Stephen Espinoza, the man behind record-breaking fights involving Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao – has discussed the return of boxing in 2020.
Due to the coronavirus, all events have been suspended until further notice. The general consensus is that the summer may be wiped out.
Once boxing does resume, Espinoza says there will be a lot of ground to make up. There could certainly be a massively packed schedule to look forward to.
Espinoza’s comments come just hours after Claressa Shields was forced to postpone her May 9 unification.
SHOWTIME BOXING WITH ERIC RASKIN AND KIERAN MULVANEY podcast featured an interview with Espinoza, who is the President of Sports and Event Programming at Showtime Networks Inc.
In the new episode, veteran boxing reporters Raskin and Mulvaney discuss a wide-range of topics with Espinoza. Including the current state of boxing and what may lie ahead for the network’s boxing programming once the current hiatus comes to an end.
On SHOWTIME Sports’ interim content plan…
Espinoza – “It is therapeutic to look forward to and make plans for things that are more reflective of normal life for us, absolutely.
“Our goal is to fill that gap with a lot of the stuff we have. We have a deep library of documentaries. We are definitely surfacing a lot more of the archive both ON DEMAND and we will look at it on linear more regularly.”
On what lies ahead when boxing resumes…
Espinoza – “It’s going to be a wild ride. There’s a lot to be made up. There are a lot of fighters that need fights to happen.
“I think we could be in for a pretty interesting period of time where there’s a lot of activity in a relatively short window. I think we’re going to see an action-packed, jam-packed schedule whenever we return, whether it’s in three, six or nine months. We may see people taking a different tact on taking fights.”
On what fight you wish you could go back in time to attend live …
Espinoza – “Chavez vs. Haugen on February 20,1993 for the WBC Light Welterweight Title at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
“It wasn’t a great fight or great opponent but it’s my pick because of the legendary status that fight has within Showtime’s hallways.
“There were 132,000 people in attendance. You had Chavez taking the presidential helicopter to events. You had Don King getting robbed on his way from the airport to the hotel as soon he got into town. There were so many things around the atmosphere. It was one of those legendary events. I would’ve loved to be at for the atmosphere.”
The weekly SHOWTIME BOXING podcast features Raskin and Mulvaney. They dive deep into the boxing and SHOWTIME boxing events. New episodes are released in all major podcast platforms every Monday. Including Radio.com
