Stephen Espinoza Downplays Worries Over PBC’s Deal With Amazon Prime Video – ‘I Can Help’
Stephen Espinoza, the former Showtime executive, has reacted to PBC’s new multi-year deal with Amazon Prime Video.
The news came about after Showtime announced its exit from boxing in 2023. The announcement ended a remarkable 37 years of broadcasting in the sport. They joined their former rivals HBO in leaving. Espinoza has not taken up a new position since the deal was announced. But he is open to contributing in any way he can.
Espinoza helped put on the highest-grossing fight in 2023 between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia. He oversaw Canelo Alvarez vs Jermell Charlo and Terence Crawford vs Errol Spence. All three of those fights produced live gates of over $20 million. That goes on to show his big contribution to PBC’s success. Espinoza recognized that PBC had work to do to rebuild its solid foundation at Showtime.
Espinoza On His Role
“So whether I’m officially involved or not officially involved, I have love for the sport, I have love for these people. I want to make sure they’re good. So if I can help and contribute to a transition, you know, it’s a big change.
“You’re going from a network that has been in for almost 40 years, assumed a lot of things from PR to marketing to social media, and now you’ve got to build that entire structure.So I’m helping them do that. We’ll see what the future holds but for the time being I’m just part of the team that’s making sure that this event (Thurman vs Tszyu) comes off as smoothly as it can,” Espinoza stated
Amazon Prime Video has over 160 million subscribers in the US alone. This shows it has massive potential if PBC can put on some big fights. This is the network’s first foray into boxing, making it a potential risk if the shows do not perform with their audience.
Their first PPV was announced between Keith Thurman and Tim Tszyu on March 30. It received a mixed response since the bout is not a title fight. Thurman has also not boxed in around two years, while only having one fight since 2019, making a risk to put him as the A-side. At 35 years old, there were suggestions that other fighters should have been given the nod. But Espinoza downplayed any concerns, as he expected PBC to have more control over its shows, unlike the NFL’s deal with Amazon Prime, leaving the pressure on PBC to deliver.
Espinoza On PBC
“There’s a lot of people that produce football, college football, NFL. There’s a much smaller group of people — it’s a specialty to produce combat sports, and boxing particular. So I think from (Amazon’s) perspective they said, ‘look, you guys know more about this than we do, you put together the team.’ They’re certainly having input, there’s conversation going back and forth, ‘who’s going to be the on-air talent, what is the look gonna feel like, what technology is being used?” Espinoza added
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