Boxing News 2014: Pacquiao-Mayweather Bout Possibly Won’t Be Aired By Showtime As NBC Eyes Primetime Boxing $20M Deal With Al Haymon

Amid talks that unbeaten American boxer Floyd Mayweather is finally considering fighting Filipino eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao if the congressman beats Chris Algieri on Nov 22, there is another boxing coup in the offing besides the higher chances of the Dream Match finally taking place.

It is the possible displacement of Showtime, where Mayweather has two remaining fights under a 6-fight contract, as NBC Sports Network plans to show primetime boxing. Sportingnews.com reports that there is speculation in the boxing world that Al Haymon, who is the power behind Money May, has a deal underway with NBC.

Besides Mayweather, Haymon handles Adonis Stevenson, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner and Rances Bathelemy from Cuba who defends on Saturday his junior lightweight title, to be aired by Showtime.

The reported deal is linked with the replacement by Haymon of Main Events, headed by Kathy Duva, as boxing content provider to NBC. Haymon's $20 million offer is said to be higher than Suva's group's ability to make available boxing content.

"He's promised NBC that he's going to take his fighters off premium cable ... He's going to put Showtime and HBO out of the puzzle," SportingNews.com quoted Duva.

She added, "And he's going to do away with pay per view and create an over-the-top network. He's got the fighters and he's presumably got the money ... I pray he doesn't blow it, because if he does, we're not going back to (network TV for a while). If he's successful, all the networks will want boxing."

There has been lesser interest in boxing, causing the sport be seen mainly over premium channels, but the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout is believed to revive interest in the sport, particularly as the two pound-for-pound king contenders are just a few fights each from hanging their gloves forever.

It was Tex Rickard, promoter of the fight between Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey, who was responsible for making boxing popular in US television. Boxing Insider said that Haymon could be the one to bring it back to primetime TV.

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