feels like a science trying to keep up with which fight is being televised and on what channel/platform. And if you're an MMA fan, it is nearly twice as bad.

[ironbeard]

I certainly do not miss Lederman’s sh!t scoring.

[Onetimeonly]

I've gotten so spoiled with the pause. Major reason I haven't cut the cable.

Sweet. Yeah I'll probably give 'em a shot here shortly then.

Just do a free trial to test it.

[Jon Saxon]

I admit, my interest has decreased. HBO is only slightly at fault.

HBO's production value was second-to-none. Even if the fights were mediocre, the production and commentary team made the broadcast watchable.

In addition, everything is so damn scattered now.... it feels like a science trying to keep up with which fight is being televised and on what channel/platform. And if you're an MMA fan, it is nearly twice as bad.

THIS!!
HBO's ring lighting & production has never been equaled and most fans don't understand this.

[Luckybattles]

Good point. The lighting was a. Outstanding part of the production. In contrast, the lighting for showtime boxing gave the appearance the fight was being held in a dimly lit bar. The bright colors on the HBO telecast seems to “pop,” adding to the spectacle of the event.

[oogiebe]

No it hasn't. But, it has affected my ability to see more fighters. The more fights that are telecasted the better. HBO leaving boxing was bad for the sport but not my love of it.

[Evander]

No not at all.
Been a lack of big fights during the summer but things normally pick up for the Autumn and winter season so all is good.

[conan_the_cribber]

No, but my interest in boxing has declined since every channel in Germany has stopped broadcasting fights free-to-air. Ten years ago there was a fight on every second week. Nowadays there seems to be about two fights a year. Even Eurosports, which used to have a weekly boxing show, doesn't broadcast it any more.

HBO was never a factor for me.

[Counter-puncher]

I admit, my interest has decreased. HBO is only slightly at fault.

HBO's production value was second-to-none

funnily enough when I saw the question, the exact phrase that came to mind was 'production values'

[cormack]

their loss

welcome dazn / matchroom / sky

making it affordable $$$