Premier Boxing Champions

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Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) is an ongoing series of televised boxing events and promotion connected to manager Al Haymon.

PBC was initially promoted as an effort to return boxing to mainstream

Spike and Bounce TV
.

In parallel with the focus on major cards on broadcast television, the events initially featured a more elaborate in-arena staging than other boxing events, featuring an entrance stage, and a circular marquee and jumbotron suspended above the ring. The telecasts also employed various technologies, including a 360-degree camera rig above the ring, and sensor-equipped gloves and shorts for gathering additional statistics. However, these features were phased out from later events. By 2018, PBC had established long-term deals with Fox Sports and Showtime, with the networks paying traditional rights fees, and holding the rights to produce PBC pay-per-view events.

Although it promotes the media rights of its associated events, PBC is not considered to be a

antitrust law, with Top Rank in particular claiming that Haymon was trying to effectively monopolize
professional boxing in the United States by consolidating boxers with overpaid contracts, venue bookings, the events themselves, and broadcast rights under his ownership. Top Rank settled its suit in May 2016, while the Golden Boy suit was dismissed in 2017 after a judge ruled that it had "failed to demonstrate that there is a genuine issue of material fact".

Production

Premier Boxing Champions was part of an effort by

Fox network—which proved successful in terms of overall viewership. In a survey conducted by Haymon, only 2% of the 35% of viewers who identified themselves as fans of boxing had watched it.[3][4]

PBC's chief operations officer Ryan Caldwell acknowledged that when broadly distributed, major sporting events can attract a large number of live viewers as

USDA on the steak and wants to buy it, we want the boxing fan to see to PBC on the telecast and know they can expect high-quality, competitive match-ups."[2][3]

Executive producer Michael Marto felt that the in-arena experience of boxing events had been compromised by the focus on their television broadcasts, leading to a lack of "entertainment" for those attending in person.

ultra high definition scoreboard screen and a circular marquee display. The screens were used as a scoreboard, and to play instant replays and other features. At the end of the arena was an entry stage known as the "Wall of Thunder". There were three different configurations of the stage components for different venue sizes.[6][7] Film composer Hans Zimmer was commissioned to create theme and soundtrack music for the events.[2]

New technologies were also developed for use during PBC events to provide improved insight and second screen experiences to viewers; Aqueti developed camera technology for use during the events, such as a headband-mounted camera for the referee, "Round-a-Bout"—a circular frame with 36 cameras to provide a 360-degree view of the ring below and "bullet time" effects, and 250-megapixel "microcameras" consisting of multiple digital camera processors linked together. Gloves and shorts were equipped with sensors for measuring the force of punches and other medical data respectively.[4]

Broadcasting

As opposed to most major boxing events, Haymon sought carriage for the Premier Boxing Champions cards on mainstream cable networks, and on the

Spike), CBS Sports (CBS, CBS Sports Network) and Bounce TV to air PBC cards through their outlets on either weekend afternoons or in prime time; rather than having the broadcasters pay the promotion a rights fee, the telecasts are brokered by Haymon to the networks in exchange for a cut of advertising revenue. Prior to these deals, boxing telecasts on the major networks in recent years had been limited to occasional one-off broadcasts, such as a broadcast by CBS in December 2012 in conjunction with sister premium network Showtime.[8][2][9] All PBC broadcasters entered into exclusivity agreements with the group. CBS's contract contained an option for Showtime to carry PBC cards non-exclusively.[1]

PBC cards on Spike were first broadcast as part of the network's combat sports brand Friday Night Lights Out.[10] Antonio Tarver, who served as a member of Spike's broadcast team, explained that "I remember back in the day when fighters started their careers on NBC. Network TV. That's how legendary stars were made. I think NBC and Spike are going to do the same for today's fighters."[3]

Under its contract with NBC, Haymon paid the broadcaster $20 million per year; NBC Sports' first 20 Premier Boxing Champions events included nine prime time cards on

junior welterweight bout. Al Michaels served as the host, joined by Marv Albert and Sugar Ray Leonard as commentators.[2][11] Viewership of the premiere broadcast peaked at 4.2 million viewers; NBC claimed that it was the most-watched professional boxing telecast since Fox's March 1998 Oscar De La Hoya's Fight Night (which reached 5.9 million viewers).[12]

On March 19, 2015,

Friday Night Fights; its on-air staff of Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas were carried over to ESPN's PBC telecasts.[13][14] On August 4, 2015, Fox Sports 1 announced that it would air 21 PBC cards on Tuesday nights (Toe-to-Toe Tuesdays) on the network from September 8, 2015, through June 2016. The telecasts were also simulcast in Spanish by Fox Deportes. The announcement came following the end of a contract between Fox Sports and Golden Boy Promotions.[15]

On April 7, 2015, PBC announced a deal with

SiriusXM to broadcast several of its cards on satellite radio via its Sports Zone channel.[16]

On January 20, 2016, the PBC broadcast featuring headliners

Danny García and Robert Guerrero was the first to be broadcast live in virtual reality by Fox Sports and NextVR.[17][18]

On June 25, 2016, CBS broadcast its first primetime PBC card, featuring a WBA welterweight championship fight between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter (won by unanimous decision by Thurman to retain his title), which marked the first boxing event broadcast by CBS in primetime since 1978. The telecast was produced by Showtime as a special edition of Showtime Championship Boxing.[19][20][21]

By 2018, most of PBC's broadcasting agreements lapsed. In September of that year, PBC reached a four-year deal with Fox Sports, covering a series of 10 "marquee" cards per-year on the Fox broadcast network, 12 per-year on FS1, as well as Fox-produced pay-per-view events. Unlike the previous time-buy arrangements, Fox is paying rights fees; The Ring reported that Fox was paying $60 million per-year. Prior to the announcement, PBC reached a long-term deal with Showtime, through 2021. Despite PBC's previous aversion to them, Fox and Showtime would also began producing pay-per-view events as part of their respective deals.[22][23][24]

In June 2019, Mike Coppinger of

Endeavor (parent company of UFC), had been in talks with Haymon to potentially acquire PBC, with Haymon maintaining his involvement (as Dana White had after its acquisition of UFC).[25][26]

On December 7, 2023, with Showtime winding down its sports division, PBC announced an exclusive agreement with Amazon Prime Video. Amazon will stream a regular PBC Championship Boxing series in the United States and other countries on Prime Video, as well as ancillary content such as original documentaries and archive content. In the United States, Amazon will also distribute PBC pay-per-view events; they will not require an Amazon Prime subscription to purchase.[27]

United States audiences

As of March 2017, the highest PBC audiences have been

Danny García (CBS, 2017, 3.1 million), all of them at welterweight division.[28]

Broadcast and cable television
Year Featured Bout Network Viewers Division
2016 Errol Spence Jr. vs Leonard Bundu NBC 4.8M Welterweight
2015 Keith Thurman vs Robert Guerrero NBC 3.4M Welterweight
2017
Danny García
CBS 3.1M Welterweight
Pay-per-view
Year Featured Bout Network Viewers Division
2023 Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia Showtime / DAZN 1,200,000[29] Catchweight (136 lb)
2020 Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury II Fox / ESPN 1,200,000[30] Heavyweight
2021 Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant Showtime 800,000[31] Super middleweight
2023 Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford Showtime 700,000[32] Welterweight
2019 Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman Fox 500,000[33] Welterweight
2019 Manny Pacquiao vs. Adrien Broner Showtime 400,000[34][35] Welterweight
2019 Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia Fox 375,000[36] Welterweight
2019 Errol Spence Jr. vs. Shawn Porter Fox 350,000[37] Welterweight
2018 Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury Showtime 325,000[38] Heavyweight

Reception

In its review of the inaugural Premier Boxing Champions event on NBC,

scoring the fights. Hans Zimmer's soundtrack was also criticized for being "generic" and "[robbing] fighters of their own personalities."[39] Bleacher Report was similarly mixed, describing the atmosphere as being too "sterile" for a sport that "thrives on chaos", and that "the bland short walks to the ring and generic music presenting the fighters as interchangeable automatons [are] more NFL than WWE".[40] NBC's on-air talent also received mixed reviews, especially the poor performance of Albert, explaining that "Albert, who hasn't called boxing since 1985, sounded like a guy who hadn't called boxing in 30 years. He had a hard time keeping up with the action, eventually giving up on play-by-play and occasionally adding a booming 'Yes!' whenever a particularly telling blow landed."[40]

Bloody Elbow noted that PBC's initial ambitions "largely failed in the short-term; poor ratings, inactive fighters, questionable matchmaking, and planned event dates falling through (among other things) led to genuine concern that they would falter by the end of 2016."[26] In September 2016, ESPN writer Dan Rafael observed that PBC's events had been diminishing in scale (presumed to be the result of dwindling funding), with lower-profile fights at smaller venues (as opposed to the higher-profile main events at major arenas), dropping the staging and production elements that were associated with the early events, and a lower saturation of events overall than there were at the onset (although noting that they were also likely trying to avoid competition with football season).[41]

Controversy

On May 6, 2015,

California Business and Professions Code."[42][43]

On July 1, 2015, Top Rank filed a similar lawsuit against Haymon and Premier Boxing Champions investor Waddell & Reed, seeking an injunction to cease the events and $100 million in damages. Top Rank alleged violations of the Ali act and antitrust laws, arguing that Haymon was attempting to monopolize boxing through internal practices such as using "sham" promoters that are ultimately connected to Haymon, attempting to prevent major venues from being booked by competing promoters by reserving them for a different event, but cancelling and moving the event elsewhere after a competing event is forced to re-locate, and entering into exclusivity agreements with broadcasters through Premier Boxing Champions to prevent them from broadcasting competing events. Top Rank alleged that "with the financial backing, complicity, and material assistance of Waddell & Reed and other financiers, Haymon is rigging the boxing industry so they can act as manager, promoter, sponsor, and ticket broker for nearly every major professional boxer competing in the United States". An attorney representing Haymon denied the lawsuit, claiming it was "entirely without merit and is a cynical attempt by boxing’s old guard to use the courts to undermine the accessibility, credibility and exposure of boxing that the sport so desperately needs."[44][45]

The Top Rank lawsuit was dismissed in October 2015, with the court ruling that the promoter had failed to provide specific examples of the conduct that it had alleged, nor evidence that the alleged actions harmed Top Rank,[46] but in the decision federal judge John F. Walter allowed Top Rank to file an amended complaint after removing Premier Boxing Champion financier Waddell and Reed, which Top Rank did. After receiving the amended complaint, Judge Walter allowed the case to continue and ruled against Haymon's motion to dismiss on January 6, 2016.[47] Top Rank and Haymon agreed to a settlement in May 2016; it was reported that the settlement also contained an option to explore the possibility of a Mayweather/Pacquiao rematch, although this was not confirmed.[48]

Pre-trial documents of the Golden Boy lawsuit revealed that PBC's contract with NBC Sports called for Haymon to pay the broadcaster per-broadcast at intervals (with NBC being required to contribute $150,000 to cover a portion of the production costs for each telecast). It was also established that while PBC would produce the telecast, actual promotion of the event was to be contracted by Haymon to a "duly licensed" promoter.[1] It was also revealed that the exclusivity clauses associated with the PBC television contracts had been waived in May 2016.[1] In January 2017, the Golden Boy lawsuit was dismissed, with the court ruling that the promoter had "failed to demonstrate that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to any of their federal claims for relief".[49]

Awards

Since its inception, Premier Boxing Champions has given out end-of-year awards for various categories:

Fighter of the Year

Fight of the Year

Round of the Year

Knockout of the Year

Prospect of the Year

References

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External links