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Canelo Alvarez (black trunks) and Gennady Golovkin (white trunks) in the world middleweight championship at T-Mobile Arena earlier this month. Alvarez won by majority decision. (Joe Camporeale / USA TODAY Sports)
Once synonymous with the biggest boxing fights, HBO announced Thursday that it would "move away" from boxing live in 2019 and beyond.
The last live televised match of the network will be Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko for the vacant IBF middleweight title on Oct. 27 at Madison Square Garden.
"We will remain open to events that fit our schedule," the company said in a statement. "This could include boxing, but not in the foreseeable future."
This decision comes as some of the major promoters of the sport joined other networks to broadcast the most important battles, but also after the recent triumph of HBO. A much-anticipated revenge between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, also known as GGG, sold nearly 1.1 million purchases and generated at least $ 94 million, according to ESPN.
The network would not confirm these numbers, but said the fight was "a more successful event than its predecessor."
But other broadcasters have played a leading role in the market. In August, ESPN signed a seven-year deal with Top Rank to televise 54 fights a year. Boxing will also be very present on the new network streaming service, ESPN +.
In September, FOX Sports reached a four-year deal with Premiere Boxing Champions to cover 10 fights a year in prime time. The British promotional company Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Boxing, has also pledged $ 1 billion over eight years to the DAZN production company for boxing broadcasts.
"There is more boxing than ever televised and distributed," HBO said in its statement. "In some cases, this programming is very good. But from the point of view of entertainment, it's not unique. "
Peter Nelson, vice president of HBO Sports, made the announcement to network staff on Thursday morning, according to the New York Times, who first reported the story. Boxing staff includes Jim Lampley, analyst, Max Kellerman, analyst Harold Lederman and veterans and color commentators Andre Ward and Roy Jones Jr.
"Our audience studies tell us that boxing is no longer a determining factor for subscribing to HBO," Nelson told the newspaper.
HBO started televising fights as a fledgling network in 1973. It all began with George Foreman's entanglement with heavyweight champion Joe Frazier. The foreman stopped him with 1:35 left on the second lap.
Foreman's powerful right hook sent Frazier to the rug and sparked the well-known call from announcer Howard Cosell: "Down goes Frazier! Down becomes Frazier! "
Forty-five years later, HBO is throwing sponge on boxing and will be focusing more on sports documentary and reality, like the NFL series of Hard Knocks workouts, Serena Williams, bio series on tennis. and LeBron James' talk show, "The Shop".
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