Showtime or HBO; which events do you prefer......

[Jello Biafra]

HBO has better packaging than Showtime, nothing is better than 24/7 even when it focuses on a fight I don't care about.
The announce teams both have their weaknesses but I have started liking Showtime's more recently. Aside from Roy Jones I am sick to death of HBO's announcers. They need to toss Lampley and that c*nt Max in the bushes.
But I ride with whichever channel has a the best fight on a given night.

 

[Dr. Acula]

Showtime in 2013 was the clear winner. Its sad how far HBO has fallen off since the start of the cold war.

 

[theflyest]

I usually prefer Showtime, even prior to Golden Boy's full time arrival to the network. Showtime always relied on quality fights while HBO relied on the stars. HBO would waste so many dates with showcase fights. With HBO, you would have a guy like Berto consistently fighting in "showcase" fights in order to build them into a star. It's gotten better under Ken Hershman. It was starting to become a joke under Ross Greenburg (which is why he was replaced). You can't force a star.

On Showtime, they would just make the fights. Fighters like Bradley & Dawson would stay active & had the most entertaining run of their career on that network. The fighters that appear on Showtime are also more active, which makes for a better product as well. HBO fighters typically don't fight often & it shows in thier fights. Dawson has looked like shiit ever since he's signed to HBO. Inactivity is part of the game, but no one is trying to watch these guys work the rust off. I will say that it's starting to change under Hershman. Stevenson fought 3 times in 2013 on HBO. GGG fought 3 times on HBO. I believe Donaire fought 4 times in 2012. This is off the top of my head. Hershman has turned things around.

 

[Mook]

As do I..i like max but sometimes I think he tries a little too hard. He was more tolerable when he was on ESPN. One of these networks however need to pick up Tarver. I enjoyed his commentary a lot when he was on Showtime.

I don't have a preference for either network as long as the fights are good but @King P nailed it in terms of how HBO and Showtime markets the fights they air to the masses.

remember when showtime didnt have GBP. They used to have the shyttiest fights. But my nikka antonio used to come with the spiffiest suit and that million dollar smile

I used to watch just to hear my boy drop jewels.

 

[theflyest]

remember when showtime didnt have GBP. They used to have the shyttiest fights. But my nikka antonio used to come with the spiffiest suit and that million dollar smile

I used to watch just to hear my boy drop jewels.

Disagreed

They just didn't have the names. The network put together quality matches.

 

[LauderdaleBoss]

When you know an understand the ins an out of boxing, the commentary doesn't really mean two shyts. Everybody views a fight differently, so for me it's all about being entertained.

As far as Showtime is concerned I like Farhood's commentary, just wish he got bumped up to Showtime championship boxing instead of ShoBox. His score cards as well as Bernstein's usually be the most on point. Paulie is aight, but he be too bias and sees certain things that aren't even going on a lot of times. He's a better commentator than he is a boxer though. Tarver was much better and had 2x the charisma and personality. I liked Bobby Cyz as well back in the day on Showtime too. That mma nikka is horrible though with his overused catch phrases. I actually preferred Gus Johnson (the black dude) over him. He reminded me of Lamphley the way they seemed to really enjoy the action during the fights.

HBO's guys just seem to enjoy themselves more when a good fight is going on. The way Manny used to scream and shout when dudes would be getting dropped was priceless. Merchant at least kept you entertained with the jokes if a fight was boring, but Showtime is sometimes too composed and don't wanna admit we're watching some bullshyt. Boring fights just seem to last longer on Showtime. I don't know how I made it through Mitchell/Banks 2 or Trout/Rodriguez.

When it's all said in done they're about equal to me. It's all about the actual card taking place anyways.

 

[patscorpio]

Gus Johnson was hilarious to me..dude clearly didn't have the boxing knowledge to contribute to the banter when Al and Antonio were talking but his overzealous reactions to shyt he was watching in the ring used to have me at times..you can tell though that he did at least enjoy the sport...he was classic during the salido-lopez 2 and ortiz-lopez fights

 

[Tom Foolery]

Competitive fight, HBO.

One sided or weak fight, Showtime.

 

[Amare's Right Hook]

The free ones

 

[mr. smoke weed]

Showtime right now, you can definitely tell the absence of Manny Steward at HBO. Imagines Gus Johnson instead of Mauro leading SHO broadcasts

 

[Beer Drinker]

Kellerman is a faq. Can't stand him. Tarver was awesome. Don't know why they got rid of him. That's all I have to offer

 

[InvictusAeternusEternus]

They are both about the same to me, they got their strengths and weaknesses but I honestly enjoy watching the replay of a fight's with the sound off more. I would really love for the networks to have an option that allows you to watch the fight with just the in ring and crowd noise only. Ive seen a few cell phone recorded fights on youtube that outside the obvious issues of only one camera angle and no corner sound, got me really into the fight.

 

[threattonature]

I enjoy the presentation of HBO. They do better at presenting big time fights and making it seem like you are watching an actual event. I do like the announcers of Showtime better since they seem to have less of an agenda when calling matches.

 

[Skip b]

As do I..i like max but sometimes I think he tries a little too hard. He was more tolerable when he was on ESPN. One of these networks however need to pick up Tarver. I enjoyed his commentary a lot when he was on Showtime.

I don't have a preference for either network as long as the fights are good but @King P nailed it in terms of how HBO and Showtime markets the fights they air to the masses.

Co-signs about tarver

 

[gho3st]

HBO got better production but Showtime got MONEY on the payroll