HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg says he "couldn't have asked for a better script." Ring Magazine Editor Nigel Collins called it "a fortunate accident" for HBO and the sport of boxing.
A fight that wasn't supposed to happen yet and wasn't supposed to be on HBO at all, and that was stopped after six rounds because of a cut to one of the fighters, actually has set up HBO for a blockbuster pay-per-view event the next time heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis steps in the ring.
It doesn't seem to matter whether it's against Vitali Klitschko — whom Lewis defeated in the June 21 bout live on HBO — or Roy Jones Jr., whom most experts view as pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world.
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| Lennox Lewis (left) could choose big-money rematch against Vitali Klitschko. |
Many expected Lewis to easily defeat Klitschko and then face Jones in his next fight, but Klitschko wobbled Lewis in the second round and appeared in control of the fight at times, sparking interest in a possible rematch. Klitschko was ahead on all the judges' scorecards when the fight was stopped.
Regardless of which fight Lewis takes, HBO will attempt to sign Klitschko to a multifight deal, Greenburg said.
As for which opponent — Jones or Klitschko — would be a bigger pay-per-view draw against Lewis, Greenburg said he wasn't sure.
"They're both very attractive," he said. "Lennox is going to weigh how much money he individually can make as a fighter, keeping in mind his role as heavyweight champion of the world and his legacy."
The next fight will likely be in November or December, Greenburg said last week. A doctor said four cuts around Klitschko's left eye that he received against Lewis will likely take six months to heal, potentially pushing back a Klitschko fight or making it more likely that Lewis will take on Jones next.
Certainly nothing went as HBO planned or expected for Lewis' first title defense since knocking out Mike Tyson in June 2002. Lewis was to fight a little-known challenger, Kirk Johnson, on HBO, saving a likely bout with Klitschko for pay-per-view.
When Johnson went down with an injury, HBO moved Klitschko to the title fight. HBO also had to increase the prize money from $5.5 million to $7 million.
Announced attendance was 15,939, though only 8,490 of those were paying customers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
But it scored a 13.4 rating for HBO — the network's best for a boxing match since an Oscar De La Hoya fight in 1999 — and reached 4.6 million homes. Having a high-profile, relatively even fight available to all HBO subscribers served as the best possible promotion for Lewis' next bout on pay-per-view.
"We sent an electric shock wave through the sports world to remind people that the heavyweight championship is a major event," Greenburg said. "That only bodes well for the future of Lennox Lewis fights."
"The fact that 4.6 million people saw it is a huge bonus for the eventual pay-per-view," said Ring's Collins. "I've seen a lot of mainstream interest in this fight that you don't normally get, even after a great fight. For whatever reason, it seems to have captured the public imagination."
Collins said that the natural interest in a rematch would make a Klitschko-Lewis fight a slightly better draw than Lewis-Jones, but that both would be major fights.
The Lewis-Tyson fight generated 1.8 million pay-per-view buys for a record $103 million.
Greenburg said the Ukrainian Klitschko became "a marketing heavyweight" because of the fight. HBO will now try to sign Klitschko to a multifight deal.
