US pay-television service HBO beat competition from rival Showtime to acquire the rights for the boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr and junior middleweight title-holder Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 5. HBO will show the fight on its pay-per-view service.
ESPN.com reports that it is the first major pay-per-view acquisition overseen by Ken Hershman, who was appointed as head of HBO in October. Hershman used to run the sports division at Showtime, which had scored a surprise victory over HBO by acquiring the rights for the boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley last year. HBO’s loss of the Pacquiao v Mosley rights was a key factor in its former president Ross Greenburg resigning last July.
The Mayweather v Cotto fight will be Mayweather’s eighth in a row on HBO PPV and ninth in his last 10 fights.
In the UK, boxing channel Box Nation acquired the rights for the fight. Simon Green, chief executive of Box Nation, and former head of Sky Sports Ventures at UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB, said: “BoxNation is delighted to add this fantastic fight between two of the sports premier boxers to its already packed schedule of world title fights. Fans in the UK have asked about Mayweather fighting on BoxNation and we are thrilled that we have delivered to them a fight of this stature.”