Boxing on CBS

Boxing on CBS is a television boxing show, produced by CBS Sports.^[1]

History

CBS' earliest experience with boxing dates back to 1948,^[2] with the debut of Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts. The program, featuring blow-by-blow commentator Russ Hodges,^[3] lasted through 1955.^[4]

CBS had a renewed interest in boxing after losing the National Football Conference package to Fox following the 1993 season. In 1994,^[5][6] they had a new series of fights on Saturday or Sundays under the Eye on Sports^[7] banner. Tim Ryan (blow-by-blow) and Gil Clancy (color) were the commentators during this period. CBS continued airing boxing on a somewhat regular basis until 1998,^[8] by which time they had the NFL (after acquiring the American Football Conference package from NBC) and college football back on their slate.

In May 2000, CBS announced that it in July of that year, they would rebroadcast four heavyweight fights that would air on Showtime^[9] from June.

On December 15, 2012, CBS once again teamed with Showtime to present an unprecedented day/night marathon that would feature up to seven fights at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.^[10] The live 90-minute CBS broadcast, SHOWTIME Boxing on CBS, would begin at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT and offer two fights.

In February 2015, CBS and Showtime announced a multi-year agreement with Premier Boxing Champions^[11] to carry at least eight events in 2015 with as many as five airing on CBS beginning in April and running into September. The PBC on CBS events will run in conjunction with Showtime Championship Boxing and they will promote Showtime cards plus carry shoulder programming on CBS Sports Network.

Notable moments

Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali's trainer, was brought in to be Sugar Ray Leonard's trainer and manager. Long-time coaches Janks Morton, Dave Jacobs and lawyer Mike Trainer made up the rest of Leonard's team. Promoted by ABC-TV as their replacement for the aging Ali, Leonard made $40,000 for his first professional fight (then a record) against Puerto Rican Luis Vega. The fight was televised nationally on CBS-TV, and the novice Leonard won by a 6 round unanimous decision.

For decades, from the 1920s to the 1980s, world championship matches in professional boxing were scheduled for fifteen rounds, but that changed after a November 13, 1982^[12] WBA Lightweight title bout ended with the death of boxer Duk Koo Kim^[13] in a fight against Ray Mancini in the 14th round of a nationally televised championship fight on CBS. Exactly three months after the fatal fight, the WBC reduced the number of their championship fights to 12 rounds. It was also the last fight to air as part of strike replacement programming on CBS because of the NFL strike,^[14] which ended three days later.

A then 14-0 Oscar de la Hoya appeared on a December 10, 1994 card for CBS.

The last time CBS aired a live boxing event^[15] prior to 2012, was on January 20, 1997, when then-middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins knocked out Glen Johnson in the 11th round.

Commentators

• Tom Brookshier
• Joyce Brothers - Brothers gained fame in late 1955 by winning The $64,000 Question game show, on which she appeared as an expert in the subject area of boxing. Originally, she had not planned to have boxing as her topic, but the sponsors suggested it, and she agreed. A voracious reader, she studied every reference book about boxing that she could find; she would later tell reporters that it was thanks to her good memory that she assimilated so much material and answered even the most difficult questions.^[16] In 1959, allegations that the quiz shows were rigged began to surface, but Brothers insisted that she had never cheated, nor had she ever been given any answers in advance. Subsequent investigations verified her assertion that she had won honestly.^[17] Her success on The $64,000 Question earned Brothers a chance to be the color commentator for CBS during the boxing match between Carmen Basilio and Sugar Ray Robinson. She was said to be the first woman to ever be a boxing commentator.^[18]
• Gil Clancy^[19]
• Angelo Dundee
• Ian Eagle
• Phyllis George
• Kevin Harlan^[20]
• Virgil Hunter
• Ted Husing
• Sugar Ray Leonard
• Paulie Malignaggi
• Brent Musburger
• Tim Ryan - Notable fights Ryan called include Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson vs. Charlie Green, Floyd Patterson vs. Oscar Bonavena,^[21] Monroe Brooks vs. Bruce Curry,^[22] Bernard Hopkins vs. Glen Johnson,^[23] Thomas Hearns vs. Sugar Ray Leonard,^[24] Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard,^[25] and Ray Mancini vs. Duk Koo Kim.^[26] His color commentators for boxing were Angelo Dundee, Gil Clancy, and Sugar Ray Leonard. In 1986, Ryan won the Sam Taub Award for Excellence in Broadcasting Journalism.^[27]
• Chris Schenkel
• Brent Stover^[28]
• Pat Summerall^[29] - Summerall and his NFL on CBS commentating partner Tom Brookshier, called a heavyweight title fight between Muhammad Ali and Jean Pierre Coopman live in prime time on Friday, February 20, 1976. Brent Musburger and Phyllis George of The NFL Today co-hosted the telecast that night. Meanwhile, Don Dunphy who supplied some commentary between rounds. A month earlier, CBS assigned Summerall and Brookshier to announce a Ken Norton bout against Pedro Lovell, a mere eight days before they called Super Bowl X.
• Jerry Quarry
• Jack Whitaker

References

1. Google Search - Boxing on CBS
2. Google Search - 1948
3. Fitzsimmons, Lyle (1 April 2015). "CBS assembles championship-caliber boxing broadcast team". CBSSports.com.
4. Google Search - 1955
5. BOXING; CBS's Fight Card Packs Surprising Punch
6. Google Search - 1994
7. Extending the N.C.A.A. tournament contract continues the revamping of CBS Sports. The network has made college football deals for the Fiesta, Orange and Cotton Bowls starting in January 1996, and, starting that fall, Big East and Southeastern Conference regular-season games, and the Army-Navy game; has aggressively launched prime-time and weekend figure skating programming; started a boxing series seen on the new "Eye on Sports" series, and acquired the rights to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
8. Google Search - 1997
9. CBS-TV gets back into boxing ring with summer cards
10. "Boxing returns to CBS for first time since 1997". 11 December 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
11. Fang, Ken (20 February 2015). "Boxing returns to CBS and makes a big splash on network TV". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
12. Google Search - 1982
13. KIM'S LIFE SUPPORT MAY BE REMOVED
14. TV SPORTS; BOXING COVERAGE FILLS FOOTBALL VOID
15. Velin, Bob (1 April 2011). "CBS to air boxing: 'Fight Camp 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosley'". USA Today.
16. "Quiz Winner Credits Memory for Success." Christian Science Monitor, 14 October 1959, p. 6
17. "The Quiz Show Scandal" website
18. "CBS Radio to Give Male Fan Assist in Airing Basilio, Robinson Fight." Hartford Courant, 25 March 1958, p. 18A
19. He has served as boxing analyst for CBS Sports for 20 plus years and currently calls the action for the network’s championship boxing series.
20. Scavone, Jason (1 April 2015). "Kevin Harlan, Paulie Malignaggi, Virgil Hunter to call PBC on CBS". Premier Boxing Champions.
21. http://www.caytonsports.com/list.pdf
22. Michael Marley’s Boxing Confidential – News, Analysis, and Commentary
23. Boxing Results & Reports
24. Thomas Hearns – The Fan Favorite
25. Berger, Phil (4 November 1987). "Boxing Notebook; Leonard Still Has Hagler's Number". The New York Times.
26. Mancini and Kim forever linked - Boxing - Yahoo! Sports
27. Internantional Boxing Hall of Fame / BWAA Awards
28. "CBS SPORTSCASTERS KEVIN HARLAN AND BRENT STOVER WITH ANALYSTS PAUL MALIGNAGGI AND VIRGIL HUNTER TO CALL PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS ON CBS". Multichannel News. 31 March 2015.
29. Hagger, Jeff (20 October 2014). "Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier calling boxing in 1976". Classic TV Sports.

External links

• Official website
• rec.sport.boxing - CBS
• BOXING ON TV