HBO World Championship Boxing (in later years stylized in its title card as HBO Boxing – World Championship) was an American sports television series on ρrémíùm television network HBO. It premiered on January 22, 1973 with a fight that saw George Foreman defeat Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica.
HBO's pay-per-view distribution arm, TVKO was formed in 1990, which debuted in 1991 with Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman and was rebranded HBO PPV in 2001.On September 27, 2018, HBO announced they would be dropping boxing from the network following its last televised match on October 27, though two airings on November 24 and December 8 were its last editions. Various issues in the boxing business, including the influx of streaming options (such as DAZN and ESPN+) and issues with promoters, along with declining ratings and loss of interest in the sport among HBO's subscribers, made continued carriage of the sport untenable. HBO's long-term move to upscale dramatic programming, an ownership transfer of parent WarnerMedia to AT&T, and re-focus around the upcoming streaming service HBO Max also played a role in the decision, with an HBO executive commenting that "HBO is not a sports network."
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