Showtime To Drop Boxing, Marking End Of Era

Showtime has been a home to boxing for over 37 years. In that span, "Showtime Championship Boxing" televised some of the biggest fights in the sport, including the top three grossing pay-per-views on record: Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-McGregor and Mayweather-Canelo.

But the network will conclude its relationship with the sport at the end of 2023, parent company Paramount Global announced in a statement Tuesday.

"As we evolve our strategy to more efficiently allocate resources and align our content offering across the business, we've made the difficult decision not to move forward with boxing and other content produced by the SHOWTIME sports team."

The network's exit from boxing marks the end of an era. Premium cable networks Showtime and HBO, which dropped boxing from its lineup in 2018, will forever be synonymous with boxing. Yet neither will have a presence in the sport come 2024, the first time since 1973.

Predictably, "the boxing is dead" narrative is already percolating. Predictable but hardly accurate.

Expect another network to quickly capitalize on Showtime's exit. Showtime is the exclusive home to Al Haymon's PBC, the lead global boxing promotion. Simply put, there will be a market for PBC.

The promotion has outstanding contracts with the best and most profitable fighters in the industry, including Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Errol Spence, Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis, and Deontay Wilder.

Already, ESPN boxing insider Mike Coppinger says Amazon Prime Video and DAZN have expressed interest in the package.

Both platforms are logical fits.

Amazon is also a rumored bidder for WWE Monday Night Raw. Coupling the top wrestling and boxing promotions would give Amazon an edge over some of its many streaming competitors.

DAZN tried to revolutionize boxing in 2018 by doing away with the pay-per-view model and offering marquee fights as part of a $ 9.99-month service. DAZN hoped to establish itself as the Netflix of sports.

Unfortunately, the vision failed. DAZN has since adopted the pay-per-view model with partnerships with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing and Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

This issue is that DAZN lost its golden goose in Canelo to PBC in 2023. Adding back Canelo, as well as the entire PBC roster, would position DAZN to regain some of its mainstream appeal.

Of course, another suiter could emerge. Though it's unlikely ESPN, Fox or NBC get involved in the rights for PBC.

ESPN is the home of Top Rank, a rival promotion. Meanwhile, Fox and NBC had previous agreements with the promotion that were short-lived.

Perhaps YouTube TV, given its success with NFL Sunday Ticket, or Apple TV will show interest.

Finally, Showtime's way out of boxing signals the end for its broadcast team of Mauro Ranallo, Al Bernstein and  Jimmy Lennon.

The trio showed an obvious decline over the past few years, particularly during the Canelo-Charlo fight last month. And the next home of PBC will likely opt to establish its own team of broadcasters.

For what it's worth, Max Kellerman, the most famous boxing commentator, remains a media-free agent after his layoff from ESPN in June.

"SHOWTIME will continue to air and support the remaining 2023 boxing slate and honor obligations through the end of the year. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our employees who have contributed to this award-winning sports programming over multiple decades," the network concluded.