NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Tim Smith, Vice President of Communications for Haymon Boxing, which puts on the live televised boxing series, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC).

This week, the PBC announced its plans for the rest of 2016 and for its third season in 2017. These include continuing its broadcast deals in the U.S. with FOX, FS1, Spike, NBC, ESPN, SHOWTIME/CBS, and Bounce TV. PBC also promises to air more primetime network shows in 2017 than in either of its first two seasons. There also are plans to show PBC events online.

We spoke with Tim Smith by phone Thursday.

"We're looking at every possible way to get boxing in front of people, to expand the audience to people that aren't really boxing fans right now," he said. "We're looking at building the sport back into a mainstream sport. That's the goal, to build it into a mainstream sport again."

As for the future, he said, "I think 2017 is going to be a great year." But he was also critical of those who have said that 2016 has been a bad year for boxing.

"Again, I think 2016 was a very good year for boxing," he said. "I don't see the doom and gloom that people are talking about for 2016. I just don't see it."

We also discussed his role as "conduit" between Haymon Boxing head Al Haymon and the media; the role of legitimate journalists and the failure of many in the boxing media who were claiming that PBC was "dead"; plans for title fights and virtual tournaments in the 126, 147, and 154 pound divisions, as well as potential heavyweight title unification fights; the many upsets which have taken place on PBC shows; the importance of having boxing on non-pay and non-premium TV; how PBC can eventually make money through getting rights fees for televised shows; and much, much more.

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Labels: Al Haymon, Eddie Goldman, journalism, media, No Holds Barred, PBC, Premier Boxing Champions, Tim Smith