Hbo To Start Boxing Series For Late Viewers

HBO will launch a latenight series, “HBO Boxing After Dark,” in February, hoping to launch some young boxing careers as well and boost its international sales.

For the first time, HBO will control all international rights to the series of Saturday night fights, which begin Feb. 3 with Olympic gold medalist Kennedy McKinney and undefeated Marco Antonio Barrera meeting in what could be a highlight of the year in boxing.

“We look at it as a series with a little different flare, while maintaining our normal standards of boxing coverage,” HBO Sports executive producer Ross Greenburg said.

Greenburg said the shows, none of which will start before 11 p.m. Eastern time, could serve as a platform for some production innovations that later could be used on HBO’s championship fights.

Fights will be shown after 11 p.m. on a tape-delayed basis on the West Coast. Besides giving HBO an opportunity to experiment a little, the late starts could serve another purpose.

“For one thing, we’re going to try to create the atmosphere of the arena. Like college football, there’s nothing like being in an arena for a fight,” Greenburg said. “And because of the hour, it’ll be a little hipper.”

HBO will produce four “HBO Boxing After Dark” shows in the first six months of the year, take a break for the Olympics and hopefully come back with six more in the second half of the year.

“The way the schedule is, we needed a little ratings infusion in that area,” Greenburg said.