Usually with the HBO pay per view fights that happen on saturday nights, the next saturday they have a free fight on the base HBO channel, but it's only one fight, no undercards or co-main events, and then as part of that boxing block, they also replay the pay per view fight from the week before.

However, looking at HBO's schedule next saturday, it seems like there is actually a bigger boxing event going on with multiple live fights, which would not seem to leave room for a replay of Pacquiao Marquez 4. I also don't see it mentioned anywhere in the schedule's description.

So will Pacquiao Marquez 4 be available for free to HBO subscribers next saturday, either as part of next saturday's boxing broadcast on HBO(1) or at any point on HBO(1) or on demand? It would be very helpful to know definitively before fight time tonight.

TOPIC #2.

As an aside, it always baffles me when hardcore boxing fans bemoan the fact that boxing is no longer as much of a mainstream sport as it used to be, that it's lost its popularity. Well of course it has when the only people who can afford to watch a decent fight, even on TV, have to be millionaires! It used to be, the better the fight, the more people the promotors would make sure got to see it. If Ali was fighting Fraser, you would put that on one of the national channels like Fox or NBC. This way you grow the sport, ensure that big boxing matches always get seen by new eyes across the nation, while also making loads of money because of the high ratings and the news fans you're always bringing in.

Now what they're essentially doing is saying "let's cut the viewership by 90% but charge the 10% that's still watching 90% more, and we can still make just as much money!" Yeah, except you're losing all the fans long-term, hurting the sport long-term, and ultimately probably losing money long-term. And while I'm sure it's not that cut and dry, as in I'm sure the reason for pay-per-view is that you get more immediate money than you otherwise would have at the expense of fans and money down the line, it's still stupid for the sport. Maybe everyone already realizes this and what I'm spouting here is old news, but it sure doesn't seem like the boxing community realizes it.

Boxing will never be a mainstream sport again until fights like Pacquiao Marquez 4 are on Fox or NBC, not HBO. I have no idea why they stopped airing them on network TV in the first place.