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Bellator, mixed martial arts, MMA, Paramount Network

SPORTS TV VETERAN JAY GLAZER JOINS BELLATOR BROADCAST TEAM

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DEBUT SET FOR BELLATOR 192 THIS SATURDAY, JAN. 20 – LIVE ON PARAMOUNT NETWORK

 

 

 

 

LOS ANGELES – Bellator announced today that sports television mainstay Jay Glazer will join the Bellator broadcast team. Beginning with Bellator 192, Glazer will host the broadcast desk as Bellator kicks off 2018 on Paramount Network (formerly Spike) Saturday, Jan. 20 at 9 p.m. ET.

 

 

 

Glazer joins reporter Jenn Brown, play-by-play men Mike Goldberg and Mauro Ranallo, as well as color commentators “Big” John McCarthy andChael Sonnen. In addition to his broadcasting duties, Glazer will also appear in upcoming original content produced by Bellator’s digital team.

 

 

 

“I’m excited to welcome Jay Glazer to the Bellator family,” Bellator President Scott Coker said. “Jay’s knowledge and experience in sports television speaks for itself and he will be a great addition to our incredible broadcast team. As Bellator moves to Paramount Network, I look forward to having him involved with some of the biggest fights of the year.”

 

 

 

“I have always had a tremendous passion for MMA, where the relationships you develop are unlike any other sport, said Glazer. “And I am very fortunate to be able to continue these relationships with an incredible organization like Bellator. I’ve been friends with Scott for many years, and am ecstatic that he brought me into the Bellator family.”

 

 

 

A trailblazer in the sports media world who broke onto the scene as an NFL reporter for the New York Post, Glazer went on to serve as the NFL Insider for CBS Sports in 1999, and later joined Fox Sports where Jay is currently in his 14th year as the NFL Insider on their award-winning NFL studio show, Fox NFL Sunday. In 2007, Jay was named Sports Illustrated’s “Media Person of the Year.” Glazer also became one of the first mainstream media members to cover MMA when he hosted Pride Fighting Championships on FSN.

 

 

 

Jay is also set to begin shooting his fourth season on the HBO comedy hit Ballers, where he has a recurring role.

 

 

 

A longtime athlete and martial artist, Glazer owns the high profile Unbreakable Performance Center in West Hollywood, where the gym has become the home to many elite athletes, actors, musicians and business people, including Demi Lovato, Wiz Khalifa, Chris Pratt, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture.

 

 

 

Jay also started the first MMA-training program for professional athletes with hundreds of athletes having utilized his training program.  In just the last few years, Jay and his team have trained All Pros Von Miller, Aaron Rodgers, Odell Beckham, Bobby Wagner and Andrew Whitworth.

 

 

 

Additionally, Glazer began a new foundation in 2015 called Merging Vets & Players, which works to match up former combat veterans and former professional athletes in order to help each other through the transition into their new lives away from the playing field and away from the battlefield. Learn more about MVP at www.vetsandplayers.org.

 

 

Glazer is represented by The Montag Group and currently resides in Los Angeles.

 

 

 

Bellator and Paramount Network open 2018 with a bang when Bellator 192 emanates from The Forum in LA on Saturday, Jan. 20. The event features a welterweight world title fight between current champ Douglas Lima and number one contender Rory MacDonald, while “Rampage” Jackson meets Chael Sonnen in the opening round of 2018’s Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix.

boxing, Showtime, Showtime Boxing

BARRY TOMPKINS AND STEVE FARHOOD ELECTED TO INTERNATIONAL BOXING HALL OF FAME

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Longtime SHOWTIME Sports® Announcers Join 2017 Class Headlined
By Evander Holyfield, Marco Antonio Barrera and Johnny Tapia

 

 

NEW YORK (Dec. 6, 2016) – Longtime SHOWTIME Sports announcers Barry Tompkins and Steve Farhood were elected into the 2017 class of the International Boxing Hall of Fame as first-time nominees, it was announced on Tuesday.

 

Tompkins and Farhood earned induction in the Observer category, which recognizes outstanding achievements of print and media journalists, publishers, writers, historians, photographers and artists.  They join a 2017 class headlined by boxing greats Evander Holyfield, Marco Antonio Barrera and Johnny Tapia.  In the non-participant category is world-renowned ring announcer, the late Jimmy Lennon, Sr., who will posthumously join his son, the all-time SHOWTIME Sports ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr., in the Hall.  The induction ceremony will take place during International Boxing Hall of Fame Weekend in Canastota, NY, June 8-11, when Farhood and Tompkins will join fellow SHOWTIME Sports Hall of Famers Al Bernstein (2012) and Lennon, Jr. (2013) in Canastota.

 

Tompkins and Farhood are the one-two punch behind the prospect-orientated SHOWTIME Sports series ShoBox: The NewGeneration, for which Tompkins calls the blow-by-blow action and Farhood serves as expert analyst alongside former world champion Raul Marquez.  Tompkins and Farhood, who have both been in the boxing business for decades, are also the voice of SHOWTIME BOXING on SHO EXTREME.

 

“Steve and Barry are pillars of the SHOWTIME boxing announce team,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports.  “Both men are as dedicated and committed to the sport and to their craft as anyone in television.  Moreover, they are supportive colleagues and dear friends to many of us in boxing.  On behalf of all of us at SHOWTIME, congratulations on this great and well-deserved honor.”

 

The recognition by the International Boxing Hall of Fame is the result of a career’s worth of hard work and accomplishments for Tompkins and Farhood.

 

Before joining SHOWTIME in 2012, Tompkins was the No. 1 voice of boxing at NBC (1974-1979), HBO (1979-88), ESPN (1988-1996) and FOX Sports (1996-2011).  He has called hundreds of boxing matches, including more than 200 world title fights; among them legendary battles Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello I — his personal favorite — Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvin Hagler, Mike Tyson-Trevor Berbick and countless others.

 

Tompkins, who has deservedly earned a reputation as one of boxing’s ‘good guys’, is in the midst of a career spanning 40 years.  In addition to boxing, his countless credits include play-by-play commentary of the Super Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, eight Olympic Games, tennis majors and more.

 

Farhood has been involved in boxing for 38 years, during which he’s become universally respected for his integrity, honesty and expertise.  In his distinguished career, he has served as announcer, writer, researcher and author.  A former editor-in-chief of The Ring and KO magazines, Farhood has been the voice of ShoBox since its inception in 2001.  Farhood is the “ironman” of the acclaimed series, having served all but one of 228 ShoBox telecasts.

 

A regular contributor to SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® and Premier Boxing Champions telecasts, Farhood is a four-category winner of awards by the Boxing Writers Association of America (Taub Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, Fleischer Award for Excellence in Print Journalism, Good Guy Award and Walker Award for Long and Meritorious Service).

 

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 Channels. 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.