NEW YORK (Jan. 23, 2018) – Friday night fireworks are in store for fans on Facebook as FIGHTNIGHT LIVE partners with Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing for its first show of the New Year. Fight fans from across the globe can catch all the action beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET live from Long Island, on any device wherever Facebook is available, as the combat sports platform opens 2018 with an eleventh show on the nine month-old platform.
“We’ve been extremely pleased with the growth of the series, and Friday’s show will be incredible with the addition of a mystery commentator, who will be revealed later in the week. The FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series has a chance to reach its 1,000,000th view in only 11 shows and we want to thank fight fans everywhere for their support,” said Mark Fratto, Principal of Linacre Media. “On Friday, fans from all over Long Island and all over the world will be able to tune in to catch some excellent matchups via the Star Boxing Facebook page and our FIGHTNIGHT LIVE page.”
In the main event on Friday night, Long Island’s Anthony “Showtime” Karperis (14-3, 5 KOs) fights for the 17th time at The Paramount while looking for his 13th victory at the venue, taking on Nicaragua’s Nelson Lara (17-9-4, 9 KOs). Undefeated fighters Tyrone “Pretty Boy” James (6-0, 3 KOs), Wendy Toussaint (7-0, 2 KOs) and Michael Stoute (2-0) will look to impress the Long Island crowd and Facebook audience, and fight fans will witness the pro debut of Huntington’s own Shaun Kennedy, plus musical performances and more.
“It is going to be a thrilling night of boxing. Fans will see several undefeated prospects and Anthony Karperis, who is always in fan-friendly wars. Fights from The Paramount are reminiscent of the old days at the Blue Horizon – thrilling fights, upsets and enthusiastic fans,” said Joe DeGuardia, CEO and President of Star Boxing. “It is great that the whole world will be able to see this on Facebook. The world is changing so much and for boxing and it’s great that fans can tune in from anywhere and be a part of the action. Yes, the Paramount will be sold out Friday night – but you can still see the fights by tuning into Facebook.”
Over the first eight months of programming, the numbers on the 10-show FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series have showed promise and potential for the new platform with an average of more than 93,000 fight fans tuning in per event and nearly one-million fans served. The Sept. 9 “Real Deal Promotions: Empire State” from Resorts World Casino (225,000), the August CES “Super Saturday” from Foxwoods (203,000), the Sept. CES “Twin River Twinbill” from Lincoln, R.I. (157,000) all topped 150,000 views, and collectively the 10-show series saw a total of almost 17,000 total hours of Facebook video consumed by 930,933-plus users across all devices.
In addition to the raw viewership numbers, the fully-interactive, fan-friendly productions have seen more than 130,000 collective live post engagements (13,000-plus per show), including more than 91,000 “likes” or “loves,” more than 16,000 comments and 4,900-plus shares.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE broadcasts are viewed by 76 percent men, 24 percent women. The top demographic is comprised of males ages 25-34, which encompasses approximately 30.0 percent of the audience, on average.
The Sept. 9 “Real Deal Promotions: Empire State” set a new bar with 224,658 views and the Sept. 15-16 DiBella-CES doubleheader carried the series to three-quarters-of-a-million views in just over four months. The Aug. 26 Foxwoods “Super Saturday” show stands out individually with 3,336 live hours of content viewed, while the Sept. 15 DiBella card saw more than 40,000 viewer interactions including almost 39,000 “likes” or “loves.”
On Friday night, Jan. 26, live from The Paramount in Huntington, Long Island, N.Y., fans can expect a high-impact, multi-camera streaming experience complete with graphics, animations, replays, interviews and an announce team anchored by blow-by-blow announcer Marc Abrams of AWE, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 15Rounds.com and AbramsBoxing.com. Former Golden Gloves Champion Cara Castronuova, now of the Knockout Obesity Foundation, will contribute analysis and deliver post-fight interviews in the ring. To provide spectators with a fully-interactive ringside experience, commentators will ask and respond to questions from the Facebook audience throughout the broadcast.
Created and produced by Linacre Media out of New York City, the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series features professional announcers, multiple camera angles, television graphics, replays and behind-the-scenes access and interviews. The streamed shows are available globally wherever Facebook is available. The initiative not only enables fans from around the world to tune in, but also gives up-and-coming fighters a global platform to showcase their abilities, gives promoters an accessible “broadcast” solution and gives sponsors the ability to reach a mass audience via branded content.
More FIGHTNIGHT LIVE Winter/Spring 2018 dates will be officially announced in the coming weeks.
Follow all the action via social media at FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Facebook,@FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE on Instagram and @FIGHTNIGHTLIVE_ on Twitter, or by using the hashtag #FIGHTNIGHTLIVE. For the latest Linacre Media events and broadcast schedule, follow @LinacreMedia across all social platforms or use the tags #LinacreMediaEvents or #LinacreMediaOnTV.
