Former HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg has revealed that his negotiations back in 2002 that helped them forge a historic partnership with rival Showtime to set up the mega bout between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson has enabled the blueprint for the much anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Greenburg had negotiated a historic partnership with rival Showtime to televise a mega pay-per-view fight with former world heavyweight boxing champion Lewis defending his title against boxing legend Tyson.
After weeks of complicated negotiations, a date was set for April 6, 2002, at the MGM in Las Vegas and when it was time for the news conference on January 22, 2002, Greenburg was behind a curtain at the Hudson Theatre, sitting at what was supposed to be the dais once Lewis and Tyson were introduced at opposite ends of the stage. Then all hell broke loose, News.com.au reported.
Tyson charged across the stage toward Lewis and a brawl ensued, which resulted in bodies crashing into the curtain and onto the table where Greenburg was sitting. Tyson reportedly bit Lewis on the leg and finished with a profanity-filled tirade directed at a heckler.
Greenburg recalled that all bets were off.
That had been the inauspicious start to the first and only partnership between HBO and Showtime, a necessary collaboration for Lewis-Tyson that would serve as the blueprint for the May 2 welterweight championship between unbeaten US boxer Mayweather and Filipino politician and boxer Pacquiao at the MGM.
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Like Lewis, Pacquiao is under contract to HBO, while Mayweather, like Tyson, has an exclusive contract with Showtime. The only way Mayweather-Pacquiao could be made was for HBO and Showtime to work together like they did 13 years ago.
Greenburg claimed that the fact that they did set the blueprint enabled Mayweather and Pacquiao to consider their fight happening, adding that it would have been even more of a struggle had there been no precedent.