With Saturday night’s BERMANE STIVERNE-DEONTAY WILDER WBC heavyweight title bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Showtime Sports Exec VP & GM STEPHEN ESPINOZA caught a mid-week flight from his home in N.Y. in preparation for this weekend’s festivities. Although being in charge of running a live sporting event for a major cable network poses many challenges, developing and executing the overall strategy of the sports and event group has proven to be instrumental for the former Golden Boy Promotions Lead Counsel’s successful run as one of Showtime’s most influential execs. But despite numerous work obligations and limited free time, he plans on enjoying this weekend’s other big events -- NFL Conference Championship games. Here, Espinoza tells THE DAILY how he will balance this weekend’s loaded “Showtime Championship Boxing” calendar with some of his other favorite pastimes.
VIVA LAS VEGAS: The MGM hosts its first heavyweight title fight since the infamous EVANDER HOLYFIELD-MIKE TYSON ear-biting incident in ’97. But Friday will probably be over before I finish work. Between the afternoon weigh-in, production meetings, lighting checks, last-minute ticket requests and seating arrangements, it is usually pretty late before I finish up. There is a lot that goes into prepping for one of our live boxing events. For Saturday night’s event, I will be either in the production truck or sitting ringside at the MGM Grand. However, on Sunday, I’ll be somewhere at the MGM Grand watching NFL playoff games. I’m a big NFL fan who is still mourning the Dallas Cowboys' tragedy of last weekend. Notwithstanding, I’ll be watching the conference championships on Sunday.
SOMETHING GOOD IS GOING TO HAPPEN: I’m not a big breakfast/brunch guy. I’ll usually grab a protein shake after the gym and that qualifies as breakfast. I don’t have a routine because so many of my weekends are spent on the road. Sometimes I am just happy to be in N.Y. on weekends, but I haven’t been in N.Y. regularly enough to set a routine. My favorite local restaurant is probably Bodega Negra in the Meatpacking District. On the road, I would probably say my favorite restaurant is Nobu, either in Las Vegas or L.A. The best weekend I’ve had in recent memory would have to be this past New Year’s in Miami with friends. My birthday is January 1, so I usually have a New Year’s Eve/birthday celebration. Meanwhile, my favorite weekend getaway is Cabo San Lucas. Typically weekend getaways are a lot of doing nothing. Sometimes it will be snorkeling or horseback riding, but most of the time it’s relaxing.
HOLD ON TIGHT: Even if I am traveling on a weekend, I try to make time for working out. I’m pretty familiar with all of the hotel gyms. That is something that I try to do regularly, but I’ll admit I am not always successful. I’m a big reader. I am usually reading four or five books a month. The two that I am reading now: a book called “DATACLYSM: WHO WE ARE” by CHRISTIAN RUDDER and “THINKING, FAST AND SLOW” by DANIEL KAHNEMAN. I think one thing that readers might be surprised that I do on weekends is volunteering at a local pit bull rescue; that has been one of my leisure activities for quite a while. I’m a huge dog person, but I travel so much that it is not really practical for me to have my own dog, so volunteering at the pit bull rescue is how I get my fix. I’ve had several pit bulls and they are great dogs.
