Saying that he lost his joy for the job, HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg asked the network to let him out of his contract five months before it was due to expire. In particular, Greenburg cited his dealings with the boxing community as a reason why he started dreading coming to work after 33 years with the network. A celebrated producer of quality documentaries and sports reality shows, Greenburg said boxing had started taking up about 70% of his job. He spent the past six months considering making the move.
"Boxing just got to me," Greenburg told THE DAILY. "Every fight is its own rights negotiation. It really starts to tax on you." He complained that the boxing press, in particular, was too harsh and publicly second-guessed every decision that he made. "I hated that," Greenburg said. "That's part of the process that's so distasteful. The boxing Internet space is such a nasty venue for people that are mean-spirited."
He dismissed reports over the weekend that he was fired for losing big-money matches like May’s Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley bout to Showtime. "Showtime has always been a competitor. They've never gotten to the place of HBO Sports. They know that." Greenburg will stay with HBO for the next couple of weeks. Eventually, he plans to get back into the production part of the business and plans to talk with networks about documentary ideas that he wants to develop.
