CES' KO TV announcing team for NESN broadcast

Bontempo, Borges & Paz

19.03 - Jimmy Burchfield's Classic Entertainment and Sports has officially announced its KO announcing team for the NESN taped broadcast of Friday (March 21) night's "Bring Me A Dream II: The Rematch" boxing show at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

The main event (IBU world super weight championship (Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton-Levan Easley), co-feature (IBU world lightweight championship - Gary "The Tiger" Balletto-Johnny Walker) and 8-round special attraction (featherweights Angel "Gee-Roc" Torres-Greg Piper) will be taped live and broadcast Tuesday night (March 25) at primetime (8-10:30 p.m.) on NESN.

CES' KO announcing team includes Dave Bontempo, popular blow-by-blow announcer; color man Ron Borges, one of the foremost boxing writers in the world; special analyst Vinny Paz, 5-time former world champion.

"I believe in having the best possible announcing team for a quality show like this that's going to be shown on NESN," promoter Jimmy Burchfield said. "I feel we have that with the combination of Dave, Ron and Vinny. Dave's a big boxing fan who has developed a following as a broadcaster. I respect Ron Borges as one of the finest boxing writers in the world. Vinny's a 5-time world champion who bring his expertise in the ring, as well as his experience. He fought Easley and spars with Pemberton. Vinny personally knows all of the local fighters on the card. All three have worked with each other at one time or another. As a team they have tremendous talent and are a good mix.

"For this product assignment we needed to get the best production crew, not only in New England, but in the United States. We have that in P.T Navarro and David Mondillio, as well as director Michael Frank. Many people and companies were interviewed and checked out. We wanted NESN to feel comfortable with the production crew. P.T. has all kinds of boxing credentials, NFL, too. He has a helluva resume. He's also worked together with (NESN's VP of Programming & Operations) Rick Abbott. Michael has worked everything in sports from the World Series to the Super Bowl. I'm very excited about our production crew and announcing talent."

Meet CES' KO Announcing Team

Dave Bontempo - A member of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, Dave Bontempo is an award-winning color commentator for ESPN and Fox Sports affiliates. The 1997 recepient of the Sam Taub Award for "Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, presented by the International Boxing Hall of Fame, he has also broadcast fights on TVKO and Showtime.

Ron Borges - The 1993 recepient of the Nat Fleischer Memorial Award for "Excellence in Boxing Journalism" from the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Ron Borges is a staff writer for the Boston Globe, specializing in boxing and the NFL. He pens a weekly column for HBO.com, regularly writes for several boxing industry magazines, and is a frequent guest on WWZN Sporting News radio in Boston, as well as sports television shows in Boston.

Vinny Paz - A former 5-time world champion, Vinny Paz (49-10, 30 KOs) has been one of the most colorful fighters in the world, known as "The Pazmanian Devil." In 1991 he suffered a serious neck injury in an automobile accident and was told he'd never fight again. Against doctors orders he returned to the gym wearing a "halo" and a little more than a year later returned to the ring. Now in his 20th year as a pro boxer and one win shy of 50, Paz' promoter, Jimmy Burchfield, is negotiating a fight against Tony Ayala, Jr. this summer on pay-per-view. Paz holds wins against world champs such as Roberto Duran (twice), Lloyd Honeyghan and Greg Haugen (twice). He will be a Future Hall of Fame inductee.

All bouts and fighters are subject to change. The first live bout will start at 7:30 p.m.

The $100 Platinum VIP Seats or Opera VIP Boxes and $55 Ringside seats are sold out. Available tickets are $35 Stage & Bleachers and $20 General Admission. Tickets are limited and may be purchased by calling any of the CES Offices: Rhode Island (401) 724-2253, Conn: (860) 432-4253 Attn: Lou Mayo or Mass: (617) 567-1705 Attn: Romano Schreiber. Tickets can also be purchased through CES' Web site at www.cesboxing.com (go to tickets page) or at Foxwoods' box office (800.200.2882)