Jake Paul, Ryan Garcia & Twitter react to the end of Showtime Boxing

We all knew it was coming but on Tuesday afternoon the news was confirmed, Paramount is axing the Showtime Boxing division putting hundreds of people out of work come January 1.

Showtime Sports has been in existence for 38 years and helmed by president Stephen Espinoza since 2011.

Paramount Global released the following statement.

"As we evolve our strategy to more efficiently allocate resources and align our content offering across the business, we've made the difficult decision not to move forward withboxingand other content produced by the Showtime sports team. Showtime will continue to air and support the remaining 2023boxingslate and honor obligations through the end of the year."

Espinoza also spoke out saying, "The company’s decision is not a reflection of the work we have done in recent years, nor of our long and proud history. ... Unfortunately, in a rapidly evolving media marketplace, the company has had to make difficult choices allocating resources, resetting priorities and reshaping its content offering. While today’s news is certainly difficult and disappointing, it is entirely out of our control."

This also includes Bellator MMA, though there's still hope that PFL will be purchasing Bellator and keeping it alive.

.@ParamountCo is confirming today that it's shutting down @Showtime Sports + @ShowtimeBoxing by the end of 2023, as CBS exits boxing after decades in the sport.

🔲 The move is expected to lead to layoffs including @StephenEspinoza, per @Ourand_SBJ.

📰: https://t.co/nvuVGXAVp5 pic.twitter.com/qLt96VZcab
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) October 17, 2023

Several fighters and boxing media and fans took to Twitter after the confirmation to express their sadness at the news.

Boxer Jake Paul shared his condolences writing "Salute to Showtime PPV."

Ryan Garcia tweeted saying, "Today is a really important day for boxing. HBO and Showtime defined our sport for a generation and now they are both out. All us boxers need to make this our collective fight. We gotta be thinking about marketing, new audiences, investors, global, all of it. Boxing is still the greatest sport in the world. We just gotta reimagine it."

Today is a really important day for boxing. HBO and Showtime defined our sport for a generation and now they are both out.

All us boxers need to make this our collective fight. We gotta be thinking about marketing, new audiences, investors, global, all of it.

Boxing is… https://t.co/Py0U513O5P
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) October 17, 2023

I couldnt agree more @RyanGarcia. The system we have isn’t going to fix this. We gotta think different. Look at every other sport is building empires by doing it right. Us fighters need to come together. We can fight in the ring but work together for our sport and our families. https://t.co/rJOTFNIxkJ
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) October 17, 2023

I salute Showtime for their near-40 year commitment to the sport that I love. I am hopeful that we promoters can use this unfortunate situation to put our differences aside and start working together more often to help make more of the bigger fights and grow our sport.
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) October 17, 2023

We lost HBO Boxing, now Showtime Boxing, but the Misfits out here selling 1.3 million PPV buys. Am I missing something here? 😮‍💨#Boxing
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) October 17, 2023

Here's how other people reacted to the news.

Very sad day for US boxing! I’ve grown up paying to get video tapes sent over from the US broadcasts! Showtime and HBO was the go to for young upcoming fighters like myself! To see these 2 mega stations go is a really sad! @DAZNBoxing now leading the way for boxing globally imho! https://t.co/9OLqAWukIX
— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) October 17, 2023

First HBO and now Showtime. People are now left with the Sky Sports, ESPN, or the shitshow that is DAZN which was good a few years ago when it was £2 a month and had regular decent cards. Now it’s just shit cards and even worse, they endorse and stage fake influencer “boxing”. https://t.co/B6swa6cBKM
— Iain (@IainBlair7) October 17, 2023

Anyone celebrating the demise of Showtime #Boxing -- and you scum bags know who you are -- shame on you.
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) October 17, 2023

MMA I can believe because they were out of that game for years before Bellator, but losing HBO and now Showtime Boxing is just brutal.
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 17, 2023

Next. 8 of the best boxing movies of all time . dark

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