HBO boxing has cut ties with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, according to reports. This news comes on the heels of HBO's golden goose, Floyd Mayweather Jr., jumping ship to rival Showtime last month.
HBO Sports president Ken Hershman, who used to run Showtime boxing has had a rocky relationship with Golden Boy executives. Stephen Espinoza, who was previously part of Golden Boy's legal team, is now running Showtime's boxing program and has attracted much of Golden Boy's stable to HBO's chief competition.
In a statement addressing the decision, Hershman said "In order to achieve our goal of the best fighters in the most compelling matchups, we've decided to focus our efforts and resources on those strategic relationships where we better share common goals and business philosophies."
HBO has already seen stars such as Danny Garcia, Amir Khan and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez leave for Showtime, and by ending the relationship with Golden Boy completely, will lose Bernard Hopkins and Adrien "The Problem" Broner. The loss of Broner could sting; he has posted tremendous ratings for a 23-year-old fighter and projects to eventually usurp Mayweather's crown atop the pound-for-pound rankings. In the past Broner has billed himself as "Mr. HBO Boxing," but now will have to get comfortable on Showtime.
Broner is expected to move up in weight to take on welterweight Paulie Malignaggi, who doubles as a Showtime analyst, in June. That fight will clearly take place now on Showtime. Broner's contract with Golden Boy and adviser Al Haymon is set to expire in April, according to a Yahoo! Sports report, and rapper/promoter 50 Cent has offered Broner a deal to join his company SMS Promotions. In an interview with Boxingscene.com 50 Cent discussed his desire to add Broner to his team. "One thing about Adrien Broner is that he's displayed showmanship. Even though they were pages out of Floyd's [Mayweather] book but he's still done it in a way that people take note of him. He's a top fighter and in the future I'm going to end up working with him regardless of whether he's fighting with the talent being offered up by the company or he's with me."
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