Stephen Espinoza on the future of boxing in theaters: “Where things will go in the long run, who knows?”
By: Sean Crose
“It’s been a pretty common shift in the industry,” Showtime Sports honoree Stephen Espinoza told. battle center in an interview released on Thursday. “This is just a continuation of what is happening across the industry.” Espinoza is talking here about merging his network with Paramount+. News of the merger has led some to wonder if boxing will no longer be broadcast on Showtime, much like HBO’s boxing serials that were frozen a few years ago. Espinoza has made it clear that nothing has changed for Showtime Boxing…at least for now.
“In the short term there is no change,” he said. “Where things will go in the long run, who knows? It’s a tough economy out there. But right now, the company is definitely committed to the sport, committed to the sport beyond 2023, and I haven’t heard of anything that changes that.” The truth is, of course, that boxing – in the United States at least – has been in decline in popularity for a while.
“Low viewership is a problem,” Espinoza admitted in the interview. “It is. No network in the business will continue to commit to something with a low viewership.” However, Espinoza points out that the scenario is more complicated than it might appear at first, he said: “The metrics to make that decision are something much more complicated than just looking at them. Nielson ratings and say 250,000 people watched this video or say this we only have 200,000 Tank watchers pay per view replay That’s pay per replay We didn’t pay for it’s to start with. It’s not a resource investment.”
Times are definitely changing. Indeed, Espinoza points out that the April superfight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia will be marketed in a way towards social media (which both Davis and Garcia excel at). He said: “This one I think even more will be a social media ad. “We didn’t need to do a multi-city press tour to create content…this would be the first time promoting boxing on social media.”
