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HBO, Showtime face unique challenges doing Mayweather-Pacquiao previews

Much of the time since HBO debuted "24/7: De La Hoya-Mayweather" in 2007, the documentary-style preview shows done to hype pay-per-view fights on both HBO and Showtime have been designed in large part to introduce the fans to the lesser known fighter and make them care about the bout.

It worked spectacularly well for "24/7: De La Hoya-Mayweather." Appearing then on HBO's loaded Sunday night time slot between Entourage and The Sopranos, the series was a huge hit and played a large role in the record 2.45 million pay-per-view sales the fight did.

But the fast-approaching Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao bout on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is vastly different than any of the others. There is no need to introduce the fighters to the fans. They're two of the most well-known figures in sports.

And their stories have been repeatedly told over the last eight years to the point where it's almost impossible to come up with an angle that hasn't been touched upon at some point.

Showtime has an exclusive contract with Mayweather, and so its preview show, "Inside Mayweather vs. Pacquiao," will focus on Mayweather and will debut on Saturday after the conclusion of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Andrzej Fonfara fight.

HBO has an exclusive deal with Pacquiao, and its preview show, "Mayweather-Pacquiao: At Last," will focus on the Filipino star and will debut on Saturday following the conclusion of the Ruslan Provodnikov-Lucas Matthysse fight.

For Showtime Sports executive vice president/general manager Stephen Espinoza, the challenge was in telling the story in a new and unique way.

"This will be a different approach and there is certainly no need on our part to educate the public about who Manny Pacquiao is," Espinoza told Yahoo Sports. "So for us, instead of spending time on that, we'll be able to spend time on putting this fight in context. We'll take a look back at some of Floyd's big fights in his career and how he has approached those, whether is was Diego Corrales and how that catapulted him to a different level, or whether it was De La Hoya and how much that did for him.

"We'll even go back and look at the fight he, quote-unquote, lost [to Serafim Todorov in the 1996 Olympics]. We have a really interesting angle on that which hasn't gotten covered before."

One of the problems facing the networks in producing these kinds of shows is telling the long and complicated history of how the fight came to be to the casual viewer who may not know any of it, while at the same time producing a compelling show for those who know it intimately.

Rick Bernstein, the senior vice president and executive producer for HBO Sports, said he thinks his show will have something to satisfy all audiences.

"I don't necessarily think we'll give them a newer or different perspective on the guys, but I think they'll certainly get a very good perspective on why it took so long for this fight to happen and how it came about," he told Yahoo Sports. "I don't think you realize the incredible divide that existed [between the sides] see it all in one place."