Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza high on upcoming schedule, high on boxing

news7g03/02/2023

7 5 minutes read

Showtime's Stephen Espinoza high on upcoming schedule, high on boxing

Stephen Espinoza, President, Sports and Event Programming at Showtime, has reason to be pleased.

The never-ending behind-the-scenes negotiations between the people handling the top boxers – sometimes smooth, sometimes laborious and sometimes heartbreaking – have created a powerful showtime on the premium network.

For example, Showtime will broadcast nine major boxing matches over an 11-week period through the end of April this year.

Boxing Junkie asked Espinoza what the packaging team said amid speculation that boxing might not be part of parent company Paramount’s long-term plans.

He said: “It is clear from the quality and quantity that we are very committed to the sport. “And that will continue for the foreseeable future. Nothing has changed from our point of view. In fact, we’ve got several events and we’ve got nine boxing events over the next 10 weeks.

“This is as busy a time as any we’ve had since I’ve worked at Showtime, which is over 10 years.”

The schedule (see list below) includes some big fights – such as David Benavidez v Caleb Plant and Tim Tszyu v Tony Harrison – but the crown jewel is the £136 pay-per-view match between Gervonta Davis and Ryan García on April 22.

Gervonta Davis versus Ryan Garcia is the crown jewel of Showtime’s boxing schedule.

Davis, number 10 on Boxing Junkie’s weight list, and Garcia are all-rounders and true knockout artists. Plus, their huge social media following makes them crossover stars.

Both young men are still building resumes but they have already stirred up the masses. Espinoza credits their marketing savvy, just as he did with boxer Jake Paul turned YouTuber.

“What Tank and Ryan did was fundamental,” he said. “What’s important in today’s media market is basically connecting directly with the fan base. You see it happening across the industry, whether it’s a product brand promoter or a Hollywood star.

“Hollywood stars used to keep their distance from the audience. They do not participate in advertising, do not participate in external films. It is flip. Now people want to access you all the time. Social media is the solution to that.”

How big can Davis and Garcia get?

The era of 1 million pay-per-view purchases in the United States appears to be over for the likes of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. For example, the third match between the sport’s biggest star, Canelo Alvarez, and the famous Plant grossed around 800,000 in November 2021.

Davis and Garcia are not comparable to Alvarez individually but together, Espinoza said, a large number should not be ruled out.

“Recently, we have seen that what was once a million [pay-per-view buys] it’s 800,000 now,” he said. “That seems to be a ceiling. Look what Canelo-Plant has done. [Deontay] wild-[Tyson] Fury did a little lower but in the same neighborhood.

“It was the biggest in the last few years. But if anyone can break through, it could be a combination of Tank and Ryan because of their appeal beyond boxing fans.

“The magic of Mayweather and Pacquiao is that they bring in people who are not interested in boxing any day of the year unless they are fighting. I will put my money on any Davis and Garcia breakout.”

Of course, a match missing from the schedule underscores the fact that there will be disappointments.

The match between welterweight stars Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. arguably the crown jewel of 2022, the battle of undefeated champions is reminiscent of Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns and Felix Trinidad-Oscar De La Hoya.

However, the negotiations ultimately failed and it is not known when – or if – the fight will happen.

Espinoza was among those disappointed.

“All boxing fans are frustrated with that,” he said. “We are boxing fans ourselves. We were disappointed. I think more often that boxing is not done right. We’ll have Tank and Ryan, [which] That’s good. We could also have a big game against Wilder in the near future. We continue to have big battles.

“So there will be misses. Sometimes we are boxing fans who are harder on our sport than any other fan. And often, fights that don’t happen get more attention than fights that do. It’s hard not to be skeptical, but best of all, it’s a beautiful sport.

“It’s more exciting and different from any sport out there, but, yes, it let us down sometimes. We must continue to work as human beings… in the sport to ensure that those things are few and far between.

“Especially Spence-Crawford, I know nobody gives up on that. It didn’t happen last fall [but] there are efforts being made to keep trying to make it happen. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but no one has given up hope or given up trying.”

Of course, Espinoza feels satisfied with the current schedule.

It’s not perfect – when did that happen? — but his network will feature many of the world’s top boxers in competitive bouts in the coming weeks and months.

“For those who are real fans, people who are looking for real quality boxing, people who are looking for the fun and excitement of discovering a new boxer, joy,” said Espinoza. the joy of a tough, technical battle, it’s there. “There are enough people committed to doing high-quality fights in this sport. A lot of them are here under our roof at Showtime.

“Have a lot of. If we look at it worldwide, there’s just as much boxing content now as there has been any time in the recent past. I think that’s a positive thing. We must highlight the positive while we acknowledge our failures and some shortcomings. …

“Among the things we have seen, there are more undisputed champions who have been crowned in the last two or three years than perhaps at any other point in the history of the sport. The reality is that there are great wars going on. You can’t have undisputed champions without champions fighting other champions.

“So there are signs that things are improving and moving in the right direction.”

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Here are the upcoming Showtime cards that have been announced:

MARCH 4th
Boxing Championship Showtime
Toyota Arena, Ontario, Calif.