In an update to a previous report, Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, revealed that contrary to reports, the November 17th network date is still up for grabs. Earlier today, it was being reported that Golden Boy Promotions had secured the date, despite the fact that Espinoza was having discussions with 50 Cent about the possibility of staging the first TMT Promotions event, a championship doubleheader featuring former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa and top super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell. Although Espinoza admitted that he was currently in talks with both 50 Cent and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer about the date, he clarified that a decision had not been made about who would indeed get the coveted date.
"Naturally, as part of the course of conduct I have a variety of different discussions with various promoters. In general, I don't like to disclose the specifics of any of those discussions publicly. What I can say is that I have no deal in place with any promoter for any event on November 17th," Espinoza explained to Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com. "I've had discussions with both of them about [that date] and other dates. But there is nothing finalized with either of those promoters or any other promoter for an event on November 17th."
The fact that Espinoza took the time to clarify that the date was still available is a strong sign that they could be leaning towards giving the date to 50 Cent for the debut event of he and Floyd Mayweather's TMT Promotions. Regardless, you can be sure Schaefer is still working diligently to put together the framework of a "significant event" to convince his old associate not to do business with the new promoter. According to a source, a final decision as to which direction the network will go could come as early as tomorrow. Stay tuned as this story continues to develops.
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