Will HBO invite Gavin Rees back after his performance against Broner?

By Boxing News - 02/17/2013 - Comments

broner45By Scott Gilfoid: Last night, Gavin Rees (37-2-1, 18 KO’s) was blown apart by WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) in a two knockdown, 5th round TKO loss in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Other than a few shots here and there landed by Rees in the first couple of rounds when Broner was just playing around, it was totally one-sided.

In the build-up to the fight, Rees’ promoter Eddie Hearn had said that even if Rees loses the fight, HBO would likely be so impressed with his performance that they would possibly invite him back. I didn’t see that scenario happening, and after watching Broner knock Rees down twice last night, I seriously doubt HBO will be looking to have Rees come over to televise one of his fights in the near future.

Was that the kind of performance that would have HBO licking their chops wanting Rees to come back to fight another lightweight on their network, I don’t think so. Why bother? I mean, there’s tons of guys that are getting knocked out that HBO televise in the U.S or Mexico, so why would they need to get a guy to fly over from the UK that was just knocked out like Rees? Where’s the gain?

Hearn believed that Rees has a great chance of winning, and if he didn’t win he was going to fight so well that he’d win over new boxing fans in America. Judging from the comments around the Internet, I haven’t found too many fans that were impressed with Rees. Broner knocked him down too easily once he started throwing with power.

That right hand Broner creamed Rees with in the 4th round didn’t look like that hard of a punch, yet Rees tasted the canvas. Then a round later, Broner tagged Rees with a simple left to the body, once again Rees was on the canvas looking like he was in utter pain.

In the 3rd, Rees lucked out when the round ended when he was getting dismantled on the ropes. It looked like a replay of the Broner vs. Jason Litzau fight. Rees would have been knocked out had there been another 20 seconds left in the 3rd. There was no way Rees was going to survive that onslaught from Broner.

I don’t see any point in HBO televising any of Rees’ fights in the future unless they absolutely need a UK fighter for some reason. I guess if IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez needs another UK fighter after he beats Ricky Burns next month, HBO can get Rees to come over, but why would they? I don’t see the logic in that move, do you?



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