Stephen Espinoza says expect very small cards upon boxing’s return!
There is no question that boxing fans all over the globe are beside themselves while waiting for boxing to return to the air waves. Industry insiders seem to be confident that the sport will resume at some point in 2020. However, what the sport will look like is still very much up in the air. The only thing that we know for certain is that when the fights do resume, they will do so without audiences. Yet, that is likely not the only alteration that we’ll have to become accustomed to.
EXPECT VERY SMALL CARDS
While conducting an exclusive interview with Fight Hub TV, President of Sports at SHOWTIME, Stephen Espinoza, gave a small glimpse into some of the changes coming down the pipe. One of the major changes, although not entirely surprising, is the utilization of much smaller cards.
Naturally, when the competitions do resume, there will be a huge demand to get as much action as possible. This would lead one to believe that the first fight cards would be loaded to the gills with bouts. Yet, Espinoza has already given word that this will not be the case.
“There is the aspect of crowds, I think that the assumption is that we’re going to be without crowds for the foreseeable future. We’re probably going to see smaller cards. Some of the states have already given out guidelines that limit the amount of rounds on a card. And it’s much smaller than you would typically see.
I know one state that’s limiting it to 44 total rounds on a card and that’s on a complete card, not the TV portion. That’s basically two twelve rounder’s and two ten rounder’s and you’ve got an event that is a lot smaller than we are used to.”
MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
If these limits prove to be true, then it will be interesting to see how the boxing industry addresses this new variable. Will fight-cards be loaded with nothing but big names to draw the public in or will promoters take this time to build lesser known fighters on the greatly truncated events? Regardless of how this ongoing situation plays itself out, stay tuned to 3kingsboxing for all the latest in boxing news and updates.
By: Bakari Simpson
