Last May, Friday Night Fights on ESPN came to an end. It was sad as the series that ran for 17 years and more or less replaced USA's Tuesday Night Fights as boxing's only weekly series came to a close. But there was hope that the relaunch of ESPN boxing with the PBC would usher in a new era of bigger fights on the network. The "monthly" series promised better fights with bigger names.
Well we did get Santa Cruz-Mares last August. Also, Thurman-Collazo, Garcia-Malignaggi, Alexander-Martinez and Lara-Zaveck. With the exception of Santa Cruz-Mares, with each telecast came well down in quality from its predecessor.
After Lara-Zaveck just before Thanksgiving last year, the network went silent on televised until two weeks ago. It came back with a mismatch on paper and in the ring on a late telecast on east coast between Artur Beterbiev and Ezequiel Maderna. That telecast also went head to head with the much more anticipated HBO card that night between Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido.
This week ESPN announced its next three fight cards this summer. Jamal Herring vs. Denis Shafikov (not a bad fight actually but not the high quality upper level main event we were promised), upcoming prospect Mario Barrios vs veteran Devis Boschiero (showcase fight for Barrios) and Sergey Lipinets vs Walter Castillo (interesting crossroads fight which would be good opener to a telecast).
Also, Sergiy Derevyanchenko is scheduled to fight the always exciting Sam Soliman later in July (not the sarcasm).
These are not near the quality of cards that were expected and hoped from ESPN and PBC. As a matter of fact, we are going back to the kind of quality we used to see on Friday Night Fights. The differences...well for one its not weekly and also completely controlled by the PBC. Remember, Friday Night Fights was not only a boxing's fan only weekly series but also kept so many different promoters afloat over the years.
It seems to me that ESPN is winding down its live televised coverage in boxing. They have a buy time deal with Haymon and well want to get their money so are going forward with these shows. But it sure appears they are mailing it in on the sport.
And what would be the big reason? Well, UFC could be coming. It has been widely reported that multiple parties are interested in the 4 plus billion dollar price tag to purchase UFC. For that money, whoever purchases it needs big television contracts. ESPN has been expanding its UFC coverage and would seem a natural. Of course, this would be a boxing's expense.
I hope I am wrong. But what has occurred since PBC took out Friday Night Fights has not been positive for boxing on ESPN and looks to potentially have drove the nail in the coffin in the sport on the network.
Well we did get Santa Cruz-Mares last August. Also, Thurman-Collazo, Garcia-Malignaggi, Alexander-Martinez and Lara-Zaveck. With the exception of Santa Cruz-Mares, with each telecast came well down in quality from its predecessor.
After Lara-Zaveck just before Thanksgiving last year, the network went silent on televised until two weeks ago. It came back with a mismatch on paper and in the ring on a late telecast on east coast between Artur Beterbiev and Ezequiel Maderna. That telecast also went head to head with the much more anticipated HBO card that night between Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido.
This week ESPN announced its next three fight cards this summer. Jamal Herring vs. Denis Shafikov (not a bad fight actually but not the high quality upper level main event we were promised), upcoming prospect Mario Barrios vs veteran Devis Boschiero (showcase fight for Barrios) and Sergey Lipinets vs Walter Castillo (interesting crossroads fight which would be good opener to a telecast).
Also, Sergiy Derevyanchenko is scheduled to fight the always exciting Sam Soliman later in July (not the sarcasm).
These are not near the quality of cards that were expected and hoped from ESPN and PBC. As a matter of fact, we are going back to the kind of quality we used to see on Friday Night Fights. The differences...well for one its not weekly and also completely controlled by the PBC. Remember, Friday Night Fights was not only a boxing's fan only weekly series but also kept so many different promoters afloat over the years.
It seems to me that ESPN is winding down its live televised coverage in boxing. They have a buy time deal with Haymon and well want to get their money so are going forward with these shows. But it sure appears they are mailing it in on the sport.
And what would be the big reason? Well, UFC could be coming. It has been widely reported that multiple parties are interested in the 4 plus billion dollar price tag to purchase UFC. For that money, whoever purchases it needs big television contracts. ESPN has been expanding its UFC coverage and would seem a natural. Of course, this would be a boxing's expense.
I hope I am wrong. But what has occurred since PBC took out Friday Night Fights has not been positive for boxing on ESPN and looks to potentially have drove the nail in the coffin in the sport on the network.
Is Boxing at ESPN Coming to an End?
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