Powerful adviser Al Haymon announced his plans for a Friday night series on Spike TV according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.
The first card will take place March 13 (9 p.m. ET/PT) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, and be headlined by former welterweight titleholder Andre Berto (29-3, 22 KOs) against Josesito Lopez (33-6, 19 KOs). Former welterweight titleholder Shawn Porter (24-1-1, 15 KOs) and Roberto Garcia (36-3, 23 KOs) will meet in the co-feature.
“We share the vision of the ‘Premier Boxing Champions’ series to put the fighters first,” Spike TV president Kevin Kay said. “The fighters are the stars, and we will give them a platform to demonstrate why they are among greatest and most exciting athletes in the world.”
“I love that [Ali] era of boxing, and I have always felt that if somebody came along and could put together great fights and great cards and market and promote it in the right way, and do it on cable TV on a regular basis and be committed to it, that we could bring that back and kind of get boxing the comeback it deserves,” Kay said. “Boxing needs a comeback right now. Right now I think you look at boxing and it’s just a handful of guys that you know.
“I think that’s because nobody is committed to a consistent place on [basic] cable TV where you can promote, market, and develop boxers and their brands. That’s what I’m excited about. I have wanted to do it for a long time.”
“Haymon has big names. What I wasn’t hearing [from others] was that the fighters come first because I believe the fighters need to come first,” Kay said. “It’s not about the manager, the promoter — that’s what I think is actually not good for the sport. We’re not talking about any of that [with Haymon]. Al’s thing is that, and I always say, he’s like a ghost, man. His spirit is with us. But the thing that I heard was he wants to innovate and wants to change the presentation of the sport because he feels, like I feel, which is what I had wanted to hear, is that I don’t want to see a red, white and blue ring when I turn on a fight and feel like I’m still in 1975. I want to bring a presentation to this, and this is what we at the network do.
“We want to update the level of production and put a broadcast team out there that is young, diverse, that feels like the audience. We want to tell stories about fighters and build them as stars. Commit to shoulder programming for every single fight and run it a whole bunch of times on the channel so that we get to a place where the audience knows who these guys are and gets invested in them. We look at these kids today, and they are so charismatic and they have great smiles and winning personalities. Let’s tell their stories and invest the audience in them, and I think if we do that, we have something really special here.”
Berto, who has been featured for years on premium cable networks HBO and Showtime, said he believes bringing top-level fights (in which the fighters will earn similar purses) to basic cable is great for boxing.
“This series is something that the sport has been needing and yearning for,” he said. “I believe this is a huge message from Al Haymon. He has always been a man behind the scenes, but he is making huge power moves, and this right here is one where he is definitely sending out his message to everyone in general. For everyone that has been trying to find out what he really is about or who has doubted what he is able to do, this right here is a huge platform for his fighters. We are going to be in about 90 or 100 million homes. It doesn’t get any better than that. This is taking it back to the days of Sugar Ray Leonard, [Roberto] Duran and Marvin Hagler. They were stars, and now we are getting a taste of that now. It’s an exciting moment.”
“I think they just want everyone out in the world to be aware of what the talent is in boxing now,” Porter said. “It’s talent that hasn’t been seen by everyone. I think with launching this on Spike TV, and also NBC, it’s going to show people out in the world that boxing has great talent and excitement that everyone can tune in to.
“For me personally, it’s very cool because people know me from a boxing standpoint, but to cross over, touch so many more people and have them get to know you, I’m built for that. I’m excited for that and I’m ready for it. It’s very exciting for me personally and all the boxers coming to do this as well. I think we will all have something to look forward to.”
