By John F. McKenna (McJack): It has been reported by the Boxing Examiner that long time HBO sports president Ross Greenburg has been sacked by the TV network cable company. Multiple news sources are now reporting the departure of Greenburg. Greenburg’s dismissal will be effective Monday, July 18.
If past history in such matters is any indicator, Dartmouth grad Kerry Davis, VP of sports programming at HBO, will soon follow Greenburg’s exit from HBO.
Many boxing insiders have been expecting Ross Greenburg to be leaving HBO for months, but apparently the straw that broke the camels back was when Top Rank promoter Bob Arum jumped ship and took Super Star Manny Pacquiao to Showtime for his fight with Shane Mosley in May. The move of Pacquiao from HBO to Showtime left Greenburg and HBO holding the bag so to speak. With Floyd Mayweather, the other Super Star in boxing in a self imposed semi exile and fighting every year and a half or so, HBO has no one to match Pacquiao’s drawing power for Pay Per View (PPV) sales.
Arum and Greenburg have not seen eye to eye for quite some time now so the news that
Ross is leaving will not be disappointing to the Top Rank CEO. HBO and Showtime have been locked in a bidding war for the lucrative showing of the Manny Pacquiao – Juan Manuel Marquez trilogy on November 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The PPV buys for Pacquiao – Marquez are expected to exceed the 1.3 million sells that Pacquiao – Mosley did in May.
There is the usual guessing game as to who will fill Greenburg’s shoes and for the time being HBO execs are mum on the subject.
The hope is that whoever replaces Greenburg will be better able to put fights together with a budget that is more than adequate to get the job done. The Bradley – Alexander debacle did nothing to enhance Ross’s standing in the higher echelon of HBO management.
There will be intense pressure by Greenburg’s successor to put the Mayweather – Pacquiao dream fight together. There have been numerous attempts with as many failures. It is probable that someone will be picked quickly to replace Greenburg due to the importance of nailing down the Pacquiao – Marquez fight.
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