FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK (Dec. 5, 2017) – A Thursday night celebration is in store as FIGHTNIGHT LIVE partners with renowned promoter Jimmy Burchfield Sr. and CES Boxing one more time in 2017 – as the promotion caps its year-long 25th anniversary campaign and the Facebook combat sports platform looks to reach its one-millionth live view. Fans from across the globe can catch all the action beginning at 8 p.m. ET live from Twin River Casino in Rhode Island on any device wherever Facebook is available, as the series caps 2017 with a tenth show on the seven month-old platform.
“The FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series continues to grow, and has a chance to reach its 1,000,000th view in only eight months and across 10 shows. We may or may not get there on Thursday, but we’ve been extremely pleased with the growth of the series and want to thank fight fans everywhere for their support,” said Mark Fratto, Principal of Linacre Media. “We’d like to congratulate CES and Jimmy Burchfield on their quarter-century of success, and though we just joined the party, we’re happy to celebrate with their outstanding promotion and may have something to celebrate of our own.”
“CES Boxing is once again excited to partner up with FIGHTNIGHT LIVE to showcase some of the best boxing talent around to fight fans from all around the world. The special “Thursday Night Fights” card is stacked with competitive, action packed matchups. We are also proud to be celebrating 25 years of Boxing Excellence. On December 7, the tradition continues,” Said CES President Jimmy Burchfield, Sr.
In the main event on Thursday night, Worcester’s Khiary Gray (14-3, 11 KOs) squares off against Philly’s Greg Jackson (8-4-1, 2 KOs) for the vacant New England Interim Welterweight Title. In his toughest challenge yet, unbeaten area lightweight sensation Jamaine Ortiz (6-0, 4 KOs) battles “Dangerous” Derrick Murray (13-3-1, 5 KOs) in a six-round special attraction, while Providence fan favorite Anthony Marsella Jr. (6-0, 3 KOs) puts his perfect record on the line in a six-round lightweight bout, plus much more.
Over the first seven months of programming, the numbers on the FIGHTNIGHT LIVE series have showed promise and potential for the new platform with an average of almost 96,749 fight fans tuning in per event. The Sept. 9 “Real Deal Promotions: Empire State” from Resorts World Casino (225,000), the August CES “SuperSaturday” from Foxwoods (203,000), the Sept. CES “Twin River Twinbill” from Lincoln, R.I. (157,000), the Sept. Star Boxing “Showdown at the Paramount” from Long Island (92,255), the July Roy Jones Jr. “Desert Showdown” from Phoenix (63,000), the May “Slugfest at the Sun” from Mohegan Sun (45,000), the June “Rosemont Rumble” from Chicago (32,000) and the Sept. DiBella “Friday Night Foxwoods Fights” (32,000) saw a total of more than 15,000 total hours of Facebook video consumed by 870,700-plus users across all devices.
In addition to the raw viewership numbers, the fully-interactive, fan-friendly productions have seen more than 127,000 collective live post engagements(14,204-plus per show), including more than 90,000 “likes” or “loves,” more than 15,000 comments and 4,600-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 viewsand 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 Thursday night, Dec. 7, live from live from Twin River Casino in Lincoln, R.I., 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 Michael Woods of the TalkBox Podcast, NYFights.com and The Ring and analyst Xavier Porter of BrooklynFights.com, Notorious Boxing and the “Shoot the 5” radio show. 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 2017-18 dates will be officially announced in the coming weeks.
FIGHTNIGHT LIVE is available online at: https://www.facebook.com/FaceFIGHTNIGHTLIVE/
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..
