Mayweather vs Cotto: HBO 24/7 Series Losing Its Appeal with Latest Installment

HBO's 24/7 series has always resembled reality TV, but the latest Mayweather-Cotto installment disappoints because it ignores the other side of the series' appeal.

HBO's 24/7 has become so popular because it combines reality TV with the intricacies of a sport. While the flashy and controversial Floyd Mayweather Jr. certainly draws his fair share of ratings based on his personality, HBO is going the wrong direction when it ignores the upcoming fight itself.

In the installment's premiere on Monday, Mayweather talked about how great he was, and his challenger, Miguel Cotto, played the "good guy," hanging out with his wife, sons and dogs. HBO is marketing the latest installment as villain vs. people's champion, which was, frankly, predictable. Unfortunately, HBO fails to deliver the goods on the sport of boxing, which should be the primary focus in the series.

And when HBO does gives us snippets pertaining to the fight, it comes up short.

Perhaps David P. Greisman of BoxingScene.com said it best when detailing the first episode.Greisman wrote:

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Cotto's trainer, Pedro Diaz, isn't quite Naazim Richardson when it comes to poetically describing his fighters' strategies: "Miguel will apply his intelligence in the ring," the subtitles say. "He'll use his hands in the ring, his training and his tactics."

Groundbreaking: A boxer is going to win because of his punching and strategy.

That's like the supposed John Madden quote about football made famous by comedian Frank Caliendo: "Usually the team with the most points wins the game."

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Given the access HBO generally has in this series, you expect more than what it is giving us now. Yes, boxers aren't going to detail their exact strategy going into the fight, but there should be more of a focus on boxing instead of simply throwing Mayweather in there and watching as he says a bunch of controversial things very loudly.

A lot of boxing fans are frankly tired of the endless promotion and hype that goes into every fight, and HBO is following the trend instead of providing a more quality program.

Boxing is about being loud in the ring, not outside of it. Focus on the fight between one of the elite boxers in the world and a worthy challenger, and you can't go wrong.

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