HBO planning a fistful for '06

At a time when many seem to believe boxing is on the ropes, the industry leader in televised boxing events plans to increase its live coverage of the sport next year.

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg has decided to ''significantly ramp up our boxing in 2006," increasing its ''HBO Championship Boxing" shows from 9 to 14 while also turning the nearly defunct ''Boxing After Dark" series into a monthly show with a new broadcast team beginning in April. One familiar face on those shows will be former ESPN2 commentator Max Kellerman, who is trying to revive his career after an ill-advised foray into a sports quiz format on Fox that lasted about a minute.

Kellerman will serve in a role analogous to the one now filled by Larry Merchant on ''Championship Boxing" and pay-per-view events. Merchant will continue to work in that role, but there seems little question that HBO is grooming Kellerman to eventually replace him.

''We intend to refocus our commitment to the sport," Greenburg said. ''We're really determined to step up the pace and focus our efforts on it. We want to go back to our roots on the production side and get more up close and personal with the fighters. We want to try and bring their stories to life and lift them and their personalities. We want to take young stars like Jermain Taylor, Floyd Mayweather, and Manuel Cotto and project their image to the public."

HBO has spent significant dollars on research that shows the public has not lost interest in boxing, especially the growing Hispanic market. Greenburg said the network decided to discontinue its ''Boxeo de Oro" series on HBO Latino and fold those fights into its regular HBO events, although many will also be broadcast in Spanish.

These events will all be in addition to the steady diet of pay-per-view events, though Greenburg believes some of the recent matches that have been on pay-per-view belonged on ''Championship Boxing," and he intends to try to persuade some of the rising stars such as Ricky Hatton of England to take a little less money in the short term to increase their exposure and build their name in the same way it was once done with Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, and Roberto Duran.

''We'll need some help from the promoters on that end," said Greenburg, ''but we feel if we can get these guys into millions of homes and not only show them fighting but tell the public their stories, we can reach out to the masses and build new stars."

Greenburg believes he can carry his message to popular fighters such as Taylor, whose next fight will very likely be on ''Championship Boxing" despite a decision yesterday by the World Boxing Council to order an immediate showdown with No. 1 contender Winky Wright.

''In the '80s and '90s, it seemed easier to explain to promoters that if you fight live on HBO you will maximize your income later on pay-per-view," Greenburg said. ''George Foreman understood that when he made his comeback in the '90s.

''If we can convince promoters and managers to leave $500,000 on the table to set up a bigger fight on pay-per-view, the whole industry would prosper.

''If we're not going to get behind this sport, who will? I'm tired of reading articles saying boxing is about to die. It's not, but it's time for us to put our money where our mouth is and do what we do best as storytellers. We want to show the country that this sport is ready for a rebound. We know the market is there.

''We're not saying we're the great saviors of the sport. But we love a great fight and we know sports fans do, too. I see the sun starting to peek behind the clouds."

Short jabs

Bernard Hopkins-Taylor II did 410,000 buys on pay-per-view, generating $20.9 million. Five months earlier, they did 370,000 buys and $18.7 million. That makes their series the biggest pay-per-view events of the year. Hopkins remains relatively unimpressed with Taylor after twice losing disputed decisions to him by one-round margins. ''How did I outpoint him on a Compubox [tally] they put up there on HBO?" Hopkins asked. ''How did I outpunch him? Does this man have a TV or is he one of them Amish people that don't have TVs or electricity? I'm not picking on the Amish. Some of them are converting to Americanism. I don't make up the stats. Jermain Taylor is an arm puncher. He's a clobbering puncher, sort of like Foreman was. He's not a sharp, snappy puncher. I don't see anything spectacular. Maybe boxing is so much on the downside right now that we're gravitating and grabbing anything that we can that looks like they have a little bit of something different, but he doesn't do anything I haven't seen in my 18-plus years, to be frank with you. And that's giving him respect. I've been in there with the best. I've been in with Roy Jones Jr. early in his career. I've been in there with the [Felix] Trinidads, the Oscar De La Hoyas, the John David Jacksons, the Segundo Mercados. I just happen to be a senior citizen. I've seen it all. He's nothing I'm in awe about." . . . Former super featherweight contender Nate Campbell continues to believe he can come back from his loss to then-world champion Joel Casamayor by unanimous decision two years ago, a defeat that undid him emotionally and led to a four-fight losing streak he ended in October with a win over Almazbek ''Kid Dynamite" Raiymkulov (20-1). Campbell is 27-4-1 and now fights as a lightweight. ''I was once 20-0 with 18 knockouts," Campbell said. ''I'm still the guy who can knock everybody I punch out." Kid Dynamite found that out when Campbell exploded in his face, a win that Campbell hopes will give him a second chance in a sport that saved him after a childhood in which he was moved from one foster home to another, attending 15 different public schools before finally dropping out to box. ''There were enough caskets to go around," Campbell said of his upbringing on the east side of Jacksonville, Fla. ''Gunshots, heart attacks, drug overdoses. It seemed like every Monday I was burying somebody. I never could get my head on straight."

Around and around

Undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah returns home to New York to face mandatory challenger Carlos Baldomir Jan. 7 at Madison Square Garden atop a card featuring three championship fights. Cruiserweight champions Jean-Marc Mormeck and O'Neill Bell will square off to unify the junior heavyweight title, and the third fight matches International Boxing Federation junior flyweight champion Will Grigsby vs. No. 1-ranked contender Ulises Solis. The card will also feature an IBF bantamweight elimination bout between Gernaro Garcia and Ricardo Vargas for that organization's No. 1 ranking. ''This means so much to me to be fighting in my hometown and at the Garden," Judah said. Judah won the undisputed title from Cory Spinks in March. This is his first title defense and, he hopes, a showcase that will help force a big-money, pay-per-view showdown with undefeated Floyd Mayweather later next year. Mayweather (36-0) is making it clear that he intends to accept every challenge in a quest for one thing. ''In the end, it's about being a legend," the 28-year-old Mayweather said. ''I'll be the last one standing. I used to tell HBO that and they'd laugh at me, but it's coming true. I was Fighter of the Year at 21 and I told the media then that I was the best out there. They thought I was cocky, but that's what I felt in my heart. It's what I still feel. For me, boxing is about history. To be the best, you've got to fight the best. That's what I want. I'm 16-0 in world title fights and still going strong. If the No. 1 guy doesn't want to step to the plate, I'll fight the No. 2 guy. If he won't, the No. 3 guy. The better the competition, the better Floyd Mayweather looks. I want to fight for the undisputed [welterweight] championship. It's all about becoming a legend."