Showtime will chronicle the classic 1980s rivalry between four champion boxers in a new documentary series The Kings to premiere June 6. 

The four-part series will chronicle the battles between boxers Roberto 'hands of stone" Duran, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas "the hitman" Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, said network officials. 

The Kings spotlights boxing's evolution from the end of Muhammad Ali's era to the era of the four boxers, set against the seismic political and socio-economic shifts taking place in the United States. Through in-depth interviews and archival footage, the series also examines the very personal battles that each man waged on his unique journey to the center of the sports world, said Showtime.

“These four men defined an era in boxing,” Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza said in a statement. “Their individual stories, forever linked by the spectacular battles they waged, reflect a tumultuous period in American culture and history. The Kings takes the viewer beyond the glorious action of some of history’s most memorable prizefights to illuminate each man’s dramatic journey and the societal context that made them stars of sports and popular culture.” 

HBO is getting out of the live boxing TV business after 45 years of televising some of the biggest events in the history of the sweet science.

With some 1,111 live boxing telecasts under its belt and one more fight telecast scheduled – the Oct. 27 Daniel Jacobs/Sergiy Derevyanchenko middleweight championship from New York – the pay TV service will walk away from the boxing ring at the end of the year. HBO and its pay-per-view arm TVKO/HBO PPV have been the home for some of the most memorable fights for nearly a half a century featuring some of the most iconic and successful fighters of all time, including Floyd Mayweather, Joe Frazier, Tommy Hearns, Oscar De La Hoya, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiao and Roy Jones Jr. 

The influx of new fight distributors including streaming services like ESPN+ and DAZN coupled with declining ratings for live fights – HBO boxing telecasts, which once attracted as much as one-third of HBO’s subscribers, drew about about 2% of the network’s audience according to the New York Times – factored into the network’s decision.

I had a chance to speak to HBO Sports executive vice president Peter Nelson regarding the network’s departure from boxing as well as HBO’s future plans for sports programming.

Why has HBO decided to walk away from televising live boxing events?

We evaluate what we do consistently, and over period of time it's been indicated to us through our research that boxing is no longer a major factor for our subscribers. Our job is to take care of our viewers, and we listen to them. Storytelling is obviously intimately intertwined with our legacy in the sport and we'll never forget our roots. You're going to see a continued presence in boxing from a storytelling capacity, not least of which will be 2019's multipart series on Muhammad Ali directed by Antoine Fuqua that will come out in spring of 2019.

So when you say that it's no longer a factor for subscribers, is that based on ratings or are subscribers are actually telling you they don't want to see boxing on the network?

It's internal research that looks at a variety of metrics with a raft of different methodology in terms of approaching consumer habits and their interests. We've done a critical assessment of where we are and where we're heading into the future. As a caveat I should say that we still remain open to the idea that if there is a large-scale event that transcends the sport that we'd be open to having those conversations.

What role did the influx of new distributors of live boxing events like DAZN play in this decision?

I can tell you that it didn't inform our decision at all. Our decision was informed by where our viewers and our subscribers’ interests lie. We think it's great that there are other places for fans of the sport to find it, and if that creates more opportunities for fighters than we feel great about that.

Are you worried about losing some hardcore boxing fans as subscribers with this move?

From everything that we've seen in terms of our research department's understanding of the data we don't foresee that being the case. We believe that there's a great interest in storytelling in the categories of news and journalism like Real Sports; in reality like Hard Knocks, which is up double digits in viewership this season from last; like the Being Serena series on Serena Williams; in the conversation genre that has opened up for us with shows like The Shop featuring LeBron James; and of course in our documentaries that we produce entirely in-house.

Did the recent AT&T acquisition of Time Warner play a part in this decision?

All of our decisions from a programming standpoint have been made on the basis and the merit of how we feel best aligns with HBO. HBO Sports has made this decision and made the strategic shift based on what our own criteria is and our own definition of success.

You mentioned that HBO would be open to coming back to the sport for a big pay-per-view opportunity. Are there any matches in your mind that could prompt the network to step back into the live TV boxing ring?

I think we'd have to evaluate events on a case by case basis. Boxing is constantly shape shifting, and you can never predict based on what's happening in September what's going to be true in November. We're going to take it in stride and see what the future holds. We're obviously going to be continuing to have conversations; if there's a mega event to be had we would hope to be considered as one of the homes of it.

What is the legacy of HBO Boxing?

The legacy will continue to be defined as a living breathing part of what we've done and where we're going. I think the storytelling aspect of what HBO Sports has always been known for is intimately entwined with what we have done in the past in terms of humanizing fighters; in terms of allowing viewers to empathize not just with them but with the communities from which they have arrived on the scene from. As we look ahead that will continue to be true in the stories that we look to tell as we try to bring forth to our viewers stories that enrich their own lives and their view of the world. 

Showtime Sports has been at the forefront of televised boxing for 30 years, taking a sport that for a generation was the purview of the broadcast networks and effectively promoting, marketing and distributing some of the most successful and lucrative fight cards in the history of the fight game.

Showtime and HBO’s co-distributed May 2015 Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao pay-per-view fight remains the biggest pay TV event of all time, drawing more than 4.4 million buys and more than $400 million in revenue. Boxing has become a staple of Showtime’s programming offerings, and both on its premium channel and via PPV, the network has showcased arguably the biggest names in the sport, including Tommy Hearns, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Lennox Lewis, Canelo Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather.

Showtime Sports and Event Programming executive vice president and general manager Stephen Espinoza talked about the impact boxing has had on Showtime and vice versa over the past 30 years — as well as what the network is doing to ensure its future success with the sweet science — with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead.

MCN:How infl uential has boxing been to overall development of the Showtime brand?

Stephen Espinoza: It’s fair to say that boxing has been critical to the development of Showtime. It has provided another genre of programming that is completely consistent with the network’s overall brand. Showtime has become known for provocative, high-quality entertainment, with compelling characters, and there is nothing more provocative and there’s nothing more provocative and compelling than characters like Mike Tyson, Holyfield and Mayweather. Although it’s a much different type of programming in that its live sports as opposed to scripted dramas and comedies, its value to the network is the same — delivering unique, compelling, provocative programming at the highest level of quality.

MCN:How has Showtime enhanced the viewer’s experience of watching boxing on television compared to the broadcast television networks?

SE: I think there was a certain consistency in presentation that premium television offered to boxing. The ability to stay with a fight between rounds without going to commercial break is something that greatly enhances the presentation of the sport as a whole. The ability to do things without really needing to take a break in the action and to present [uncensored] content to an adult audience, in some cases, were really things that premium television could offer, so I think the experience of professional boxing on premium television was qualitatively different than anything else.

I also think the technology has impacted how the sport is presented and how we market, distribute and deliver the bout. We were covering the events with 15 cameras to be able to deliver the bout that mimics as close as possible the in-arena look and feel of the event. The advent of HD, Dolby 5.1, were also critical pieces of delivering that feeling of a live event. More recently, going to a 4K camera, which we started using three or four years ago, added another layer of detail of the visual presentation. Equally important was marketing and advertising the event. The advent of social media and digital marketing in general have been critical in being able to reach fans.

MCN:The premium category over the years has also been criticized for hurting the sport by taking its biggest stars away from broadcast television and forcing fans to pay to watch big fights. Do you think that is a fair criticism?

SE: I don’t think premium television hurt the sport per se. The shift to premium television was a significant change, but that was really more a factor of premium networks stepping into the void created by a decrease in networks televising boxing. There was the death of a fighter in the ring during the [1982 CBS-televised] Ray Mancini-Duk Koo Kim fight, and that caused some broadcasters to reconsider their commitment to the sport. It was a result of several factors that allowed premium television to become more active.

We can certainly debate whether [boxing’s move to premium cable] was a positive or negative development for the visibility of the sport. In an ideal case, having regular exposure of boxing on a broad, over-the-air platform is something that would have helped the sport overall historically. But overall, I think we have been good stewards of the sport and the sport has done wonders for the network as well.

MCN:Looking ahead, is the sport currently flourishing on Showtime?

SE: It is. The entire media market is undergoing changes, and that’s true for premium television, as well as boxing. There’s uncertainty as we undergo those changes, but there’s huge opportunity as well. For Showtime, our investment has been in the heavyweight division with such stars as [champions] Dante Wilder and Anthony Joshua are two investments that will provide us with hours and hours of great fights. More generally we are developing the largest pool of young, talented fighters that are going to lead the post Mayweather era. That includes Leo Santa Cruz, Keith Thurman, Sean Porter and Danny Garcia.

MCN:Who is the most impactful fighter to fight on Showtime?

SE: I’d say in terms of impact I’d say it’s a three-way tie between Tyson, Holyfi eld and Mayweather, with a close second being the fighter that’s appeared more than any fighter on Showtime, Julio Cesar Chavez.

MCN:What was the most memorable fight on Showtime?

SE: The one that immediately jumps to mind is the 2005 Diego Corrales- Jose Louis Castillo fight which, during my lifetime, is the best fight that I’ve ever seen and was later named fight of the decade.