Showtime's Stephen Espinoza is betting big on Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto on February 11. (Photo by Phil McCarty/Hogan Photos)
In a fantastic interview, The Ring's Lem Satterfield interviewed Stephen Espinoza the new general manager of Showtime sports. Stephen shared his vision for boxing on Showtime, specifically his vision for changing the views of boxing at Showtime.
"I think we as television producers are not doing a good job of televising our sport of boxing. Boxing, in my eyes, is the most exciting and enthralling live experience of any major sport. I would put it against any other sport -- from the World Series, to the Super Bowl, to anything else. Yet when we televise it, we're not doing a good job of conveying that excitement through to the viewer at home. So, what we, and, specifically, I want to do is to improve the viewer's experience so that it more closely matches what the experience and the emotion is in the arena. Because that ultimately is what separates this sport from others and makes it such a great, live experience. It's just competition in the purest form. It's two guys with very little equipment, standing in the ring alone with each other. One of them is going to come out on top. It's a combination of how we market the event and how we involve our viewers, and not least important, how we produce and televise it and how the media is actually consumed by our audience. For one, it starts with making people aware of this."
All of this sounds positive but if conveying excitement means rehiring Gus Johnson then this is just stupid. I hate Gus Johnson. He is terrible at announcing boxing and makes it physically painful to watch my favorite sport. It takes the talent of Gus Johnson to ruin something that is so inherently beautiful. Anyways I digress.
The interview continues to focus on the second fight between Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz. Showtime outbid HBO for this fight and they are going to give it the full treatment including Fight Camp 360.
"This is a fight that was important because I'm very confident that it's going to be compelling programming based on what a thrilling fight the first one was. But individually, these are guys that we want to be in business with. These are two young guys. Ortiz is personable and will sit there and talk to his fans and, perhaps more importantly, he will fight for every second of every round. Those are the kinds of people and the kinds of boxers we want to be in business with. The undefeated records really don't matter to me. At the end of this, ultimately, we're in the television business. So the ability to deliver a compelling and entertaining product is really the top goal. So I'm convinced that these guys are, together, capable of delivering that for us."
Again all of this sounds good but we'll have to see if this is actually a trend or just a flash in the pan. What do you think would be the most important change that Espinoza could make with Showtime's boxing programming?
0 recs | 6 comments
the three obvious big ones
1. referees wear a helmet with a camera on it
2. Gus Johnson is cloned and put into all three seats
3. getting people to show up to these fights
Scott Christ - January 6, 2012
getting a good crowd for a fight always helps me feel more amped. When you hear them cheering and chanting you can feel involved rather than couple of guys talking about the stuff you already know and sometimes getting it wrong, sorta kills the mood
sigidy - January 6, 2012
if gus johnsons commentary was as good as his yelling, we’d be ok but he stinks..i know its an mma quote but i remember him calling fedor the greatest mma fighter ever after beating some overweight heavyweight on cbs..i mean really? he prob thinks pac is the greatest boxer ever..
Vicmatic1 - January 6, 2012
3 possible areas to look at:
1, Might be unrealistic nowadays, but look to the “great fights, no rights philosophy” of a few years ago. Seemed like better fights were made b/c of this philosophy.
2. Look at hiring Brian Kenny. Not sure if he’s a blow by blow guy, but he’s very knowledgeable, and brings genuine enthusiasm to the sport
3. More tournaments. I think people like the format, but it just needs to more clear-cut than the Super Six. You don’t want a long, drawn out tourno……..too much (negatively) can happen.
DPlainview - January 6, 2012
Kenny can do PBP. He’s filled in for Tessitore a few times in the past and while I didn’t think it was his strong suit, I assume he would adjust an become better, and he was already OK; better than Johnson or Menefee. (I don’t mind Menefee, I just don’t think he adds a lot other than Showtime can go, “LOOK! This football guy is here!”)
Scott Christ - January 6, 2012
Simple things do it for me.
Besides making good fights…
1. Can Gus Johnson. I take no issue with anyone else at that network, but their biggest national name has to go.
2. Find what business does video and graphics for HBO and hire them. Showtime is always second rate when it comes to video quality and their graphics. It shows.
3. Keep Fight Camp 360 and add more Face 2 Face or whatever it’s called. Sure they are HBO knock offs but they are good. I want Showtime to copy HBO at what HBO does well.
Besides these some things that they could do differently I would like: Make any decent off TV undercards somewhere that’s accessible to people with Showtime like Showtime 2 or their website. Add an hour long boxing news show. Just pay Al Bernstein more to do what he already does online plus some, preferably Brian Kenny.
BangBangLampley - January 6, 2012
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