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Category Archives: Showtime
A LEGENDARY MARCH THROUGH THE DECADES – SHOWTIME SPORTS® CONTINUES CELEBRATION OF 30 YEARS OF SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®
Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Felix Trinidad, Ricardo Lopez, George Foreman & More Showcased In March
Click HERE For A Look Back At Some Of The Legendary Moments On SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: http://s.sho.com/1RkA3CE
NEW YORK (March 2, 2016) – SHOWTIME Sports rolls out its third installment of a year-long salute commemorating 30 years of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING in March with “Legends’’.
This month will be highlighted by legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Felix Trinidad, Ricardo “Finito” Lopez and George Foreman. Seven of the most unforgettable and important fights from these legends – some of which have seldom been re-aired since their live presentation – are available now on the network’s on demand platforms and will air will air on “Throwback Thursdays”in March at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME.
The Thursday, March 10 presentation of Marvin Hagler vs. John Mugabi airs exactly 30 years after the final win of Hagler’s Hall of Fame career on March 10, 1986. Hagler vs. Mugabi was the first main event to ever air on SHOWTIME®.
The classic fights, which are also are available on SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, SHOWTIME ANYTIME® and via the network’s standalone streaming service, will be wrapped with brief context and commentary from SHOWTIME Sports host Brian Custer.
Below is the schedule of SHO EXTREME premieres for the month of March:
- Tomorrow, Thursday, March 3: Terry Norris vs. Sugar Ray Leonard
- Thursday, March 10: Marvin Hagler vs. John Mugabi
- Thursday, March 17: Felix Trinidad vs. David Reid
- Thursday, March 24: Ricardo Lopez vs. Rosendo Alvarez II
- Thursday, March 31: Iran Barkley vs. Thomas Hearns I, George Foreman vs. Gerry Cooney (10:15 p.m. ET/PT), Gerald McClellan vs. Julian Jackson I (10:30 p.m. ET/PT)
In celebration of the best rivalries on SHOWTIME, see below for a special column from SHOWTIME Sports expert analyst and boxing historian Steve Farhood.
LEGENDS
By Steve Farhood
Boxing without legends would be like religion without saints.
There’s no formula for a fighter to advance from star to superstar to legend. The process depends on timing, circumstance, and sometimes as little as a point or two on the judges’ cards.
And oh, yeah: It helps if a guy can really fight.
As we celebrate 30 years of boxing on SHOWTIME, we’re focusing on a different theme each month. Throughout March, the theme will be Legends.
In the 130 years from John L. Sullivan to Floyd Mayweather, boxing has given us what other sports can’t provide. Consider:
- The Associated Press voted Luis Firpo’s knockdown of Jack Dempsey as the greatest sports moment of the first half of the 20th Century.
- The Frazier-Ali “Fight Of The Century” in 1971 was easily the most anticipated sporting event in history.
- Last year’s Mayweather-Pacquiao fight generated more than half-a-billion dollars — in one night!
Legends are made by big moments … and how they respond to those moments.
On SHOWTIME, we’ve featured three decades worth of legends. Here’s a look at those who will share the spotlight in March.
MARVIN HAGLER: Since Vince Lombardi didn’t exactly say, “Timing isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,” Hagler should’ve said it.
Hagler was a great fighter long before he was a superstar, but it wasn’t until he fought Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, and Sugar Ray Leonard (three of Hagler’s last six bouts) that Marvin became Marvelous.
Hagler’s one appearance on SHOWTIME, which happened to be the first bout televised on the network (March 1986), was the final win of his career. Undefeated over 10 years, Hagler had established himself as one of the greatest middleweights in history. And while it could be argued in hindsight that at age 31, the ultimate blue-collar fighter was slightly past his prime, much of what made Hagler special was on display during his savage defense against his unbeaten and ferocious challenger, John Mugabi.
Almost three decades after his retirement, Hagler remains the middleweight today’s 160-pounders are measured against.
SUGAR RAY LEONARD: If Hagler bloomed late, Leonard was a superstar before he threw a single punch as a professional.
Back in the mid-‘70s, that’s what a magnetic smile, an Olympic gold medal, and repeated exposure on prime time television could do for a young fighter.
It’s ironic that Leonard was initially viewed by some as a coddled creation of the media. In fact, he was as tough as any fighter of the star-studded early-‘80s. Better yet, he remains the best fighter I’ve covered in 38 years on the boxing beat.
Leonard’s appearance on SHOWTIME was the penultimate bout of his career. In electing to end yet another lengthy layoff, Sugar Ray, 34, chose outstanding 23-year-old super welterweight titlist Terry Norris as his opponent. Leonard dropped from 160 to 154 pounds and fought at Madison Square Garden for the first time.
The bout served as a reminder that at least in a pre-Bernard Hopkins world, boxing was very much a young man’s game.
FELIX TRINIDAD: There are only three Hispanic fighters who became superstars in the USA without speaking English. The first was Panama’s Roberto Duran. The second was Mexico’s Julio Cesar Chavez.
The third was Puerto Rico’s Trinidad.
Trinidad’s motto might as well have been, “If you can’t be from America, then beat America.”
A classic puncher with a boy scout’s smile and a fan-friendly personality, Trinidad made his name by defeating four U.S. Olympians, Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya (albeit by a terrible decision), David Reid, and Fernando Vargas.
Moreover, Whitaker, De La Hoya, and Reid had all been gold medalists.
The fight we’ll feature on March 17 on SHO EXTREME, Trinidad vs. Reid, was Trinidad’s 14th and final appearance on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING and SHOWTIME pay-per-view.
From his welterweight title-winning kayo of Maurice Blocker in 1993 through his defense against Mahenge Zulu in 1998, 13 of Trinidad’s 14 bouts were aired on SHOWTIME. Twelve of those fights were knockout wins.
Where Trinidad ranks with Wilfredo Gomez, Miguel Cotto, Carlos Ortiz, Wilfred Benitez, and the rest of the legends from Puerto Rico is debatable. What is inarguable is that “Tito” generated as much excitement as any fighter of his era.
RICARDO LOPEZ: What’s smaller: the chance that a strawweight (105 pounds) becomes an American television star or the fighter himself?
There’s never been an American world champion at strawweight (or minimumweight). We just don’t grow fighters that size. In fact, until the emergence of Mexico’s Lopez in the early-’90s, most American boxing fans couldn’t have identified a single strawweight if armed with a map of the world and a set of WBC ratings.
Lopez was so complete, so dominant, so technically perfect, that from 1994 to ’99, he was a staple of SHOWTIME’s boxing programming. He fought 13 consecutive bouts on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING or SHOWTIME Pay-Per-View, and the first 11 of those contests were defenses of the strawweight title.
And if you think the little guys can’t punch, well, there were some one-punch kayos sprinkled in.
Lopez, who retired with a mark of 51-0-1, is universally acknowledged as an all-time great. Too bad he never fought America’s Michael Carbajal at light flyweight. Had he won that bout, he’d likely be acknowledged as one of the two or three greatest Mexican fighters ever.
Which is saying a lot for a fighter who never faced an opponent recognized by the American viewing public.
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Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND®, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME®. SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Apple®, Roku®, Amazon and Google. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Hulu, Sony PlayStation® Vue and Amazon Prime Video. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™, and offers Smithsonian Earth™through SN Digital LLC. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.
JULIAN WILLIAMS MEDIA WORKOUT QUOTES & PHOTOS
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LEO SANTA CRUZ RETAINS WBA FEATHERWEIGHT WORLD TITLE WITH FIFTH-ROUND TKO WIN OVER KIKO MARTINEZ
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LEO SANTA CRUZ VS. KIKO MARTINEZ FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES AND PHOTOS FOR THEIR FEATHERWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWDOWN THIS SATURDAY AT THE HONDA CENTER
Live On SHOWTIME® At 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT
Click HERE For Photos
Credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME
ANAHEIM, CALIF. (February 25, 2016) – Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruzand Kiko “Sensacion” Martinez went face-to-face Thursday at the final press conference before their featherweight world title showdown on Saturday, Feb. 27 live on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT) from Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Also in attendance Thursday were Julio Ceja and Hugo Ruiz, who will enter the ring in a super bantamweight world title rematch as part of the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® telecast beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
The previously announced opening bout between undefeated heavyweights Gerald Washington (16-0-1, 11 KOs) and Oscar Rivas (18-0, 13 KOs) has been cancelled due to Rivas being unable to pass a mandatory eye-exam.
Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by TGB promotions, are priced at $27, $54, $104 and $199 and are on sale now via ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster retail locations, by calling 800-745-3000 of by stopping by the Honda Center Box Office.
All of the televised fighters in the now doubleheader have promised to live up to their all-action styles and will provide great drama for fans on Saturday night at Honda Center. Santa Cruz will be making the first defense of his featherweight world title while Ceja puts his 122-pound title on the line after earning the vacant belt with a fifth round stoppage of Ruiz in an exciting back-and-forth fight in August.
Here is what the fighters had to say Thursday:
LEO SANTA CRUZ
“Headlining a televised card has been my childhood dream. I could have never imagined I was going to get this far. And Here I am, on my second main event, defending my title on a premium network. I’m so psyched. I cannot believe it.
“The first time I put the gloves on, I knew that I had found my craft, and I also knew that it was not going to be an easy road. I knew that I had to work hard to become a champion. So, I trained the hardest and I fought the hardest, and with my father by my side I got here, where I’m at today. I owe him everything.
“I remember watching all the great Mexican Champions and day dreaming about being like them one day. It felt unreachable. I thought it was impossible to get where they were. But I worked hard, really hard from the beginning.
“The most important thing is that the fans leave happy and get their money’s worth. I’m glad that Kiko has come prepared because we’re ready for a great fight.
“People are saying that I should walk through Kiko Martinez, but I don’t listen to that. I look at Kiko the same way I look at any other opponent. When we step inside the ring, we are equals.
“At the end of the day, the winner will be the fighter who has prepared more and who has imposed his will on the other man.
KIKO MARTINEZ
“I have faced much stronger boxers than Leo and come Saturday, all of those who did bet on me for this fight, I am going to make you a lot of money.
“I am excited and proud to know that Sergio Martinez will be present on Saturday supporting me. His guidance and presence
“My trainer could not be here, but we have not taken one day off in training camp and I have been pushed to my limit to prepare me for this fight. I’m thankful to Robert Garcia for being in my corner on Saturday.
“I know this is a great opportunity to fight Leo Santa Cruz and I will make the most of it. I’m going to leave everything inside the ring so that the fight fans enjoy a great championship matchup.
“I feel that Leo Santa Cruz is a great fighter, he has beat some incredible fighters. He’s a great athlete and boxer. Sometimes people will try to make him out to be more than he actually is but they are mistaken with what they see in me. I am not to be mistaken as the underdog here.
JULIO CEJA
“As Hugo mentioned, we have both trained even harder than last time and we’re more prepared physically and mentally.
“I’m going to give everybody a great fight just like last time. I’m walking into the ring knowing my opponent very well. We’ve been to war. I know what to expect from him. I know about his punch and I know how to counter it.
“I’m going to be alert and ready. I’ll be a little more intelligent, because I know that he’s coming well prepared and he’s coming for the world title, but he’s not going to get it.
“There are going to be no surprises in this fight. Hugo Ruiz said that he was training harder this time. But I am too. I’ve trained very hard.
“The key for me to win this fight is to keep my hands up and to not give him one inch. I cannot be careless. I’ll be strategic and use my wisdom. I cannot come in with my hands down because I know I’ll pay for it. But nothing to worry about, we have rectified those issues in training camp. I’m ready. He’s not taking my belt away from me.
“I’m glad that he says he is better prepared this time because I am better than ever. My team has been instrumental in preparing me for this matchup.
“The winner will be the man who is more prepared physically and mentally. But the real winner will be the fans at Honda Center because this is an amazing card and we’re going to put on an amazing fight.”
HUGO RUIZ
“If you liked the first fight between us, then you are going to love this one.
“I’m excited to be fighting once again in Southern California. I’ve trained very hard and I have prepared myself for this world title opportunity.
“I’m looking forward to putting on a grand show for all my fans on Saturday night.”
JOSE SANTA CRUZ, Santa Cruz’ Father & Trainer
“I hear Kiko has a great trainer on his corner. Robert Garcia is really good, but I have news for Kiko, his trainer is not going to fight for him.
“Once a fighter steps into the ring, he’s alone in there. There are no trainers and no great promoters that can fight for him.”
“Kiko speaks about this prestigious trainer and thinks that by mentioning him, he is going to intimidate us. He has something else coming. The trainer won’t fight for Kiko. Roberto Garcia has trained my son and knows Leo very well but that does not give Kiko the upper hand.”
TOM BROWN, Head of TGB Promotions
“Southern California favorite Leo Santa Cruz returns to bring his action style to the ring. He will be opposed by a tough former world champion in Kiko Martinez who is sure to make this a tremendous fight.
“The first fight between Ceja and Ruiz was a true back and forth war. Should this pick up right where it left off, we will have a great fight to start the telecast.
“I’m looking forward to a great night on Saturday night in front of the fantastic Southern California boxing fans.”
TIM RYAN, CEO & President of Honda Center
“I’m so thankful to everyone for helping to bring boxing back to Orange County. It’s hard to believe that Julio Cesar Chavez fought here in 1996, because it seems like yesterday.
“We have a great arena and a great fan base that loves boxing here in Orange County. The card on Saturday is wonderful. I know these guys will be ready and I’m looking forward to an action-packed night on the 27th.
CHRIS DEBLASIO, Vice President, Sports Communication Showtime Networks
“This is a fight fan’s fight card and we are looking forward to some explosive action. I think everyone knows that the lighter weight classes, especially at the championship level, produce exciting fights. My favorite examples include the epic series between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, which are available on SHOWTIME platforms and should wet your appetite for what we will see on Saturday night.”
For more information visit www.SHO.com/Sports follow on Twitter @SHOSports, @LeoSantaCruz2, @MartinezKiko, @TGBPromotions, @HondaCenter and @Swanson_Comm or become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SHOSports
“60 MINUTES SPORTS” CAPTURES THE EXCITEMENT AND SPIRIT OF NAVAL ACADEMY BOXING ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS ANNAPOLIS TRADITION, TUESDAY, MARCH 1 ON SHOWTIME®
Cameras Will Be Following the Fighters At The Brigade Boxing Championship This Friday Night
NEW YORK (Feb. 25, 2016) – 60 MINUTES SPORTS will offer a window into one of the most time-honored traditions in America’s military when it presents a segment on the U.S. Naval Academy’s boxing program and its annual Brigade Boxing Championship. The feature builds up to the 75th championship this Friday, Feb. 26, in Annapolis, Md., and correspondent Jack Ford and 60 MINUTES SPORTS will be in the arena to record the action for the men’s and women’s bouts. The report will appear on the next edition of 60 MINUTES SPORTS, Tuesday, March 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, on SHOWTIME.
Boxing has been practiced at the nation’s second oldest military institution for 150 years, and midshipmen have vied for the Brigade Boxing Championship since 1941. Along the way to this year’s 75thanniversary, the academy has made learning to box a requirement of graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy.
The man who teaches the “sweet science” to midshipmen – male and female – is Head Boxing Coach Jim McNally. It’s about future leaders facing fear. “We use boxing…as a laboratory…an environment of controlled stress, physical fear,” says McNally. “We want them to learn a lot about themselves and how they’re going to react to those situations,” he tells Ford.
60 MINUTES SPORTS shot the story in Annapolis in the fall and last January to show the process and tell the stories of three midshipmen who will be in the ring this Friday fighting for a championship. One of them, Samantha Glaeser, has a chance to make academy history. There have been only 19 at Annapolis to win the crown all four years at the Naval Academy, and none was a woman. Glaeser has a chance Friday night.
Ford also speaks with Glaeser’s foe, Stephanie Simon, another midshipmen with pugilistic talents who has a National Collegiate Boxing championship under her belt. She has not been able to defeat Glaeser, however, in their two previous meetings for the brigade championship.
Ford also talks to Midshipman Jourdan Looney, whose two brigade championship titles are testament to what boxing means to the Academy. He had no boxing experience before he entered the Naval Academy. “Boxing…fighting is one of my biggest fears. I conquer that one fear, I’ve conquered any other fear that I could possibly have.” He’ll be in contention for his third brigade title Friday night.
The U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent, Vice Adm. Walter Carter, sums up the importance of boxing to America’s future naval officers for Ford. “[Boxing] is that moment where no matter how well you think you have planned out your couple minutes in the ring, you’re going to learn something new, because that plan is going to have to be different….”
JACKSON WINK MMA ACADEMY FEATURED ON THE NEXT EDITION OF “60 MINUTES SPORTS” TUESDAY, MARCH 1 ON SHOWTIME®
lick HERE To Watch A Video Preview Of This Segment: http://s.sho.com/1KLdpqm
NEW YORK (Feb. 25, 2016) – Noted mixed martial arts journalist Jon L. Wertheim takes an in-depth and personal look at how Holly Holm, a barely known underdog, was able to knock out women’s MMA queen Ronda Rousey. In the piece, Wertheim visits Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, N.M., the home of Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn. Wertheim investigates how the world-renowned trainers helped guide Holm to victory last November and have established their once-unheralded outpost in Albuquerque as a mecca for some of the best MMA fighters in the world.
Wertheim’s report appears on the next edition of 60 MINUTES SPORTS, premiering Tuesday, March 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME. Nathalie Sommer is the producer.