By Chris Williams: HBO and Showtime are still locked into negotiations and they reportedly have reached an impasse over the delayed telecast rights for the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao mega-fight, according to Mlive.com.
The replay of the fight is very important because that’s where the big viewing numbers come in as boxing fans get a chance to watch the fight for free on regular HBO or Showtime rather than having to pay to see it.
According to Mlive.com, HBO is “balking at the negotiation table, is acting on behalf of everyone on it’s side of the table, including Pacquiao.”
Mlive writer David Mayo says that HBO seems to want the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight take place in 2016 when Mayweather is no longer under contract with Showtime. Mayweather’s contract with Showtime expires at the end of this year after he completes his last of two fights with the network. If Mayweather were to sign with HBO in 2016, then there wouldn’t be any sharing of the telecast and HBO could then replay the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao without having to deal with Showtime.
If HBO chooses to insist on being the one that replays the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, then it puts Showtime in the position where they would miss out on the huge amount of viewers who will be tuning in to see the fight on non-PPV a week after the fight. It’s not a good deal for the cable giant that doesn’t get a chance to replay the fight.
When HBO and Showtime shared a joint telecast in 2002 in televising the Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis fight, it was decided that the winner of the fight would have his network show the replay a week later. It’s unclear why that method isn’t good now with the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. It could work just the same way, but it might not be a great deal for HBO, because a lot of boxing fans feel that Mayweather would easily out-box the shorter Pacquiao.
I’m not sure that the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight will hold the same kind of interest in 2016 than it does now. Mayweather will be 39-years-old in February of 2016.
Beyond just the age factor, Mayweather will have get through two tough fights in 2015 to get to the Pacquiao fight next year, and that’s if Mayweather were to even consider leaving Showtime. If he chooses to re-sign, which is a possibility, then we could be facing the same situation as we are now with HBO and Showtime having to decide which of the two networks will get the privilege of replaying the fight.
Pacquiao will also need to win his next two fights in 2015 for the mega-bout against Mayweather next year to be of interest for fans. If Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is truly interested in matching Pacquiao against Amir Khan next then that could result in loss for Pacquiao.
At this point one more loss for Pacquiao would kill a lot of the interest in boxing fans seeing the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. How can you market a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight if Pacquiao gets beaten by Khan? The only fans that would be interested enough to see a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight after that would be the casual boxing fans who might not be aware that Pacquiao was beaten.
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