Articles

CBS & SHOWTIME’s Multi-Platform Programming Schedule For Mayweather vs. Pacquiao

Published

9 years ago

April 24, 2015

CBS AND SHOWTIME ANNOUNCE FULL, MULTI-PLATFORM PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE SURROUNDING FLOYD MAYWEATHER vs. MANNY PACQUIAO FIGHT

SHOWTIME Sports Offering More Than A Dozen Hours of First-Run Shoulder Programming Including Documentary Series INSIDE MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO

NEW YORK (April 24, 2015) – Showtime NetworksInc. and parent company CBS Corporation have scheduled a broad range of programming and promotion across the Company’s diverse portfolio of media platforms in anticipation of the showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao on Saturday, May 2.

SHOWTIME Sports^® is anchoring the charge with 13½ hours of first-run shoulder programming, including its acclaimed documentary series INSIDE MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO, classic fights and a comprehensive offering of digital assets.

In addition, the CBS Television Network will run promotional spots in primetime and late-night programming throughout fight week. This will be supplemented with marketing support and editorial coverage from CBS Sports Digital, significant coverage across CBS Sports Radio and a dozen CBS Radio stations throughout the country, and a robust schedule of shoulder programming and marketing support on CBS Sports Network.

“The Company is uniquely positioned to support an event of this magnitude with media assets across virtually every medium,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “We’re grateful for the company-wide support and look forward to an all-encompassing push leading to May 2 leading into this milestone sports event.”

SHOULDER PROGRAMMING AND PROMOTIONAL SUPPORT WILL INCLUDE:

INSIDE MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO delivers a unique perspective of the pound-for-pound champion Mayweather in the weeks leading up to the marquee event. The four-part documentary series from SHOWTIME Sports includes the Sports Emmy Award-winning “Epilogue” which shines the spotlight on Fight Week and takes viewers inside the ropes on Fight Night. A full schedule of the four-part series is detailed below.

CBS Television Network will run Mayweather vs. Pacquiao promos during primetime and late-night throughout Fight Week.

CBS owned and operated television stations throughout the country have been actively engaged in coverage of the event since the March 11 kick-off press conference in Los Angeles. These affiliate stations, located in the nation’s top markets, will have access to all the news and footage of fight week through the distribution network of CBS Newspath.

CBS Sports Network will provide live Fight Week coverage from Las Vegas, including the official Weigh-In on Friday, May 1 (6 p.m. ET), as well as immediate reaction and analysis following the fight and the post-fight press conference. During the week leading up to the bout, the Network also will air encore presentations of classic Mayweather fights and INSIDE MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO episodes.

CBS Sports Digital has launched a landing page at CBSSports.com, a one-stop shop for everythingMayweather vs. Pacquiao. The ‘Tier 1’ support from CBS Sports Digital includes static homepage promotions, additional marketing and significant editorial coverage on all digital platforms, including breaking news, commentary and placement of live event streams.

CBS Radio is backing May 2 with stations from 10 of the country’s top markets broadcasting live from MGM Grand, including WFAN in New York, KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, KRLD-FM in Dallas and WIP-FM in Philadelphia. Additionally, CBS Sports Radio’s nationally syndicated “The Doug Gottlieb Show” and (Scott) “Ferrall On The Bench” will be in Las Vegas for Fight Week. “The Doug Gottlieb Show” is simulcast on CBS Sports Network on Friday, May 1.

CBS Radio coverage also includes a special broadcast hosted by WFAN’s No. 1 morning show personalities Boomer and Carton on Saturday prior to the fight from 6-8 p.m. ET. The program is available on WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, and select CBS Radio stations nationwide. The special also will be simulcast for television on CBS Sports Network.

CBS Local Digital Media has created a comprehensive array of online audio, video and editorial features to promote the fight which can be experienced across a variety of digital and mobile platforms.

#MayPac:Daily is a daily online show hosted by SHOWTIME Sports personality Mauro Ranallo. The series will deliver the buzz of Fight Week in Las Vegas with special guests from sports and entertainment, insider analysis and more. Taped live from the casino floor at MGM Grand, #MayPac:Daily will be posted nightly Tuesday-Friday on http://www.sho.com/sho/sports/home and Youtube.com/shosports.

Additionally, the SHOWTIME Sports digital team is working closely with SnapChat to deliver exclusive content, launching a new boxing blog on TUMBLR called Pound for Pound, and working with Twitter on a unique feature capturing the years of social conversation leading to #MayPac.

Classic Floyd Mayweather fights are being offered across the premium network’s portals, including nightly on SHOWTIME EXTREME, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND and SHOWTIME ANYTIME. Those platforms will also offer the media workouts of Mayweather and Pacquiao and the live stream of the final press conference. Fans can tune-in to the final stare-down between the fighters on Friday, May 1 when SHOWTIME airs WEIGH-IN LIVE: MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO.

SHOWTIME Sports also delivers a host of short-form content available across multiple platforms, including original music videos, Mayweather greatest hits, a Spanish web analysis and more.

Below is a sampling of select SHOWTIME programs and air times:

INSIDE MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO:
Episode 2 premieres Saturday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME.
Episode 3 premieres Wednesday, April 29 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME
Epilogue premieres Saturday, May 9
WEIGH-IN LIVE: MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO: Friday, May 1 at 6 ET/3 PT, live on SHOWTIME
COUNTDOWN LIVE: MAYWEATHER vs. PACQUIAO: Saturday, May 2 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, live on SHOWTIME

# # #

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, FLIX ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™.

All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

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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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