“I think it’s problematic from two ways. One, it limits what you can do as a network. Two, it limits what fights can be made because all of a sudden you’re like, ‘That’s an HBO guy and this is a Fox guy.’ I think another way people don’t realize how much it hurt the sport is that a lot of these networks did this as a way to not have to deal with the messiness of the sport,” said Espinoza to Ring Champs. “The way HBO and Showtime worked, part of my job was quality control. A lot of places handed everything over to a promoter. They didn’t have somebody really saying yes or no. They basically handed over the scheduling to the promoter.”

Espinoza said Showtime followed a different approach. Rather than accepting every event supplied by a promoter, network executives reviewed proposed fights to determine whether they met the company’s standards. He argued many broadcasters later abandoned that process, giving promoters far greater influence over the cards that reached television.

Espinoza also said exclusive partnerships created another obstacle. Once promoters became tied to specific networks, cross-promotional fights became much harder to arrange because many of the sport’s leading names competed under separate television banners. That reduced the number of marquee matchups available to fans.

His comments provide a look at boxing from the network side of the business. While promoters often receive the praise or criticism for the sport’s biggest events, Espinoza said television executives once played a much larger role in selecting fights before exclusive partnerships reshaped the industry.