HBO Sports has teamed with Imagine Documentaries and Fuqua Films on a new documentary that chronicles the spring shutdown of sports due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The documentary, The Day Sports Stood Still, tells the story of the unprecedented sports shutdown in March of 2020 and the remarkable turn of events that followed, said the network. Produced by Antoine Fuqua, Brian Grazer and Justin Wilkes, the documentary will chronicle the abrupt stoppage, athletes’ prominent role in the cultural reckoning on racial injustices that escalated during the pandemic and the complex return to competition in the summer and fall, said HBO.

The Day Sports Stood Still will also feature a first-person account from NBA All Star Chris Paul, who discusses his experiences from being in the first NBA game to be stopped in March to playing in the NBA “bubble,” said HBO. 

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HBO Sports in 2015 completed one of the most successful boxing campaigns in its history, led by the record-setting May 2 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view fight it co-promoted with Showtime. Leading the division’s charge into 2016 is recently named executive vice president Peter Nelson. He will set the strategic direction and oversee programming for the division, which along with boxing also produces the network’s long-running sports magazine show, Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, as well as its sports documentaries. He spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the HBO Sports brand and its strategic outlook. Here are edited highlights of their conversation.

MCN:How would you define the HBO Sports brand?

Peter Nelson: We encapsulate a portion of the broader mosaic of HBO’s brand, which champions unique voices in their artistry and excellence, and that overarching vision is one we endeavor to meet and exceed every day within sports.

Ranging from live fights to the illegal hunting of African elephants chronicled on Real Sports, what encompasses our sports programming as a whole is depth and quality of storytelling. In capturing disparate and unimaginable worlds through the lens of sports, we hope the passions, sorrows and triumphs brought to light reflect back to sharpen the focus of our own humanity.

MCN:Boxing for years has been the staple of HBO Sports. How important is boxing to HBO Sports from your perspective?

PN: Boxing has been integral to HBO’s DNA nearly from its inception, and our work today is entwined with and a continuation of that legacy begun in 1973. In 2015, we saw double-digit percentage of increase in viewership, underscoring the sport’s appeal with our subscribers. As with any sport, as stars dim, others begin to glow brighter, and currently we have a generation forming a new constellation of superstars: Canelo Alvarez, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, Terence Crawford, Sergey Kovalev, Andre Ward, Roman Gonzalez, among others. These fighters embody that historical commitment HBO has shown to exhibiting the best fighters in the world against the best possible competition.

MCN:HBO Sports has already scheduled two pay-per-view boxing matches this year. Coming off a record-setting 2015, how aggressive will the company be in PPV boxing?

PN: For pay-per-view, 2015 was an unprecedented year. We approach pay-per-view keeping in mind the various needs of all involved: of fighters, promoters, affiliate partners, and, above all, consumers. We’re excited to see where 2016 takes us.

MCN:Given the shifts in how viewers watch television, how important is live sports programming in general and to HBO in particular?

PN: Live sports programming is by definition destination programming, a key component in a VOD landscape for networks looking to maximize appeal and audience. For four decades, we’ve had live boxing on HBO, a property that our subscribers are passionate about. We strive each year to be known as the network to turn to for the biggest names, the best fights and the highest quality presentation in the sport. We look every day to meet and exceed those expectations in curating that experience.

MCN:HBO Sports is also known for its documentaries. What role will they play in HBO Sports’s future, and what should viewers expect to see from the genre in 2016?

PN: Sports documentaries are part of our sports culture, ever since our first doc back in 1991 through last year’s biographies of Greg Louganis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As we look to the future, we seek to continue with stories that dovetail with a brand known for prismatic, compelling, and innovative narratives. We have the privilege of unrivaled documentarians working with and reaching out to us. When the right projects come together, it is our job to ensure these filmmakers wish to call HBO Sports home.

MCN:How will new technologies such as 4K and virtual reality affect the future of sports television, and will HBO look to implement such technologies in its telecasts?

PN: Technology enhancements are the lifeblood of live sports production telecasts. We actively look to test new technology and are poised to incorporate them as they make sense for us. Live sports are an incredibly exciting space in which to see the future of tech flourish.

MCN:Are there any other sports that HBO Sports will look to add to its portfolio?

PN: We keep an eye on the landscape, always having the optionality of being flexible and opportunistic. Right now, however, it’s unlikely that we would add another live sport to our slate. We’re excited to play the hand we’re playing.

HBO will replay nine of its 2015 boxing telecsats over four consecutive nights beginning tonight (Sept. 27), the network said Sunday.

The nine fights will feature some of the most popular fighters in the sport, inclcuding  Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev, Terence Crawford, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Timothy Bradley Jr.

HBO's Boxng's Best lineup is as follows:

Sunday, December 27             Sergey Kovalevvs. Jean Pascal I

Terence Crawfordvs. Dierry Jean

Canelo Alvarezvs. James Kirkland

Monday, December 28             Lucas Matthyssevs. Ruslan Provodnikov

Timothy Bradley Jr.vs. Brandon Rios

Tuesday, December 29             Gennady Golovkinvs. David Lemieux

                                                Takashi Miura vs.Francisco Vargas

Wednesday, December 30        Miguel Cotto vs.Canelo Alvarez

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalezvs. Brian Viloria

*Winners names are in italics

Mark Taffet is leaving HBO at year-end after a quarter century in its sports department. Most recently senior vice president of HBO Sports, Taffet helped launch HBO’s pay-per-view division, then dubbed TVKO, in 1991 with the Evander Holyfield-George Foreman fight.

Through HBO boxing, Taffet has had a hand in delivering some of the biggest events in PPV boxing history, including two of the top three PPV events of all time: the May 2 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight, which drew a record $400 million in revenue and 4.4 million buys; and the 2007 Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya bout, which generated the second-most buys at 2.7 million.

Taffet, who was recently inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, spoke to Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about his decision to leave HBO at the end of his contract as well as his future plans in the sport. An edited portion of this interview appeared in MCN's Dec. 14, 2015, issue; the full-length version follows.

MCN:What prompted your decision to leave HBO now?

Mark Taffet: I decided that, sitting at the top right now after the biggest year in the history of PPV and ending with the [Nov. 21 Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez PPV fight], there would never be a better time for me to begin the next chapter of my career. Given my passion and energy for the sport, I thought it was time for me to fulfill some of my dreams and work closer with promoters, fighters and other key players in the sport in a way that my job definition at HBO as a television executive wouldn’t accommodate.

MCN:So your plan is to remain in the sport of boxing?

MT: I have a keen interest in helping in some way to shape the next great era of boxing. I feel that it is the most fulfilling next step for me, and I hope to work with a number of players — most of whom do business with HBO — and help them realize their dreams.

MCN:Are we at the cusp of that great era, since Floyd Mayweather says he’s retiring and we’re still in the process of building that next pound-for-pound champion?

MT: I’ve been very fortunate in that I began during the great heavyweight era of Holyfield, [Mike] Tyson and [Lennox] Lewis, and worked through the transition of that era to Oscar De La Hoya, and was part of the transition to the next great era of Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquiao. What happens over the next year or two inside and outside the ring with those fighters and promoters will have a lot to do with the shape of boxing’s next great era, and I would like to be part of that process.

MCN: Along with experiencing the changes of boxing in the ring you’ve also witnessed an evolution in how boxing and other sports and entertainment events are delivered to homes via pay-per-view. How has the change in technology influenced the sport?

MT: Boxing was uniquely suited for pay per view because of the technology that was in place in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when people drove to stadiums, arenas, racetracks and movie theaters to watch big-time boxing on a closed-circuit basis. Pay per view offered a great improvement over that experience by allowing people to sit in the comfort of their own homes. The subsequent development of digital signals, high-definition pictures, surround sound and big-screen TVs took the in-home experience to another level and really helped accelerate the explosion of pay per view from 16 million homes in 1991, when we did our first fight, to well over 100 million homes today, with Mayweather-Pacquiao and Canelo-Cotto having taken place this year.

Technology has always been a driver of boxing pay-per-view, and I believe that we are approaching another one of those eras where technology will have a great impact on the next generation of the sport. Virtual reality, 3D TV, personal and mobile device viewing and video streaming are all likely to be factors in the next iteration of the sport’s growth. It will be a very exciting few years ahead for boxing and for pay per view.

Time will tell whether or not boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will go down as the greatest pugilist in the history of the sport.

In terms of champion sports brands, though, the 38-year-old Mayweather — who won 12 world titles in five different weight classes before announcing his retirement in September — is currently the undisputed, pound-for-pound titleholder.

Read R. Thomas Umstead's Q&A with MCN's Male Athlete of the Year.

Earlier this year, Forbes named Mayweather as the world’s highest-paid celebrity in 2015. The boxer generated a record $300 million this year, obliterating the previous high of $115 million earned by professional golfer Tiger Woods in 2008.

Much of what Mayweather earned this year was generated by his much-hyped May 2 fight against Manny Pacquiao, which set pay-per-view industry records for buys (4.4 million) and revenue ($400 million), destroying the previous record of 2.47 million buys generated by the 2007 Floyd Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya fight and the $150 million in revenue earned by the 2013 Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez fight.

Mayweather’s Sept. 12 fight against Andre Berto completed his unprecedented six-fight deal with Showtime, which generated about 10 million buys and $800 million in PPV revenue over its three-year span.

COTTAGE INDUSTRY

“There are entire sports leagues and corporations with hundreds of employees who would love to have the economic impact that Floyd has had over the past few years,” Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports, said.

Mayweather, who earns the inaugural Multichannel News male Athlete of the Year Award, has been in the top echelon of boxing since he won the super featherweight title in 1998. Mayweather would go on to amass a record of 49-0 over his 19-year pro boxing career, winning championships in five different divisions against such formidable opponents as the now-retired De La Hoya, Pacquiao and current middleweight champion Alvarez.

“He’s faced everybody and he’s beaten the best in the game,” said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, the fighter’s boxing and entertainment promotion company. “He’s beaten these guys in their prime and makes very good fighters look ordinary. Name me one athlete in any sport who is the best at what they do at the age of 38.”

Mayweather’s 2007 fight with De La Hoya, his 2013 bout with Alvarez and this year’s fight with Pacquiao serve as the only PPV events ever to break the 2 million buy mark.

Read about MCN's Female Athlete of the Year, Ronda Rousey.

Mayweather’s brand extends beyond the ring. He took full advantage of the emergence of social media to further perpetuate his personality and persona. Mayweather has more than 12 million Facebook fans and 6.5 million Twitter followers. Observers say Mayweather has used social media effectively to talk directly to his fans and sell his fights as has no other professional athlete.

Over the years, he has also appeared in numerous high-profile media events, from WWE’s WrestleMania to ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, building more awareness for himself, the sport and the brand.

“No one has exploited social media like Floyd Mayweather,” HBO Sports senior vice president Mark Taffet said. HBO distributed several Mayweather PPV events in the 2000s and co-promoted the record-breaking Mayweather-Pacquiao fight with Showtime.

“Floyd has worked very, very hard to achieve the PPV figures that he achieved,” Taffet added. “It was no accident.”

Of course, Mayweather is not without his detractors. They criticize the fighter’s somewhat action-deficient defensive boxing style, as well as his often abrasive personality. But In Demand senior vice president of programming and business development Mark Boccardi said that criticism has worked to Mayweather’s advantage with regards to his PPV fight performances.

POLARIZING FIGURE

“Whether he was ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ Mayweather or ‘Money’ Mayweather, he created a legion of fans that wanted to both see him win and lose, and there’s a large segment of PPV buyers who bought his fights to see if someone could really beat this guy,” Boccardi said. “What he really did was create both those camps — the pro-Mayweather and pro-Mayweather-opponent camps — and that’s why he was able to generate the PPV buys that he did.”

Added Showtime’s Espinoza: “There are a lot of different opinions on his personality and the image that he portrays publicly. Regardless of those opinions, everyone in the sport has benefited. The sport would not have received the level of mainstream exposure, awareness and worldwide media attention without him.”

As for the future, Mayweather said he will remain retired, and Ellerbe added that the fighter is content to leave the sport behind after a phenomenal career. “He’s done everything he can in the sport of boxing, and he’s ready for the next stage of his life.”

Others however are not convinced, and hope to once again see Mayweather in the ring.

“There are a large number of people who secretly, and not so secretly hope he comes back including TV-distribution companies and Las Vegas touring companies,” Espinoza said. “We’re patiently waiting to see what develops.”

HBO has tapped Peter Nelson to lead the network’s sports department, upping him to executive VP of HBO Sports. He will report to Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming.

Nelson joined HBO Sports in 2011 and served as VP of programming for HBO Sports since 2013.

He will oversee the HBO Sports portfolio, which includes HBO pay-per-view boxing, the documentary team and the series Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, The Fight Game With Jim Lampley, Hard Knocks and 24/7.

“Peter Nelson is the ideal choice to spearhead our groundbreaking programming initiatives as well as our commitment to world class boxing, which have made HBO Sports an acclaimed franchise for the network,” Lombardo said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Canelo Alvarez took a big step in becoming the next big pay-per-view boxing draw with a unanimous decision win over middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in last night's PPV boxing card.

The HBO Sports-distributed fight, held in Las Vegas, saw the bigger Alvarez throw an accumulation of effective power punches against a smaller Cotto to win the middleweight championship and extend his record to 56-1-1 with 32 knockouts.

The win now sets up a potential mega fight between Alvarez and undefeated middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin.

HBO Sports will replay the Cotto-Canelo fight this Saturday (Nov. 28).

HBO Tuesday announced it will develop a special profiling the May 2 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view fight.

The one-hour special, Mayweather/Pacquiao: At Last will premiere April 18 following the network’s Boxing After Dark live show and will follow Pacquiao as he prepares for the much anticipated boxing event. The special will also air in primetime on HBO April 23, said the network.

“This is the mega-fight fans have been anticipating for many years, and we are thrilled to chronicle Manny Pacquiao’s path to this defining moment in his career,” says Rick Bernstein, executive producer, HBO Sports in a statement. “This special will provide viewers with a narrative of how this fight came to be and spotlight Team Pacquiao’s preparations heading into the biggest challenge Manny has confronted in the ring. It will be a terrific primer for any viewer eager to go behind the scenes in the lead-up to May 2.”

The announcement comes a week after Showtime, which will co-distribute the PPV fight with HBO, announced a four-part documentary, Inside Mayweather vs. Pacquiao debuting April 18, that will showcase the undefeated Mayweather’s preparation for what is expected to be the biggest pay-per-view boxing event in history.   

TruTv is the latest cable network to add boxing to its primetime lineup, partnering with Top Rank to create a live Friday primetime series launching May 1.

The new series, in association with Turner Sports and HBO Sports, will launch on the eve of the May 2 Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view fight with a card featuring two title bouts inside The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

The card will feature a lightweight world championship fight between Takahiro and Ray Beltran as well as a NABF welterweight championship fight between Mikael Zewski and Konstantin Ponomarev.

“We’re excited to partner with Top Rank and our colleagues at HBO Sports to bring this high-caliber boxing series to truTV,” said Lenny Daniels, president of Turner Sports in a statement.  “We share a common vision to present these events in a new and inventive way and look forward to offering this compelling content to our viewers.”

Added Chris Linn, truTV president and head of programming: “We see this as a great opportunity to bring more coveted live sports programming to the network and believe Friday night primetime fights will resonate with truTV’s young audience.”

truTV is the latest in a growing list of networks launching live boxing shows. Cable network Spike TV along with broadcast networks NBC, CBS and Bounce TV have announced deals with Premier Boxing Champions for upcoming live boxing cards.  

HBO will re-air eight of its top fights of 2014 over four consecutive nights beginning Dec. 27, the network announced Thursday.

The telecasts will feature fights from several marquee boxers including Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Gennady Golovkin, Juan Manuel Marquez and Wladimir Klitschko, said network officials.

HBO’s Boxing’s Best lineup is as follows:

Welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao will return to the pay-per-view ring in November against contender Chris Algieri, HBO announced Saturday night.

Pacquiao will fight Algieri Nov. 22 in Macau, China where Pacquiao fought and defeated Brandon Rios last November. Pacquiao last fought April 12, defeating Timothy Bradley Jr. (pictured)  in a unanimous decision.

Pacquiao, once the biggest PPV draw in boxing, has generated more than 1 million buys combined for his last two fights.

Algieri earned his shot at Pacquiao after upsetting Ruslan Provodnikov in a June 14 junior welterweight championship fight.

The Pacquiao-Algieri fight is the second major PPV boxing match scheduled for this fall, following Showtime Sports’ Sept. 13 Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana event.

Boxing will again be the focus of HBO's 24/7 behind-the-scenes reality series, which profiles athletes as they prepare for a significant event. 

 This rendition of the series will cover Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez as they prepare for the middleweight title fight on June 7 in New York’s Madison Square Garden. 

The series is scheduled to debut on Saturday, May 31 from 11:15-11:45 p.m. ET/PT. The second episode will air Thursday, June 5 from 8:30 - 9:00 p.m., with the fight to follow two days later. 

“Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez are barreling toward the most-anticipated fight of 2014, and their backstories will make for great storytelling in this all-new edition of 24/7. This is an intense showdown made even larger by the backdrop of New York and Madison Square Garden playing host to the event,” said Rick Bernstein, executive producer, HBO Sports. 

The series will also be presented in Spanish on HBO Latino. Cotto hails from Caguas, Puerto Rico, and Sergio Martinez is from Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cotto has appeared in three previous 24/7 installments.