What Does it Mean for HBO to "Focus" on Making Williams-Martinez II?

by John Chavez

I'm not quite so sure what "focusing on making a fight" means for the player with the deep pockets.

My independent Pay-Per-View projections for Williams-Martinez II falls somewhere under the 75,000 range. Being that the much more heavily promoted Jermain Taylor and Kelly Pavlik rematch did less than stellar PPV figures for their affair in 2008 in a much better economy incomparison to that of today, I'd challenge promoters Lou Dibella and Dan Goosen to make a counter argument.

Back in 2007 and 2008, HBO admittedly had found themselves cornered after agreeing to distribute a ridiculous amount of Pay-Per-Views which forced them to bid against themselves in order to purchase top-level fights.

Such is not the case in 2010.

Adjustments must be made according to the economic crisis the country faces and it's up to the boxing promoter to convey this message to their clients.

Yes, I understand that Paul Williams vs. Sergio Martinez was a great, entertaining affair that all the boxing fans thoroughly enjoyed. However, one must take into account the business of boxing here in the United States of America when it comes to making business decisions that affect the sport in totality.

Regular networks NBC, CBS, and ABC aren't exactly in a bidding war for anything boxing related.

ESPN, Fox Sports net, Telefutura, and Versus don't have one million dollars let alone $500,000 to spend on a boxing event. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to remember the time any one of those networks spent over $250,000 on any single boxing event.

The only competition that HBO faces is premium network Showtime as it pertains to the boxing bidding war.

If great fights such as Corrales-Castillo, the entire Marquez-Vazquez series, the super-six tournament end up going to Showtime, it doesn't mean that HBO's boxing programming dies. It just means that the lesser-funded competitor was savvy enough to visualize great match-ups and pick them up within their own budgets.

This "focus" by HBO on making Williams-Martinez II a reality is what concerns me.

This gives all of the leverage to the promoters and fighters involved which creates an unwarranted bubble within the sport. Lou DiBella of Dibella Entertainment promotes Sergio Martinez and Dan Goosen of Goosen-Tutor promotions promotes Paul "The Punisher" Williams. Neither of those guys would even think about placing their fighters against one another on an independent Pay-Per-View outlet for fear of completely losing their asses financially.

It's one of the biggest problems in boxing today.

Fighters who cannot draw real, organic revenue and promoters who are unable market the fighters in a manner for them to do so. It's not a knock against American boxing promoters, it's just that the entire business model has changed here from true, real promoters to straight "brokerage".

Just like we saw in the U.S. real estate market with low income individuals being able to purchase high dollar homes creating one of the worst downward spirals America has ever seen, HBO's "focus" in boxing is creating the same.

International promoters don't suffer from this same debacle as many of them have created sustainable business models and payscales based on regular network television deals in their native areas as well as sufficient live gate revenues from their arenas. The American promoter's business model is completely different and could collapse entirely should the current premium networks decide to get out of the game known as "boxing".

From simply observing how the brain-trust at HBO Sports work, "Focus" means finding a way to squeeze more cash out of parent company Time Warner in order to offer more money for fights that they want to broadcast.

Here's how I imagine this thing going:

1. HBO offers $2 million to Dibella and Goosen in order to broadcast Williams-Martinez II.
2. Both promoters scoff at the offer saying it's not enough for their clients.
3. HBO offers $2.5 million to Dibella and Goosen in order to broadcast Williams-Martinez II.
4. Both promoters warm up to the idea but still state that the money is not big enough.
5. While the price range is now out of every competitor's range, including Showtime's, HBO looks to find ways to squeeze more money to offer more than $3 million simply because it's a fight they deem as necessary to broadcast on their network.

So while Showtime would only offer $2 million at max for this rematch (probaby less), all other networks being unable to offer more than $500,000, and an independently distributed PPV undoubtedly generating less net income than either, HBO feels it necessary to offer over $3 million to "Focus" and force this rematch to happen. Either that or they feel forced to give these same promoters Dibella and Goosen additional future HBO dates.

It's funny how this boxing stuff works.

While I'm not sure of the exact figures, this is pretty much how it tends to play out my friends.

If I was HBO, I'd change it up completely.

Maybe I'd base my pay-grade based on the live gate generated by a bout forcing promoters to spend their own money to market an event.

Perhaps I'd base my pay-grade based on the Nieslen Ratings that the fight generated forcing promoters to spend their resources to push out the product.

Right now, the entire boxing business as it relates to HBO is a smokescreen, a bubble, a farce... just like the elevated housing prices in 2007 were fake and inflated like some Silicon tits.

HBO needs to re-think how it "focuses" on making fights happen.

Like I wrote... great fights can take place on Showtime, it doesn't mean the end of HBO boxing. It's up to HBO to realize that they have the power and refuse to pay over $1 million to broadcast 10-1 mismatches such as Bradley-Abregu and Alexander-Kotelnik. It's stupid, it's a waste of money, and it does nothing for a build-up for the fans.

I feel like sometimes it's groundhog day here at The Boxing Truth as we continue to hammer some simple fundamentals across hoping that HBO's Ross Greenburg will get it right someday.

My hopes are very low that it'll happen that is for damn sure.


truth@theboxingtruth.com