Stephen Espinoza said he is optimistic that Saturday’s PBC on Prime pay-per-view, headlined by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga, will prove a commercial success.
“It’s very interesting,” Espinoza, the former chairman of Showtime Sports who is now an adviser to PBC and its ongoing deal with Prime Video, told BoxingScene in Las Vegas this week. “I thought at first There are concerns about competitiveness. But I think some of the images helped in terms of seeing the size difference and seeing that Berlanga wasn’t intimidated. He’s obviously very confident. He’s young, he’s strong, he’s inexperienced at this level. But he’s a great puncher. So I think this has more momentum than it did six weeks ago when the fight was announced.”
References to his lack of competitiveness have led to increased criticism of Alvarez: Although he fought many dangerous opponents throughout his career, But now he was embarrassed by the toughest challenge. Most notably, David Benavidez moved up to light heavyweight in search of big fights. Frustrated with waiting for Alvarez who has been busy fighting junior middleweight Jermell Charlo, England’s John Ryder and his compatriot Jamie Munguia Espino. Sa, who has worked with Alvarez for many years Do you feel that the criticism is reasonable? Or has Alvarez earned the right to do what he wants at the end of his career?
“I think this is one of those situations where both of those things can be true,” he said. “Yes, as a boxing fan, you think Canelo-Benavidez It’s a delicious opponent. But you look at Canelo’s career and he’s been on the big stage for at least 12 years. And he never really avoided anyone. and in fact He is known for his fights being rougher than they should be many times. Yes, I understand the frustration. I feel irritated as well. But we’re talking about a guy who fought everyone and anyone along the way. So I gave him a little grace. I’m also not ready to close the book on that fight until one or both of them retire. Just because it rarely happens on the timetable we want doesn’t mean it might not happen in May or September of next year.”
Speaking of frustrating schedules: PBC’s partnership with Prime certainly hasn’t killed any potential opposition. There are only a handful of pay-per-views in 2024, but so far there aren’t any promised non-PPV dates (although Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby, which will be on Saturday’s pay-per-view, It was originally designated as (The partnership’s first free ticket is for Prime members, and now Tim Tszyu and Bakhram Murtzaliev will be honored on October 19.) Espinoza found the transition from Showtime’s smooth run to the fit and start of Is Prime frustrating?
“I think people underestimate the amount of work and effort it took to rebuild this. And I understand why people are especially interested,” he said. “They want to turn on the TV and watch the fight. And they don’t look at all the behind-the-scenes stuff to get there. But over the last 30 to 40 years, the boxing market in the United States It is defined by two premium cable networks that market sports. Live sports broadcast That is produced and done at a very high level. And with Showtime’s departure, that infrastructure is gone. Marketing infrastructure Social media infrastructure television production And all of this is gone. and was replaced by a system that streamers were generally uninterested in dealing with mass production. If something happens
“So it is rebuilding the infrastructure. which we have all been dependent on for 30 years since the beginning. It’s pulling the rug out and saying, ‘Okay, let’s start from ground zero and build everything out.’ And that depends on the platform in terms of technology and how they deliver pay-per-view and how. They market it on pay-per-view. It goes for television production. It goes for operations. It goes all its way. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to anyone involved in the process that you have to walk before you can run. But now I think it’s time for the timing to pick up. And I think we’ll see that between now and the end of the year.”
Espinoza in particular is optimistic that the final quarter of the year will see “At least one battle every month. and more than twice as likely” on Prime.
After Tszyu-Murtzaliev, he said, “The expectation is that Tank (Gervonta Davis) will come after that. It is expected there will be at least one more non-pay-per-view in 2024 after that, and possibly another pay-per-view as well. So between October, November and December we are looking at four, maybe five events.”
As for the possibility that PBC will find additional broadcast or streaming partners, Espinoza is unclear – while recognizing that new platforms are necessary for the sport and for athletes.
“I think what people don’t realize in the bigger picture is that HBO’s departure and Showtime’s departure could take $200 to $250 million out of the market in terms of licensing and production fees,” he explained. Plus 30 to 35 events per year, there are a lot of fighters who are not as active as they would like to be. There is a great deal of interest in what is happening to the Saudis. But there are many gaps in the rest of the market in terms of activity. In terms of keeping fighters busy. Especially at the developing level and up-and-coming fighters, in order for this sport to continue to flourish. New media partners will definitely have to be developed.”
Kieran Mulvaney writes, broadcasts and podcasts about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He also writes regularly for National Geographic and has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic. And the happiest was hanging out with the polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com–
