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Showtime, CBS Pull Out All Stops For Mayweather Promotion

SHOWTIME SPORTS® SETS EXPANSIVE PROGRAMMING
LINE UP ACROSS MULTIPLE PLATFORMS IN SUPPORT OF
MAY DAY: FLOYD MAYWEATHER vs. ROBERT GUERRERO
BOXING’S EVENT OF THE YEAR-SATURDAY, MAY 4 on SHOWTIME PPV®
Documentary Films, Classic Fights, Live Events and More Scheduled For Broadcast,
Cable and Premium Television, Digital and ON DEMAND Platforms
Lauded Sports Executive Ross Greenburg to Serve as Executive Producer on CBS Television Documentary Special and SHOWTIME Sports Series ALL ACCESS: MAYWEATHER vs. GUERRERO
NEW YORK (March 19, 2013)-SHOWTIME Sports has scheduled more than 100 hours of diverse boxing and documentary programming across broadcast television, cable television, premium television, and digital portals in advance of the upcoming SHOWTIME PPV presentation of MAY DAY-the mega-event headlined by boxing’s No. 1 pound-for-pound titlist Floyd “Money” Mayweather’s welterweight world championship defense against four-division world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, Saturday, May 4 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The lineup features more than 20 hours of live, edited and exclusive content targeted for a general sports audience as well as the core boxing fans and includes two documentary films, a five-part documentary series, a 30-minute countdown show, two live SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® events and live coverage from multiple fight week events, all before the first bell of MAY DAY: Mayweather vs. Guerrero pay-per-view special.
SHOWTIME Sports has tapped renowned television executive Ross Greenburg, recipient of more than 50 Sports Emmy® Awards in his distinguished career, to serve as executive producer on two key pieces of programming. Working with SHOWTIME for the first time, Greenburg is uniquely qualified to guide the editorial on Mayweather, having executive produced multiple documentary series on the fighter since 2007.
“This is an aggressive and varied lineup of content, each element aimed at raising the anticipation for boxing’s marquee event of the year,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “The Mayweather appeal is unmistakable and warrants this type of unprecedented exposure. What viewers will find during this promotion, however, is that Robert Guerrero is one of the most compelling, interesting and talented fighters ever to step into the ring opposite Mayweather.
“I thank my colleagues at SHOWTIME and CBS for their support and enthusiasm since our agreement with Mayweather was announced. Our collective aim in the next seven weeks is to serve the insatiable appetite of the staunchest boxing fans as well as to expose a broad audience to the drama and the intensity that is sure to come on May 4th.”
The programming blitz begins on Wednesday, April 3 with the premiere of an exclusive documentary film titled “30 DAYS IN MAY” (10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME), a one-hour film which chronicles Mayweather’s 2012 stint in prison. Created exclusively from never-before-seen footage, “30 DAYS IN MAY” features the only interviews Mayweather conducted about what he has called “a life-changing experience.”
On Wednesday, April 10, SHOWTIME Sports will debut the latest chapter of its original documentary series ALL ACCESS (10 p.m. ET/PT, SHOWTIME). Greenburg will serve as an executive producer on ALL ACCESS: MAYWEATHER vs GUERRERO as the series takes viewers into the dramatic and unpredictable world of prize fighting. From gritty backstories to the sport’s biggest stage, ALL ACCESS has a unique approach that allows its subjects to guide the narrative on real life terms. New episodes will debut every Wednesday through May 1 on SHOWTIME, with encore presentations airing on CBS SPORTS NETWORK. ALL ACCESS Epilogue, which will spotlight the intensity of fight week, taking viewers inside the ropes on fight night and into the rarely seen, uncelebrated aftermath of world championship boxing, will premiere on SHOWTIME on Saturday, May 18 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
VIEW ALL ACCESS PROMO: http://s.sho.com/WBjY3s
CBS Television will broadcast a special one-hour documentary titled “MAYWEATHER” on Saturday, April 27, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Greenburg will executive produce “MAYWEATHER”, a film that reveals the life story of the charismatic character that is Floyd “Money” Mayweather. The program also examines the hard-working, humble approach taken by Four-Division World Champion Robert Guerrero, who has endured incredible challenges on the road to this May 4th mega fight.
LIVE PROGRAMMING
On the two Saturdays preceding the May 4 SHOWTIME PPV event, SHOWTIME will present two high profile world championship boxing events live on the premium network’s acclaimed SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING series.
On Saturday, April 20, from the 43,000+ seat Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez will return to SHOWTIME to headline against Austin Trout in a super welterweight world championship unification bout. In separate fights in 2012, both men set ratings records for boxing on SHOWTIME. Now, they collide in what is by far the most significant and challenging fight in both of their careers.
On Saturday, April 27, live on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., undefeated rising star Danny Garcia of Philadelphia risks his unified super lightweight world championship against former Two-Division and Four-Time World Champion Zab Judah of Brooklyn.
VIEW COMBO EVENT TRAILER: http://s.sho.com/ZVF7nN
LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS
SHOWTIME will televise the official weigh-in live on Friday, May 3 and a pre-fight show on Saturday, May 4, immediately preceding the pay-per-view. Each telecast will include live interviews, ALL ACCESS behind-the-scenes features from fight week and, on Saturday’s program, live undercard fights.
MAY DAY FIGHT WEEK LINEUP
A fight week blitz will begin on Monday, April 29, with daily programming on SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME EXTREME and CBS SPORTS NETWORK leading up to May 4. Included in the lineup will be ALL ACCESS marathons, classic Mayweather and Guerrero fights, as well as the aforementioned live programming from Las Vegas.
CLASSIC FIGHTS
Encore presentations of classic bouts featuring Mayweather and Guerrero will air on SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME EXTREME and CBS SPORTS NETWORK. Fights, airing in their entirety, are Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya, the most watched pay-per-view event in history; the controversial fight between Mayweather and Victor Ortiz; Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton; Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley and Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez.
CLASSIC FIGHTS (continued)
Full fights from the Guerrero archive include the southpaw’s gutsy, breakthrough performances against Selcuk Aydin, Michael Katsidis, Gamaliel Diaz (rematch) as well as his first fight after learning of his wife’s diagnosis of Leukemia in 2007, a first-round knockout win over Martin Honorio.
DIGITAL
For the digital audience, SHOWTIME will present original long and short form content, both live and edited, in English and Spanish on Sports.SHO.com and SHO.com and will distribute this content to all partner and pay-per-view distributor websites.
– SHO STREAM: live streaming of the final press conference on Wednesday, May 1, and the official weigh in on Friday, May 3;
– STAREDOWN hosted by SHOWTIME Sports’ Brian Kenny featuring Mayweather and his uncle Roger Mayweather as well as Guerrero and his father Ruben;
– The aforementioned full length fights featuring Mayweather and Guerrero plus co-featured fighters Daniel Ponce De Leon and Abner Mares;
– Complete ALL ACCESS: MAYWEATHER vs. GUERRERO Episode 1 following its television premiere on SHOWTIME and CBS SPORTS NETWORK;
– Online exclusive “ALL ACCESS: Web Extras” and ALL ACCESS outtakes;
– Highlight reels from the fighters on the card;
– Expert analysis of the key MAY DAY: Mayweather vs. Guerrero match-ups.
SHOWTIME PPV® has produced and distributed a broad range of sports and entertainment programs in its history. Beginning in 1987 with The Grateful Dead New Year’s Eve Celebration Live, SHOWTIME PPVhas aired over 75 events including many of the most watched boxing pay-per-view events in history featuring legends Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Julio Cesar Chavez and Manny Pacquiao.
# # #
ABOUT “MAY DAY: Mayweather vs. Guerrero”
MAY DAY: Mayweather vs. Guerrero, a 12-round fight for Mayweather’s WBC Welterweight World Championship, is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona, AT&T and O’Reilly Auto Parts. The mega-event will take place Saturday, May 4 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Also featured will be Daniel Ponce de Leon vs. Abner Mares, a 12-round fight for Ponce de Leon’s WBC Featherweight World Championship.
Tickets for “MAY DAY: Mayweather vs. Guerrero” priced at $1,500, $1,250, $800, $600, $300 and $200, not including applicable service charges, are on sale now. There is a total ticket limit of 12 per person with a limit of 10 per person at the $1,500, $1,250, $800, $600 and $300 price levels and limit of two per person at the $200 price level. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets will also be available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
For more information, visit www.mayweatherpromotions.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com,www.sports.sho.com and www.mgmgrand.com, follow on Twitter at @FloydMayweather, @GHOSTBOXING, @DanielPonceDel1, @abnermares00,@MayweatherPromo, @GoldenBoyBoxing, @mgmgrand and @SHOSports, follow the conversation using #MayDay or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FloydMayweather, www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromotions, www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing,www.facebook.com/GhostFans and www.facebook.com/SHOsports.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
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