HBO Summer Boxing Schedule; Unimpressive

Edited on June 30th, 2016

My favorite time of the year is summer not only due to the weather, it's traveling season, and it's also boxing's most active time of year.

Generally, fight fans have come to expect quality match ups from the premium cable series, HBO Boxing After Dark. The Orlando Salido vs. Francisco Vargas fight kicked off the season with a fight of the year candidate, so how does the remaining HBO schedule compare? Not so great...

The June 11th fight card featured rising stars, Vasyl Lomachenko and Felix Verdejo; it was another low-risk, low-reward for the headliners and the fights were less than stellar.

Verdejo's opponent walked a straight line and had very little offense to pose a threat. Verdejo still managed to get tagged, allowing me to believe a better fighter will exploit him if he doesn't improve. This was simply a mismatch.

Lomachenko on the other hand was moving up in weight to 130 pounds and was facing a recognizable opponent, Rocky Martinez. There is a reason Martinez was a 12 to 1 underdog for as we watched Loma brutally knock him out in the fifth round. Let's hope the Ukrainian is more appropriately matched up with the likes of a Takashi Miura, Francisco Vargas, Nicholas Walters, Jason Sosa going forward.

Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko was initially scheduled for July 9, 2016. However, as a result of a Fury's freak injury, it was indefinitely postponed. I had zero interest in this fight where two gigantic men hug excessively, and land 5-10 punches per round. I was going to wait for the HBO highlights assuming they could put a 90 second video clip together (Interesting article on how Fury is recovering).

The next HBO fight features the light heavyweight champ of the world, Surgey Kovalev. His opponent, Isaac Chilemba, only significant fight was a loss to Tony Bellow, a guy Adonis Stevensen TKO'd with ease. This is a stale appetizer while fans await for the expensive entree, Kovalev vs Ward, scheduled to take place this Fall 2016.

Fight fans were very excited to hear of Terrance Crawford vs. Viktor Postol -- a fight that would determine the best junior welterweight in boxing. Of course Top Rank ruined it by announcing this would be a pay-per-view card, more anecdotal evidence that Bob Arum's company is hurting financially as they rush their premier fighters onto a ppv platform. I will catch the re-air instead of paying for this one.

HBO just announced they are picking up the rights to Andre Ward vs. Alexander Brand, a fight Ward should win easily. See my comments on the Kovalev fight as it applies here.

I am still hopeful that HBO will announce the airing of Jessie Vargas vs. Kell Brook. It is rumored to take place the first week of September. That said it doesn't look good as both sides have not signed a contract. According to Jessie Vargas' recent social media postings , Kell Brook is the hold up.

With HBO's theme of airing mediocre "set up" fights firmly in place, it's no wonder Showtime Boxing is gaining much popularity. It will be interesting to see if HBO continues to cut down the boxing budget or doubles down for better ratings, because as of right now they are certainly not living up to their motto: "The Best Fights Are on HBO" .

2016:

June 4, 2016: Francisco Vargas vs. Orlando Salido
June 11, 2016: Vasyl Lomachenko vs Rocky Martinez; Felix Verdejo vs Juan Jose Martinez
July 11, 2016: Surgey Kovalev vs Isaac Chilemba
July 23, 2016: Terrance Crawford vs Viktor Postol (Pay Per View)
August 6, 2016: Andre Ward vs. Alexander Brand

2015: