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News Flashes: On Showtime Ratings, 9/29 HBO Show, Holly Holm

Published

12 years ago

September 19, 2012

KNOCKOUT KINGS SCORES RECORD RATINGS FOR SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING

Saturday’s Headlining Bout—Canelo Alvarez and Josesito Lopez—
And Fight Of The Year Candidate Marcos Maidana vs. Jesus Soto Karass Deliver Highest Ratings for SHOWTIME With Over One Million Viewers

Don’t Miss Tonight’s SHOWTIME EXTREME Replay, Tuesday, Sept. 18 At 10 p.m. ET/PT

Also Available Anytime at SHOWTIME ON DEMAND

NEW YORK (Sept. 18, 2012)–-In a big night for boxing, Saturday night’s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast of “Knockout Kings” scored record ratings for its headlining fight between Canelo Alvarez and Josesito Lopez with over one million viewers. The blockbuster event, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions in association with Goossen Tutor Promotions and Thompson Boxing Promotions, was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and featured an action-packed bout on the undercard between welterweights Marcos Maidana and Jesus Soto Karass, which helped garner the second-highest rating for a boxing telecast on the premium network since 2007.

Canelo did not disappoint with a dominating fifth-round technical knockout of Lopez in front of a sold-out crowd celebrating Mexican Independence Day weekend. In what is sure to be considered a Fight of the Year candidate, Maidana scored a technical knockout over Soto Karass in the eighth round.

RATING STATISTICS:
· Saturday’s main event bout between Canelo and Lopez attracted over one million viewers (1.04 million) for the live telecast, surpassing the 2010 Jean Pascal vs. Bernard Hopkins event as the highest viewership for a bout on SHOWTIME since the network began tracking bout viewership.
· Canelo vs. Lopez drew the largest Hispanic audience for an individual bout on SHOWTIME since 2009, outperforming Brandon Rios vs. Miguel Acosta from 2011.
· Saturday’s average viewership ranked as the highest SHOWTIME boxing telecast of the year, and the second-highest average viewership on the network since 2007.

“We’ve seen steady increases in viewership for our marquee championship boxing events throughout the year,” said Executive Vice President and General Manager for SHOWTIME Sports Stephen Espinoza. “It makes perfect sense that the budding star of Canelo Alvarez delivered our best performance thus far. We expect to build on this success with future Canelo fights and, of course, on the incredible lineup we have planned for SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING this fall.”

Saturday’s fights will replay tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME and is available anytime at SHOWTIME On Demand through October 15.

NEW YORK (September 18, 2012) – DiBella Entertainment has announced a stacked undercard for its “Road To Glory” card on September 29, supporting a special HBO Boxing After Dark tripleheader, live from the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

Many of New England's hottest prospects will be showcased on “Road To Glory,” headlined by a 10-round title bout featuring undefeated super middleweight contender Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs), fighting out of nearby Worcester, Massachusetts, defending his United States Boxing Association (USBA) against unbeaten power-puncher Jason “Monstruo” Escalera (13-0-1, 12 KOs), of Union City, New Jersey.

Also fighting on the HBO BAD show is undefeated Luis Orlando “Orlandito” Del Valle (16-0, 11 KOs) vs. former three-time, two-division world champion Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan (37-5-1, 27 KOs), in the 10-round co-feature for the vacant North American Boxing Federation (NABF) super bantamweight title.

World Boxing Council (WBC) International welterweight champion Antonin Decarie (26-1, 7 KOs), rated No. 8 by the WBC and fighting out of Quebec, defends his crown against unbeaten challenger Alex Perez (16-0, 9 KOs), of Newark, New Jersey. Decarie-Perez replaced a Special Light Heavyweight Attraction bout between world-rated Isaac “Golden Boy” Chilemba (19-1-1, 9 KOs) and former two-time, two-division world champion Zsolt Erdei, who was forced to withdraw due to suffering two broken ribs during training camp.

The event is promoted by DiBella Entertainment, in association with Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing and Gary Shaw Productions. All three bouts will be aired on HBO's Boxing After Dark beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Super lightweight prospect Danny O'Connor (18-1, 6 KOs), who hails from Framingham, Mass., takes on Josh “Nino Assasino” Sosa (10-3, 5 KOs) in an eight-round bout. O'Connor has been on a roll since he added head trainer Ronnie Shields to his corner, in addition Ken Casey, founder and lead singer of the popular Boston-based band Dropkick Murphys, becoming the southpaw's manager.

Entertaining Quincy (Mass.) super featherweight Ryan “Polish Prince” Kielczweski (13-0, 2 KOs) puts his unbeaten record on the line against Jeremy McLaurin (9-3, 5 KOs) in an eight-rounder. Undefeated New Haven (Conn.) super bantamweight Luis “KO King” Rosa Jr. (8-3, 1 KO) faces Victor Valenzuela (8-3, 1 KO) in an eight-round rematch of their May 24 fight in Boston that ended in a No Contest, due to cuts sustained from an accidental head butt.

Fan-favorite Sonya Lamonakis (6-0-2, 1 KO), the pride of Turner Falls (Mass.), returns to action against heavyweight Tanzee Daniels (4-1-1, 1 KO), out of Queens (NY).

“Road to Glory” is the highly anticipated HBO Boxing After Dark tripleheader, featuring some of the brightest young fighters in all of boxing looking to continue on their paths toward their respective world championships. The card will take place on Saturday, September 29, at MGM Grand at Foxwoods. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased through the Foxwoods box office by calling 1 (800) 200-2882. Tickets are priced at $45, $75, $100 and $200.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (September 18, 2012) – The true Queen of Boxing is 12-time, three division world champion Holly “The Preacher's Daughter” Holm (31-2-3, 9 KOs), who this past June 15th avenged her loss last December 2nd to French knockout artist Ann Sophie Mathis (26-2, 22 KOs) at Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Fan-favorite Holm captured the IBA, WBF and WBAN title belts, as well as the mythical women's pound-for-pound crown, with her 10-round decision over Mathis, whose 26-fight win streak, dating back to 1995, was snapped.

“Holly overshadows the September 25 fight between (Cecilia) Braekhus and Mathis (in Denmark) because she's the best woman fighter in the world,” Holm's promoter Lenny Fresquez said. “She proved it by beating Mathis. They're fighting for all but one belt that Holly relinquished. You have to beat the best in order to be the best and Holly has done that many, many times. Holly defeated Mathis to regain her pound-for-pound supremacy in women's boxing. The winner of Braekhus-Mathis may be the Princess, or Duchess of Boxing, but Holly Holm is the true Queen of Boxing. Braekhus and Mathis are fighting to determine the second-best woman boxer in the world today.

“Holly is one of the few female boxers ever to regularly sell-out fights, 3000 fans every show she headlines, something few men boxers do today. Despite being the second-best woman boxer in the world, Mathis was virtually unknown in women's boxing, outside of France, when she first fought Holly. She gained more media exposure fighting Holly than she had during her entire boxing career. Mathis was the best pound-for-pound women's boxer in the world for 7-½ months, until Holly beat her in their rematch, earning Holly the coveted No. 1 pound-for-pound title again. We will announce Holly's next fight on September 25, proving once again that she ducks no legitimate world title challenger.”

During the course of her incredible 10-½ year professional career, Holm is 14-1-1 against other world champions, from the 140 through 154-pound weight classes, including Mathis, Christy Martin, Mary Jo Sanders, Mia St. John, Jane Couch, Chevelle Hallback (twice), Duda Yankovich, Terry Blair (twice), Anne Succurato (twice), Belinda Laracuente and Jaime Clampitt.

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The Sweet Science

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Articles

Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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Articles

2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

8 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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