Boxing manager Al Haymon’s much-anticipated Premier Boxing Champions series has added dates across yet another network, announcing a joint venture that will include as many as eight Saturday afternoon dates on CBS this year. The first fight will feature light heavyweight star Adonis Stevenson facing Sakio Bika on April 4. The agreement also calls for at least two cards on Showtime, beginning with the April 18 network debut of Mexican star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. against Andrzej Fontfara. The PBC then goes back to CBS on May 9 with unbeaten 140-pounder Omar Figueroa fighting Ricky Burns. The PBC last month announced a similarly structured joint venture with NBC, which is slated to debut in primetime on the network on March 7. The PBC also has an output deal with Spike, which kicks off on March 13. All were announced as “multi-year” deals. Launched by Haymon Sports and funded by venture capital, the PBC has positioned itself as a consistent provider of content in a sport that has been criticized as dysfunctional for decades. In the last year, Haymon expanded his stable of fighters dramatically, growing to represent more than 160 boxers at varying stages of their careers. The PBC’s deal with CBS is the only one that includes premium cable, which for the last 20 years has been the exclusive home to top-level boxing. The agreement also includes shoulder programming across platforms on Showtime, CBS and CBS Sports Network, along with extensive advertising and promotion. This will be the first consistent run of boxing on CBS in 15 years. “This gives boxing access to the largest television platform we have in the United States,” said Showtime Sports Exec VP & GM Stephen Espinoza. “And not only do we have the over the air network getting involved, but we’re doing it in a cohesive way across three different networks, with each contributing to make it better.” Espinoza would not discuss the finances of the arrangement, but boxing and television sources said the PBC’s initial deals have been complex arrangements that include time buys, rights fees, promotional support and ad revenue splits. Haymon Sports will operate similarly to the way the UFC has with its pay per views, producing the broadcast itself.
ESPINOZA HOPES COLLABORATION HELPS BOXING: The first PBC announcements appeared to come at the expense of Showtime. The fighters who will headline the first two NBC primetime cards -- Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman and Robert Guerrero -- all were featured on Showtime last year. Broner and Garcia were seen as cornerstones of Showtime’s fight franchise. Espinoza said he expects those fighters to return to Showtime or CBS for future fights -- and to bring a larger following as a result of the broader, heavily promoted exposure. “The knee jerk reaction is to say we lost some assets,” Espinoza said. “That’s a small-minded way to think about it, because what we’re gaining in the long run is that we’re growing the fan base for these particular fighters. I look at this collaboration in the big picture sense, in that all the parties are making a significant investment in growing the sport, not just for the benefit of each individual network, but for the long term benefit of the fighter, the sport and the network. In that way, what has been happening lately is unique in the recent history of boxing. That just hasn’t happened in the past." The timing of the debut aligns well for the network, which will produce a Floyd Mayweather PPV on May 2. CBS will use its established boxing platform on Showtime to drive viewers to PBC on CBS cards, and both to promote the PPV.
