Showtime Boxing will cease to exist after this year, leaving millions of fans heartbroken and boxers and promoters in flux. Home to boxing for 37 years, the fans will fondly remember the last of boxing on premium linear cable channels in the United States. However, the boxers might share a different sentiment. Along with Showtime Boxing, gone are the days of inactivity and shying away from picking big fights. And the boxers might have to walk the path that Floyd Mayweather Jr. did.

Showtime Boxing featured some of the most iconic names, such as the likes of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. But it was ‘Pretty Boy’ who skyrocketed the network’s numbers when he signed a new deal in 2013. What followed next was a series of PPV blockbusters. All he did was fight the best and bludgeon them. Something the current boxers fail to do.

Floyd Mayweather and his art of money-minting

The American boxer has reportedly earned a whopping $1 billion in career fights. The bulk of that money came during the latter part of his career, when he had already established himself as a champion. Before he turned 30, he had already fought 37 times, and fighting multiple fights in a year was the norm.

When the 46-year-old switched to Showtime Boxing from HBO, he had already defeated Victor Ortiz, Juan Manuel Márquez, Oscar De La Hoya, and Miguel Cotto. After switching to Showtime Boxing, he then extracted the benefits of his proven fame. Mayweather, acting as a promoter for himself, amassed all the revenue from tickets, PPVs, and sponsorships.

In a seven-fight deal, ‘TBE’ then fought a money fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2015 at 38. Following this, he, at 40, then agreed to terms for a crossover fight with Conor McGregor in 2017. These fights ballooned his bank by $550 million. But it must be noted that he had already cemented his legacy and collected the bags. The reverse of it is true today for the current generation of boxers.

The greed and the collapse of Showtime Boxing

The inactivity of boxers taints the boxing world. In addition, surging contenders try to avoid each other, resulting in mismatches. The famed boxers rarely pick fights with fellow boxers with similar candidatures. It thus prevents networks from putting up stacked cards.

Moreover, PPVs have become the new normal, and fans don’t shell out money for a thin card. That’s the exact trouble Showtime Boxing ran into and eventually had to shut down. Showtime Boxing had a lineup of boxers demanding a beefed-up paycheck without daring to fight the best boxer around.

Tyson Fury dodged Oleksandr Usyk for a long time. Before ‘The Gypsy King’ penned a fight with Usyk, he squared off against Francis Ngannou in a non-title fight on October 28. The writing is on the wall. The promoters and managers cling to their cash cows and try to keep them safe.

But the best has to fight the best. If boxing has to survive the post-Showtime era, the fights need to be bigger and the fighters need to go the Mayweather way. However, not by trying to protect their undefeated record and becoming Mayweather, but by actively fighting. But is it enough to reimagine boxing?

What can save boxing? Are Super fights the solution the boxing world needs?

The likes of Ryan Garcia and Terence Crawford have realized the onus for change is on boxers. Garcia, whom the critics label as an influencer masking as a boxer, declared, “All us boxers need to make this our collective fight. We gotta be thinking about marketing, new audiences, investors, global, all of it… We just gotta reimagine it.”

Likewise, Oscar De La Hoya reiterated putting up big fights for the fans. He wrote, “I am hopeful that we promoters can use this unfortunate situation to put our differences aside and start working together more often to help make more of the bigger fights and grow our sport.”

Read More: While $2.2 Billion Worth Showtime Puts 38 Employees’ Job at Risk by Shutting Down Their Sports Division, PBC Makes Major Moves To Secure Their Future and Here’s How It Could Benefit Boxing

What do you think of shutting down Showtime Boxing? Do you believe boxers need to shed their fear of losing and greed to keep boxing alive? Let us know in the comments below.

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