[EAlbian]

shobox develops them....hbo steals them.

look at andre ward as the prime example. they sign him out of the olympics...and try and dictate who he should fight and all that. he gets dropped...they question him and his ability. ward and his ppl opted out of his hbo contract and chose to fly under the radar. best thing they could have ever done because he was able to pick and choose his opponents so that he could develop properly at his own pace. now, he's ready for the big time. it doesn't always work that way...but hbo doesn't know how to build champions. they should leave that to the professionals and just stick to putting on the best available fights like showtime does.

Yea i can agree with that but what i don't like is that HBO pays the undeveloped guys way too much money to fight easy competition instead of matching them tough and letting the cream rise to the top. Showtime matches its fighters tough, HBO needs to drop HBO after dark or change the format to something similar to Shobox.

Ward is a good example but at the same time he was still very untested(he had a Miranda win) at the beginning of the super six and not expected to do nearly as well as he has. He was a 6-1 underdog against Kessler.

[daprofessor]

Yea i can agree with that but what i don't like is that HBO pays the undeveloped guys way too much money to fight easy competition instead of matching them tough and letting the cream rise to the top. Showtime matches its fighters tough, HBO needs to drop HBO after dark or change the format to something similar to Shobox.

Ward is a good example but at the same time he was still very untested(he had a Miranda win) at the beginning of the super six and not expected to do nearly as well as he has. He was a 6-1 underdog against Kessler.

i have no problem with fighters being paid well. the overwhelming majority are underpaid. i do think that hbo should leave the matchmaking to the matchmakers.

ward was untested to those who weren't in the know. i saw enough of him out here in cali to know that he would beat kessler...and that he would win this tournament.

[EAlbian]

i have no problem with fighters being paid well. the overwhelming majority are underpaid. i do think that hbo should leave the matchmaking to the matchmakers.

ward was untested to those who weren't in the know. i saw enough of him out here in cali to know that he would beat kessler...and that he would win this tournament.

haha, you and me both bro. won $450 on the Ward/Kessler fight, knew Ward's lateral movement would fuck the robot up.

I have no problem with fighters getting paid for something thats worth it but the fights HBO has been putting on are nowhere near what the fighters deserve to get paid

[gravytrain]

HBO has wasted money on fights and fighters. Berto has never been a draw and he got paid way too much to fight cats outside the top 10. HBO ended up spending about 5 mil on Bradley and Alexander for them to fight and they honestly haven't had much of a return on it, they both got way too good of deals. Showtime consistently puts on a better show with a smaller budget, HBO eats up it's budget doing deals for people. they need to tell Haymon and everyone else to kick rocks, if fighters want HBO money and exposure they need to start delivering something.

[Cshel86]

I threatened to cancel my cable with my last provider after the Bradley/Alexander fight, so they gave me HBO free for 6 months (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) . Needless to say, most of those fights that were aired in that 6 month time frame were poo-poo (with the exception of Berto/Ortiz), so I played my cards right. Some of the undercards were better than the main events, which was somewhat of a relief. The matchmaking does need to be left to the matchmakers, instead of the Alphabet boys (sanctioning bodies), that's how we end up getting stuck with these unknown "mandatories" fighting on HBO.

[Eighty88Eight]

it's sad how small boxing has become outside of the big two. nary a fight worth caring about, and nary a fight at all. aside from the meaningless friday night fight shows, and some B/C level prospects like Rios and Gamboa that I don't yet give a shit about, and some old farts like Hopkins, there is nothing worth getting excited about in boxing. And none of it is worth getting TOO excited about regardless. I'll tell you where this sport is going... it's going outside of America's borders, where people still care about their homegrown fighters. This is an MMA country.

(IMG:http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/mmahomoerotic.jpg)

This post has been edited by Eighty88Eight: Aug 26 2011, 09:55 AM

[Cshel86]

HBO has wasted money on fights and fighters. Berto has never been a draw and he got paid way too much to fight cats outside the top 10. HBO ended up spending about 5 mil on Bradley and Alexander for them to fight and they honestly haven't had much of a return on it, they both got way too good of deals. Showtime consistently puts on a better show with a smaller budget, HBO eats up it's budget doing deals for people. they need to tell Haymon and everyone else to kick rocks, if fighters want HBO money and exposure they need to start delivering something.

Man I agree with your statement about Showtime putting on better fights than HBO. HBO's PPVs are better than Showtime's (in my opinion), but Boxing After Dark is slipping. The Agbeko/Mares fight was entertaining and controversial at the same time. When I watch BAD, all I can hope for is the tomato cans to pull off an upset.

[Seek]

Of the fights left this year that i'm interested in I have to pay $50/$60 for. Mayweather Ortiz, Pacquiao Marquez and Cotto Margarito. Oh yeah and Bernard Hopkins but I doubt i'll be paying for that. Ward Froch and Mares Agbeko rematch are the only ones for free. What a terrible way to end the year. . . .

[daprofessor]

He hasn't won yet. Let's not start with the FMJ dance and count everybody that he hasn't bothered to fight a victory.

ward is going to school froch. anything can happen in a fight...but that is pretty much a done deal. froch brings nothing to the table that ward hasn't already shown he can deal with. the contract has been signed....they will fight.....ward will win.

[daprofessor]

haha, you and me both bro. won $450 on the Ward/Kessler fight, knew Ward's lateral movement would fuck the robot up.

I have no problem with fighters getting paid for something thats worth it but the fights HBO has been putting on are nowhere near what the fighters deserve to get paid

ur going to have to be more specific on the hbo fights. sure, some fights have not been the best....but i don't think anyone fighting on the network is overpaid by any means.