ESPN to drop Wednesday Night Fights?

by Scott Christ on Oct 8, 2008 9:52 PM EDT

Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com is reporting that "multiple sources" have revealed that Disney, the parent company of ESPN, has made the order to drop Wednesday Night Fights from the schedule, leaving the sports leader with just one boxing show, Friday Night Fights.

Reeno also reports that it's likely that the budget for WNF will be moved to FNF, which would mean a chance to upgrade cards.

Honestly? As much as I hate to say it, this is probably a good thing in that regard. Friday Night Fights could get better main events this way. It's not that there aren't good fighters who would love the ESPN exposure, it's that they generally can't afford to put two of them in the same main event, considering for much of the seasons of both programs, they're running two shows per week.

And to be further honest, with the general quality of the shows, I don't watch either all that regularly. I love boxing, I'm an incurable fan of the sport. But I can find better things to do most nights, because there's very limited appeal.

If this is the way for ESPN to put on better cards, then I'm all for it. But if it winds up being one mediocre show a week, one that any boxing fan can skip or DVR and not feel bad about fast forwarding through most of it, then that's another story.

It's not official yet, anyway. But that's the rumor.

Friday Night Fights, for the record, makes its season premier on January 2.

Tweet Comment 12 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Not that I am against it....

But goddamn it this is not a fucking reality show or a tv show. This is live boxing. So if they do go ahead [knowing Disney they obviously will] they have to continue Friday Night Fights all year long. Not no season premire and season ending. A-l-l- d-a-m-n y-e-a-r l-o-n-g. Might as well if one show will be off the air.

Look at Telefutura. They have boxing every Friday night all year long. And the fights are international, meaning not only Latino fighters. And those fight from Telefutura are great 8 times out 10. So again and in somewhat agreement with you; the fights need to be decent for the night atleast [worth it] and all year long.

"I beat him so bad, he ended up in the Hospital. And I am still pretty." -Cassius Clay

by CRAZEDANG1280 on Oct 8, 2008 10:39 PM EDT reply actions

I like the move if they can get some more quality fights all year long. I can’t remember one good fight on Wed except the Urango knockout.

by Zocalo on Oct 8, 2008 11:09 PM EDT reply actions

Lacy-Mendoza was a really good fight

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by Scott Christ on Oct 9, 2008 2:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Latimore over Powell and Lujan over Castillo, too

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by Scott Christ on Oct 9, 2008 2:12 AM EDT up reply actions

I didn’t like seeing a shot Castillo get runned over by Lujan.

by Zocalo on Oct 9, 2008 6:24 PM EDT up reply actions

You are right…. it was pretty cool to see him tackle him for the win.

by Zocalo on Oct 9, 2008 6:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Is it too much to ask that ESPN also upgrade the show to HD?

There’s pretty much no excuse now if they’re only doing one show a week.

by bailorg on Oct 9, 2008 10:26 AM EDT reply actions

Noooooooo

The wife and I watch WNF and FNF religiously… this would not make us happy…. as the original comment person suggests though if this means FNF would switch to a full year show… then we’d be happy with that….

by DarienA on Oct 9, 2008 10:53 AM EDT reply actions

that's part of what I'm hoping too

1. Bigger fights on a more consistent basis.
2. A year-round show.

There’s no reason to treat these programs as “seasons,” and definitely not so with added budget. It’s not like boxing STOPS.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by Scott Christ on Oct 9, 2008 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm in favor of the move

if, like suggested, it means an expansion of FNF and not just a cancellation of WNF. FNF is actually a good show even outside of the fights, it has a decent in-studio guest or two, and does a nice job going over news and previewing the weekend’s bigger fights. If they could continue that and always provide a meaningful main event, then it could be a real can’t-miss show.

management sez: recommend fanposts/fanshots/comments! Click 'reply' when replying to a comment! Flag jerkfaces! Be a 'Nazi' when it comes to thread duplication!

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Oct 9, 2008 1:05 PM EDT reply actions

ESPN sucks

I’d be shocked to see them actually improve Friday programming. They probably see boxing as a financial loss for the channel and are just trimming the fat by getting rid of Wed fights to spend that money on more annoying programming. I hope I’m wrong but recent ESPN history leads me to believe I won’t be.

-Brian

by bp on Oct 9, 2008 10:43 PM EDT reply actions