You’ve all heard the old saying, “As goes the heavyweight division, so goes boxing…”
Well, newly-appointed HBO Sports chief Ken Hershmann sounds like a man who doesn’t fully subscribe to that age old maxim.
“(The heavyweight division) has just languished for so long,” Hershmann told journalist Keith Idec of The Record. “It’s really no fault of the Klitschkos that, number one, they’ve been just so dominant in the ring, and number two, have a great business model where they are in Germany. I don’t criticize them at all for the way they have conducted their careers and their business. It makes total sense. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped the U.S. heavyweight market and we haven’t seen those young Americans coming through the ranks that we feel we can invest in and that could be the future.”
Well, Eddie Chambers, Tony Thompson, Las Vegas based Sam Peter, Chris Arreola, Kevin Johnson came along and tried their best but got annihilated.
“It’s a dilemma,” continued Hershmann. “And I don’t ignore or pretend that the heavyweight division isn’t hugely important to boxing. It is. Hopefully, we’ll get in the next year or two some prospects that we think we can really count on to really energize the U.S. component of the market. But right now, I don’t see it in the immediate future.”
It’s an interesting position for Hershmann to take. Right now, the brightest American hope is Seth Mitchell who is advised by Al Haymon and promoted by Golden Boy. You can bet your bottom dollar that all of Mitchell’s upcoming fights will be televised by HBO as they groom him for a future title shot. It’s already been reported that Mitchell will be on the Hopkins-Dawson II undercard in April. So for HBO to build up the unproven Mitchell while ignoring the dominance of the Klitschkos is a bit of an irony.
For HBO to ignore the Klitschkos, in this global day and age, is a somewhat illogical position. The heavyweight title is the richest, most prestigious prize in all of sports. It can’t and should not be minimized, ignored or shunned just because the two dominant champions are non-Americans. Look at who the biggest boxing star in America is right now – it’s a Filippino named Manny Pacquiao.
If America willingly consumes Pacquiao (they do, massively), then America will also consume non-American heavyweights, if the American TV network HBO markets and promotes the Klitschkos as energetically and devotedly as they do Pacquiao.
When you consider the Pacquiao business model, it doesn’t make sense that HBO and Showtime opt to ignore the Klitschkos. Look at the sport of tennis. The four major stars in mens’ tennis are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – all non-Americans. Yet tennis TV ratings and attendance at the major tournaments in American continue to break record numbers every year despite the lack of a major American presence in the tournaments. The reason why? Simple. Tennis and the TV networks do not ignore or shun Nadal, Djokovic, Federer or Murray, they embrace and celebrate their special talents. And the American public appreciates and consumes the excellence of their tennis playing.
Who is the biggest star in track and field? A Jamaican sprinter named Usain Bolt who is a colossal attraction whenever and wherever he competes. The best is the best and the public will always want to see the best, if it’s properly promoted and not shunned and ignored.
The American public would embrace and consume the Klitschkos too, if HBO opted to market and promote them positively, as they do Pacquiao, and as the sport of tennis does for it’s star players.
How HBO could be willing to invest in Seth Mitchell vs. TBA, while turning it’s back on the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal of boxing – The mighty Klitschko brothers – is a typical error of judgement by the current American powers which has contributed to the undermining and lowering of the sport in the collective American sports fan conscience.
Note: Newly formed TV network EPIX will televise the forthcoming Vitali Klitschko-Dereck Chisora and Wladimir Klitschko-Jean Marc Mormeck world title fights.
(Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko oil painting by John Murawski)
Topics: Al Haymon, Bottom Dollar, Business Model, Chris Arreola, Dawson, Dilemma, Dominance, Hbo, Hbo Sports, Heavyweight Division, Heavyweight Title, Immediate Future, Irony, Journalist, Klitschkos, Maxim, Prestigious Prize, Seth, Tony Thompson, Young Americans
HBO To Continue To Ignore The Klitschkos | 