VP Kery Davis Is Leaving HBO

HBO Sports senior vice president Kery Davis is leaving HBO, a source at the network confirmed to TSS on Thursday afternoon.

The 54-year-old exec had a long run at the cabler after taking over the position from Lou Dibella. The exit, which is apparently at his discretion, can’t come as a shocker; President of HBO sports Ken Hershman assumed the reigns of the boxing program in January 2012, and said at the time he would assess the squad, and see who fit where and take his time to shift the moving parts, if he went that route. He has more than taken his time, in fact.

“For more than 15 years, Kery Davis was a major contributor to the HBO Boxing franchise, focused on delivering the finest in boxing programming to our subscribers,” said Hershman, in a statement. “We wish him success with all of his new endeavors.”

Davis portrayed the exit as his call, and shared some thoughts with ESPN’s Dan Rafael. “Watching some of the best fighters in the world at their peak — to sit ringside and watch Roy Jones and see him lose maybe one round in about seven years, to see Mayweather at his best, Bernard Hopkins, De La Hoya — it’s been quite a run. I had a ringside seat for all of it,” he said.

Davis, who was brought on board by Ross Greenburg–whose exit made room for Hershman–has told persons at HBO that he felt he had other goals to accomplish, word is, and that might include unspecified duties in the entertainment world outside boxing. He was not seen as a boxing lifer, a boxing head who ate, slept, lived and breathed the minuatiae of every four round potential prospect.

Davis, a Dartmouth graduate (class of 1979) who played point guard on their hoops squad, was seen by some as a vital emissary between the boxing program at HBO and Al Haymon, the top dog of the management set. So, when HBO in mid March cut bait with Golden Boy, announcing that they wouldn’t buy fights from that promoter, and by extension, Haymon, some figured that this move by Davis would come sooner rather than later.

Some might like to argue that we are in a post-racial climate, and point to our President as Exhibit A. That might be wishful thinking, considering that only a bit over 1% of Fortune 500 companies have black chief executives, so some could argue that this development has diversity implications, if nothing else.

Davis was always respectful and decent to me; I wish him well in his next situation.

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