HBO, the golden standard of programming for the sport of Boxing for as long as I can remember, has removed Golden Boy's chips from its poker table.
The move comes on the heels of Floyd Mayweather's defection to rival network Showtime, and the ripple effects of this sudden move is sending shockwaves through the sport.
But should it?
There has been nothing but acrimony between the sports' biggest promotional outfit in the world and the worlds' premier cable network, so something had to give. But this?
The great Ali once stated before a bout: "We don't get along, so we gone get it on". With that said, the stage is set for some serious war between these two, along with Showtime and Top Rank, who HBO is now forced to sleep with.
For a little background on this proverbial circus, let's start with some of the key players in what would make "As the world turns" rather proud.
Let's start with Ross Greenburg, who is joining Showtime just in time to help them and all of its affiliates (namely CBS) promote Mayweather's initial fight against one Robert Guerrero. No, his name is not Manny Pacquiao, and I'm not sure anyone really knows who he is outside of the hardcore fan.
This also explains why the promotion needs all the help it can get.
Greenburg, of course, ran HBO Boxing for a number of years and came under heavy fire for not producing the fight we all wanted to see. So it made perfectly good sense for him to go somewhere else and make this fight. Right?
Then there's Ken Hershman, who assumed Greenburg's position at HBO and is the former head honcho of Showtime Boxing. Hershman, was replaced by Stephen Espinoza at the helm of Showtime Boxing, who just happened to be Golden Boy's chief attorney prior to this.
Richard Shaefer, top executive with Golden Boy, is mad at HBO and hasn't spoken to any executives in months. Oscar de la hoya, the "Golden Boy" of Golden Boy, stays mad at everybody having to do with Top Rank and Bob Arum. Arum doesn't care, and is content to be in a monogamous relationship with HBO for as long as he can satisfy them.
And I thought cat fighting was reserved for only models and women.
Bottom line? Fight on- this is great for the sport. HBO and Showtime will now do anything they can to out-do each other in the best fight-to-make scenarios, while Golden Boy and Top Rank continue to be at each other's throats from afar.
Mayweather's departure will bring with him Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Danny Garcia, Amir Khan and Bernard Hopkins to Showtime. But it will also bring rising star Adrien Broner on board, with whom HBO has spent a lot of developmental money.
Certainly, HBO has to be holding on to cards we don't know about, with this bold and calculated move. Its just too costly to be impulsive.
They still have the spector of a 5th fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manual Marquez. They still have Sergio Martinez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Andre Ward. And they have perhaps the biggest star on the horizon, in Russian sensation Gennady "GGG" Golovkin.
For Showtime, this can be a make or break proposition. Mayweather signed a deal worth 200 million over 6 fights. Of course, he won't fight that many times. But by putting that much money behind a 36 year-old athlete, who has shown in his sparse efforts a decline in skills, was this wise considering the roster of talent that's coming with him?
Will Showtime, who trails HBO by nearly 10 million subscribers, be able to afford them? What if Mayweather loses or looks bad?
The questions are endless, but so too are the answers to fight possibilities that can be made as a result of this stand-off.
If all is fair in love and war, then it has to be more than fair in hate.
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