HBO does not want to “Bastardize” Boxing with MMA and Affliction on its channel

Published on: 14th September, 2008

HBO does not want to "Bastardize" Boxing with MMA and Affliction on its channel | read this item

HBO turned down Arlovski vs Barnett

The UFC tried for almost two years to get a show on HBO to come to fruition and it never happened because of Dana White’s refusal to give over production of the show to them. At one point there were rumors that HBO did not want the Joe Rogan and Adam Goldberg broadcast team, but Max Kellerman and another announcer of their choosing. Well it seems even though the UFC has outsold HBO in pay per views this year, but almost double the amount and HBO’s brass is still refusing to air MMA. A new article reveals they even turned down the chance to air Arlovski vs Barnett on the undercard of the Pavlik vs Hopkins fight. According to Michael Rome of Bloody Elbow here is what a friend inside of HBO told him.

AA is mad, now HBO can't has Cheezburger

“I just got off the phone with a friend of mine over at HBO (who will remain anonymous) and they want nothing to do with “bastardizing” (as he put it) their Boxing product.

It seems Golden Boy offered the Arlovski/Barnett fight on the under card of Hopkins/Pavlik… but HBO rejected the idea.

We also discussed the end game:

If Golden Boy is successful what then? You just converted another fan pool for the UFC. The casual UFC fan will not order these mixed boxing/MMA cards who wouldn’t already… so the best case scenario for Golden Boy is to convert their boxing fans into MMA fans.”

After years of on again off again rumors of a HBO deal the only supporter of a potential deal in the HBO brass was ousted, and none of the others had any interest in airing the UFC to begin with. Also this seems to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life if Boxing fans become MMA fans, shouldn’t you just air both? We know that HBO at this point is the old man claiming that Rock and Roll is the Devil’s music. Why does HBO not seem to know this? Also what the hell are they going to finally replace the Soprano’s with? I could only watch so much Entourage! Back to business. Why does HBO fear the nations fastest growing sport? Does this not sound like the dumbest thing you have ever heard? Besides unless De La Hoya fights until he is 50 years old or Mayweather fights Antonio Margarito (he won’t Margarito has a shot of beating Mayweather), what has HBO actually done to help grow Boxing lately or keep it popular? What are the sports long term plans, all the popular fighters are being recycled up and down weight classes in fights that make no sense for long term growth. Hey but what do I know I am just some “Bastard” MMA fan who likes seeing fights?

Narcisist is the Co-owner of UR Dirt and is the designer, editor and author. URDirt.com is a MMA blog that covers the UFC, WEC, StrikeForce, DREAM and several other Mixed Martial Art promotions. Read more from this author

Readers Comments

HBO does not want to “Bastardize” Boxing with MMA and Affliction … says:

September 14, 2008 at

[...] The UFC tried for almost two years to get a show on HBO to come to fruition and it never happened because of Dana White’s refusal to give over production of the show to them. At one point there were rumors that HBO did not want the Joe …Original post by Narcisist [...]

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Rider917 says:

September 14, 2008 at 9:51 am Rider917(Quote)

You know what screw Hbo is they hate on MMA so much let them go and F#@$ themselves

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Fedor is Legend says:

September 14, 2008 at 9:51 am Fedor is Legend(Quote)

The UFC has shown it was a mistake by HBO look at the video from yesterday it shows just how dumb they are

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Dee king 1 says:

September 14, 2008 at 9:55 am Dee king 1(Quote)

Boxing sucks they cant get over it cause they know there money maker is done for what narcisist is saying is true. When you got de la hoya vs Paqiauo how does that even help the long term of Boxing its a fight that only put s money in their pockets only the UFc is putting on solid fights every PPV and Boxing cant put together a whole solid card. One big fight and thats it the De la Hoya vs Mayweather undercard was a total joke no good under card fights and the fight itself put me to sleep. FUCK BOXING !!!!!!

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Marcus says:

September 14, 2008 at 2:13 pm Marcus(Quote)

How dumb will they look when Boxing cant sell out an arena in a few years cause no one knows who is fighting? Dela Hoya made a mistake fighting Mayweather cause Mayweather is a Ducking ahole who does not give a shit about boxing at all

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wandy1 says:

September 15, 2008 at 3:49 am wandy1(Quote)

HBO is just plain stupid

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HBO denied Affliction/Golden Boy proposal - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums says:

September 15, 2008 at

[...] vs. Josh Barnett on their October 18th card that features Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins …. HBO does not want to “Bastardize” Boxing with MMA and Affliction on its channel : urdirt… and ESPN – Golden Boy, Affliction team up to bring top-level fighters together on same card – [...]

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HBO denied Affliction/Golden Boy proposal - Page 2 - Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums says:

September 15, 2008 at

[...] vs. Josh Barnett on their October 18th card that features Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins …. HBO does not want to

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Affliction and Golden Boy break up | urdirt.com says:

October 25, 2008 at

[...] Long time fans and critics of both sports alike were actually pretty pissed off when this was announced, as Boxing and MMA fans alone are pretty much oil and water. They do not mix. Even HBO did not want a part of the co-promoted cards on their network and did not want Boxing to be “bastardized” (read the full story here). [...]

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Valo says:

October 25, 2008 at 8:39 am Valo(Quote)

F*ck HBO AND BOXING! MMA will keep rising while boxing will be garnering less and less interest down the road.

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Rider917 says:

October 25, 2008 at 9:40 am Rider917(Quote)

pretty much Boxing sucks ass anyway so who cares about Golden boy

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