NBC and Haymon Boxing announced a new fight series on Wednesday according to Dan Rafael of espn.com
The series, titled “Premier Boxing Champions” — “PBC on NBC” as executives are calling it — will include five cards on NBC on Saturday nights, six on NBC on Saturday afternoons and the remaining nine in prime time on NBC Sports Network.
[+] EnlargeDanny GarciaRich Kane/Hoganphotos/Golden Boy
NBC is scheduled to broadcast a junior welterweight title unification match between Danny Garcia (pictured) and Lamont Peterson on April 11.
The first two cards are high-level fights on par with the best bouts put on by premium cable networks HBO and Showtime, where most of boxing’s most significant matches have taken place for decades.
The series will kick off March 7 (9 p.m. ET) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with interim welterweight titlist Keith Thurman (24-0, 21 KOs) facing former two-division titleholder Robert Guerrero (32-2-1, 18 KOs) and former three-division titleholder Adrien Broner (29-1, 22 KOs) facing John Molina (27-5, 22 KOs) in the junior welterweight co-feature.
The second card, slated for April 11 at a site to be determined, is one of the most anticipated bouts in boxing — a junior welterweight title unification match between Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson.
“I’m excited, man. It’s a dream come true for me,” Garcia said of fighting on network television. “Words can’t explain the feeling. I’m just so excited for the sport of boxing. I love it. Now it’s just finally getting the exposure it deserves.”
“We know the responsibility that comes with being in prime time on NBC,” PBC chief operations officer Ryan Caldwell said.
Said Lamont Jones, vice president of operations for the series: “When the customer goes to the grocery store and sees USDA on the steak and wants to buy it, we want it to be the same for fans seeing PBC on the telecast and knowing it’s high quality and competitive matchups.
“I think the guiding principle and guiding vision of this series is presenting compelling and high-quality matchups to the fans. … Al Haymon has more than 150 fighters, and we are just trying to make the best fights for the fans. And if that requires making matchups with fighters we don’t manage, then that is certainly possible.”
“We are looking forward to presenting the PBC on NBC to develop a new and exciting platform, which will be embraced by the millions of boxing fans across the country,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC and NBCSN.
“It’s bringing the world back into boxing,” Broner said. “Right now, boxing only reaches out to certain people. That’s why certain people, when I walk around, don’t know me. They might know me from certain antics I do, but they don’t know me from boxing. With NBC coming back, it’s people that don’t follow boxing that can come back into boxing. This is definitely great for the sport, and they want me to be the LeBron of boxing.
“… This is what they needed. They needed me, and I needed NBC. It’s ‘AB’ on NBC. I’m definitely ready to put on a great show for NBC. It’s my time. Think about it, Showtime had [approximately] 21 million [subscribers] and NBC got 115 million. It’s the biggest outlet.”
