Golovkin vs. Adama won’t be televised on HBO

By Boxing News - 01/21/2014 - Comments

golovkin45By Eric Thomas: The February 1st match-up between WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25 KO’s) and his 32-year-old challenger Osumanu Adama (22-3, 16 KO’s) won’t be picked up by HBO and televised to the U.S. audiences like Golovkin’s last couple of fights against Curtis Stevens and Matthew Macklin. The Golovkin-Adama fight takes place at the Salle des etoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

K2 Promotions’ idea of staging the Golovkin-Adama fight all the way over in Monte Carlo rather than placing it in the United States probably hurt any chances of the fight being televised. HBO would have had to send a huge crew all the way to Monaco for a fight that likely wouldn’t attract huge ratings. To be sure, Golovkin is a popular fighter, but Adama is not and he’s not a relevant fighter either. K2 picked a fringe contender ranked #12 by the WBA for Golovkin to fight instead of picking out a well known opponent in the top 5.

“After extensive collective efforts, logistics to produce the fight from Monte Carlo could not be resolved,” HBO said via RingTV. “We have tried for the past month to find a way to televise Gennady Golovkin vs. Osumanu Adama on February 1 from Monte Carlo. Unfortunately, the venue could not accommodate our production needs.”

Moving forward, Golovkin needs to fight better opposition than Adama. Fighting guys like Nobuhiro Ishida and Adama is okay for Golovkin to do every once in a while, but it’s not going to increase his popularity in the U.S, because then HBO doesn’t show interest in televising these match-ups due to the fights not being perceived as competitive on paper. It might be Golovkin’s best interest to fight less often and focus more on quality rather than quantity. Fans will remember Golovkin more if he fights good opponents instesd of having bottom ranked contenders put in the ring with him every other fight for him to get an easy payday.



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