Boxing

Fox Sports Net´s Knockout Announce Team

04.03 - Fox Sports Net’s familiar and popular announce team of Barry Tompkins, Rich Marotta and Sean O’Grady is on board for another year of work on SUNDAY NIGHT FIGHTS in 2003. This season’s debut show is March 16 with next-day coverage from Dallas, Texas, a card headlined by a WBO Inter- Continental heavyweight title bout between Kirk Johnson and Lou Savarese.

?Tompkins’ versatile 30-year broadcasting career includes being one of boxing’s most recognizable and popular announcers, having worked previously with HBO, ESPN and on pay-per-view shows, including calling numerous world championship bouts.

?An international boxing expert, Marotta is one of the sport’s most connected analysts. In addition to his longtime work with Fox Sports Net, he hosts "Rich Marotta’s Neutral Corner" each Friday night on XTRA Radio in Southern California with a Who’s Who list of boxing guests.

?Former WBA world lightweight champion O’Grady is a veteran of televised boxing as a participant and a commentator. His popularity and success in the ring resulted in 12 of his 86 career bouts being nationally televised, including an ABC primetime matchup against Jim Watt in 1980. In addition to his analyst work on FSN, O’Grady has commentated for various pay-per-view bouts and spent 13 years on USA Network’s Tuesday Night Fights series.

Upcoming Events on SUNDAY NIGHT FIGHTS*

March 16 from Dallas, Texas (Club Life) – next day delay

Main Event: 12 Rounds for the WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight Championship –

Lou Savarese (43-4, 35 KOs) vs. Kirk Johnson (23-3, 17 KOs)

Other bouts scheduled to include female star Mia St. John and 2002 National Golden Gloves heavyweight champion Malcolm Tann.

March 23 from Teme?cula, California (Pechanga Resort & Casino)

Main Events: 12 Rounds for the NABF Lightweight Championship –

Steve Quinonez (29-6-1, 11 KOs) vs. Brian Adams (17-3-1, 8 KOs)

12 Rounds for the NABF Bantamweight Championship –

Ricardo Vargas (33-9-3, 11 KOs) vs. Gerson Guerrero (25-4, 19 KOs)

*SUNDAY NIGHT FIGHTS airs from 6:00-8:00 PM local time with encore presentations throughout the week (check local listings). SUNDAY NIGHT FIGHTS cards are promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions LLC, featuring ring announcer and former Playboy model Amy Hayes.


FOX SPORTS NET RETAINS CROWN AS BOXING’S BEST DAMN FRIEND

In addition to SUNDAY NIGHT FIGHTS, Fox Sports Net continues to promote and discuss boxing on a frequent basis. BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD is particularly boxing-friendly, including last week’s lineup which included Don King, Jim Lampley and a lengthy roundtable discussion among Chris Byrd, Vernon Forrest, Ray Mancini and Rock Newman. This week, newly crowned WBA heavyweight champ Roy Jones, Jr. was a guest. Here are excerpts from those segments:

  • King when asked if the Tyson/Etienne fight should have been allowed to happen seeing that Tyson claimed to be hurt: "They preach safety and health first for these athletes. Then they violate that trust. It goes back to the days when they were feeding Christians to the lions. It goes back to barbarism and savagery. It gives boxing a black eye."

  • King on whether Tyson's manager Shelly Finkel looks out for his best interest: "Shelly Finkel, in my opinion, is a mercenary flesh seller. What he did to Tyson is unbelievable, unprecedented. He destroyed this man's career."

  • Mancini on Mike Tyson: "Mike is good for boxing. He is the biggest attraction going. Forget all his craziness. When he comes in, the brother brings it. He comes to fight. With that one punch power. That punch (against Etienne) would have knocked a building down. That punch would have flattened Lennox Lewis if he had gotten him with that shot. It was a legitimate shot. It's a train wreck mentality. Its hard to watch sometimes but you have got to watch."

  • Newman on the state of boxing: "People always are saying that's the end of boxing. It has another black eye. The fact is that boxing has been blind for so long. A black eye won't hurt it anymore. This is not badminton. These are not characters looking for the knighthood or the priesthood."

  • Newman explains why there is a belief that the sport of boxing is on a downward spiral: "There is a theory that so goes the heavyweight division, so goes boxing. Right now you have a guy who is the heavyweight champion of the world who is 6-6, 260 pounds and to some extent fights like a sissy. He fights like a scared little sissy. Lennox Lewis is not a compelling personality. He is a cautious 6'6" 260 pound guy. It starts right there."
  • Jones on whether he'll fight Chris Byrd next: "I can't let him know nothing yet. It costs a lot to make me fight another heavyweight. This one [Ruiz] was on the house. I gave the fans a performance on the house. Now it's going to cost them. So, if they want me to fight somebody, money talks."
  • Jones when asked how much money it would take to get him in the ring with Mike Tyson: "It would have to be a whole lot of moolah to fight Tyson. It would almost take $50 million for me to think about it. Tyson is a damn good fighter. Not that I can't beat Mike, because there's nobody that I can't beat, but for me to go out there and take a chance, a gamble, coming from junior middleweight to heavyweight...I have to be dealt with. When I come into the ring, somebody has to be dealing with me, but it's going to cost them to get me in there."
  • Jones adds: "If the money is right, I'll fight another heavyweight. If the money is not, I'll go back down to light heavyweight. It's not hard to figure out."
  • Jones when asked about fighting Lennox Lewis: "Put some millions and a dollar sign behind it and bring him on."

Female boxing star Mia St. John is scheduled to appear on BDSSP Thursday, March 6.

 

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: BEYOND THE GLORY PREMIERES MARCH 23

?FSN’s boxing programming reaches to its contemporary documentary series BEYOND THE GLORY on Sunday, March 23 with the premiere of an episode chronicling the life and career of Oscar De La Hoya. BEYOND THE GLORY airs at 8 PM local time (consult local listings).

This fall, BEYOND THE GLORY is scheduled to profile Mike Tyson, the first two-part episode in the series three-year history. Other boxers profiled in past seasons of BEYOND THE GLORY include James "Buster" Douglas, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roy Jones Jr.

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