HBO Sports kicks off the 2011 boxing season with a highly anticipated junior welterweight title slugfest when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: DEVON ALEXANDER VS. TIMOTHY BRADLEY is presented live SATURDAY, JAN. 29 (10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT) from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., exclusively on HBO. The WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING team of Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward will be ringside for all the action, presented in HDTV and in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: Jan. 30 (10:45 a.m.) and 31 (11:45 p.m.)
HBO2 playdate: Jan. 30 (5:15 p.m.)
Unbeaten junior welterweight stars Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs), of St. Louis and Timothy Bradley (26-0, 11 KOs), from Palm Springs, Cal., both of whom turned pro in 2004, will bring a combined 47 wins and no losses into the ring when they face off in this high-stakes, 12-round title showdown.
“We believe Alexander vs. Bradley is a spectacular way to launch a new season of boxing on HBO,” says Kery Davis, senior vice president of programming, HBO Sports. “Fight fans have the date circled on their calendars and sports fans everywhere should do the same.”
Already recognized as one of boxing’s elite 140-pounders, titleholder Devon Alexander’s unparalleled aggressiveness can leave opponents reeling. Although he’s coming off a unanimous decision victory over Ukrainian powerhouse Andriy Kotelnik on HBO last August, many observers felt the fight was much closer than it was scored. Alexander, 23, will be fired up to face a true rival and prove he’s the best in the division.
Timothy Bradley, who also owns a junior welterweight crown, will look to use his extraordinarily quick feet and countless punch combinations to tire out the big southpaw. The 27-year-old Bradley’s world-renowned strength should help counter Alexander’s slight height advantage, but it remains to be seen if Bradley can guard against his foe’s famous left hook, which has put a host of quality fighters on the canvas.
All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Dave Harmon; director, Marc Payton.
® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.