The biggest news of all came from the network that televised the replays as HBO (Home Box Office) announced that they are stepping away from the boxing business following the 2018 year.
The departure sees the self-proclaimed (and able to often back it up) Network of Champions walk away after 45 years of televising boxing since their first telecast in 1973 with the shocking upset of George Foreman knocking out Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica.
The network that has supplied the majority of boxing memories over the last thirty years is now gone and Larry Merchant told Steve Kim (Steve's words on the decision can be found here) in the best manner that I've heard yet- "HBO knocked the networks out of boxing, but now they are facing Amazon, Hulu. Netflix and other challenges".
In other words, as Steve tweeted- "HBO is Blockbuster Video"
Which means at one time, it was the 500-pound gorilla, but it was not able to adjust to changing times and new technologies.
I'll refrain from a recap of the terrific fights over the decades that were brought to you by HBO and save that for a few months when HBO actually steps away which will either be in October after the IBF middleweight title is filled by the winner of the Daniel Jacobs-Sergey Derevyanchenko bout or for a rumored November Dmitry Bivol fight to empty the budget for 2018.
Instead, let's look at how and why it happened.
It happened because the innovator in boxing production rested on their laurels and didn't invest in keeping those production values at the top of the game and was content to allow the newcomers to rally from behind.
It happened because HBO moved from a network that appeased Al Haymon and his powerful stable to one that eliminated doing any business with him and as a result drove his fighters to their only opposing network (at the time).
I'm not saying that HBO should have continued kissing up to Haymon, heaven knows that HBO televised far too many uncompetitive and frankly. squash matches in their time with Haymon, but disposing of him entirely started the path to their own destruction.
It happened because through either a power play or just a miscalculation of personnel with the broadcasting team when Max Kellerman replaced Larry Merchant.
I was totally on board when Kellerman was hired by HBO but thought he would have been a terrific host rather than pushing Merchant out as a color commentator.
While Merchant would have been wonderful in a "Jack Whitaker" role on each broadcast, reflecting on the evening's events and perhaps attaching it to something to the game's past and history, HBO instead moved Merchant along completely in order to perhaps have no one around for viewers to compare to Kellerman, who quickly turned from boxing historian to one with an agenda of pushing fighters that he personally approves of in the ring.
Merchant was opinionated, but he was never biased.
One couldn't say the same about Kellerman, which became apparent with each broadcast.
This trickled down to the viewers, who became more and more frustrated with Kellerman, who
then played subtle heel by turning his volume up and even more often with what many observers found irritating.
HBO employed the best blow by blow guy in the business in Jim Lampley and like a basketball team content to surround a great player with a weak contributing cast, it became difficult for that star to overcome all challenges.
The Merchant for Kellerman trade is truly where the HBO broadcasts began to "Jump The Shark"
It happened because HBO never moved beyond its basic boxing options.
While Showtime invested in young and promising fighters with their ShoBox series, HBO only used their HBO Latino outlet on scarce occasions for boxing in what would have been a natural fit and HBO never showed any undercard bouts on their satellite networks, while Showtime showcased their fighters often to expose young talent to the audience and offer a lead-in to their main program.
Those fights cost next to nothing to televise as it's as simple as turning the cameras on and yet HBO never seemed interested in doing any different.
With DAZN and now boxing available on Facebook, how was HBO going to handle fresh and new ways of reaching the boxing audience when they couldn't even deal with Showtime with a similar presence and smaller pocketbook?
It happened because HBO got away from what made them elite- telling stories and making you care.
I've written before that Cherie doesn't like boxing and it's the one sport that I have a passion for that I have never been able to swing her over to, but she always liked watching those so well-done profiles on the fighters before the bouts.
They made you care and when you care (like or dislike), the interest grows and you'll be back to watch them next time.
HBO slowly moved away from those profiles before the fight in favor of the 30-minute specials, faceoffs and other infomercials and as a result, those connections weren't made beyond the boxing base.
Who else would televise the challenge for the heavyweight title by 45-year-old George Foreman and begin the broadcast with Foreman singing "The Impossible Dream"?
OK, Big George spoke more than sang in a Shatneresque performance, but it set the stage for the evening and a night that we will all remember.
HBO made you care about what was regarded as little more than a sideshow with a punchers chance and delivered the drama.
It happened when they signed the wrong guys.
HBO signings of Andre Ward type fighters that delivered dominant, but dull wins and sent viewers scurrying away were not helpful, but even worse decisions when they signed the right guys like Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev and were unable to match them against good competition on their network.
HBO essentially had two levels- exciting fighters that were rarely challenged and skilled fighters that put you to sleep while being rarely challenged.
In either case, the product began to slip with too many Sergey Kovalev-Igor Mikhalkin's and not enough Srisaket Sor Rungvisai-Juan Francisco Estrada's.
And finally, it happened when Time Warner merged with AT&T and in hindsight, that is where the end began.
The announced merger and resulting suits and challenges that only recently were settled saw HBO"s boxing budget drastically cut in 2017 and 2018, weakening the ability to buy bigger fights, fight off the new challengers and continue to bulk up a flagging roster.
The commitment was waning along with the budget and the desire to turn things around simply wasn't there.
Similar to when Time Warner merged with AOL years ago, the new people in charge didn't like professional wrestling and shortly after, WCW was off television on the Turner channels and was soon to be sold.
HBO, of course, isn't going to be sold, but I'd wager that new bosses and new decision makers aren't boxing believers and where the will to succeed isn't there, it's tough to survive.
HBO boxing was our flagship for a long time and a real argument can be made that without HBO for the last 25 years, the boxing is dead crowd would have a far better case than they have to state.
They'll be missed, but the time seems to be the right one for the dramatic exit.
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