CBS has occasionally broadcast boxing events; its first broadcast occurred in 1948. The network's most recent broadcasts of the sport have fallen under Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions banner, and its most recent primetime broadcasts have been produced by sister pay television channel Showtime.

History

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CBS' earliest experience with boxing dates back to 1948 with the debut of Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts. The program, featuring blow-by-blow commentator Russ Hodges,[1] lasted through 1955.

CBS had a renewed interest in boxing after losing the National Football Conference package to Fox following the 1993 season. In 1994, they had a new series of fights on Saturday or Sundays under the Eye on Sports[2] banner. Tim Ryan (blow-by-blow) and Gil Clancy (color) were the commentators during this period.[3] CBS continued airing boxing on a somewhat regular basis until 1998, by which time they had the NFL (after acquiring the American Football Conference package from NBC) and college football back on their slate.

On the afternoon of December 15, 2012, as part of a larger marathon of live boxing events being broadcast that day by sister premium network Showtime, CBS broadcast Showtime Boxing on CBS—which featured a main event between Leo Santa Cruz and Alberto Guevara from Los Angeles. The telecast, although delayed due to an overrunning college basketball game, was seen by approximately 1.5 million households. It marked the first live broadcast of a boxing event on CBS since 1997.[4][5]

In February 2015, CBS Sports reached a deal with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions to air a series of eight, Saturday afternoon cards (branded as PBC on CBS).[6] CBS Sports Network also aired shoulder programming for Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao.[7][8] In 2016, CBS Sports Network began to pick up a larger number of events from smaller promoters such as Roy Jones Jr. and Pep Gomez.[9]

On June 25, 2016, as part of PBC, CBS broadcast Showtime-produced coverage of a card featuring a WBC welterweight championship fight between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter, marking the first boxing event broadcast on CBS in primetime since 1978.[10][11] The following March, CBS aired Thurman's welterweight unification bout against Danny García.[12][13][14][15]

Notable moments

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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 WBA Lightweight title bout ended with the death of boxer Kim Duk-koo[16] 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,[17] 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[18] prior to 2012, was on January 20, 1997, when then-middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins knocked out Glen Johnson in the 11th round.

Commentators

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References

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  1. ^ Fitzsimmons, Lyle (1 April 2015). "CBS assembles championship-caliber boxing broadcast team". CBSSports.com.
  2. ^ Sandomir, Richard (7 December 1994). "March Madness Stays on CBS's Calendar". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "CBS Sports Saturday/Sunday Televised Fights". BoxRec.com.
  4. ^ "Return to network TV a hit for boxing". ESPN.com. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Showtime, CBS Team Up for Full Day of Live Boxing Dec. 15". Fight Network. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  6. ^ "CBS Laces Up Live 'Premier Boxing Champions' Series". Deadline Hollywood. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  7. ^ "CBS Sports Network: Mayweather-Pacquiao programming schedule". CBS Sports. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  8. ^ Dan Rafael (27 March 2015). "Showtime to produce four-part 'Inside Mayweather vs. Pacquiao'". ESPN. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  9. ^ "CBS Sports Network Increasing Boxing Coverage". Sherdog. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  10. ^ "CBS Welcomes Boxing Back to Primetime". Sherdog. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  11. ^ "Joshua-Breazeale on Showtime: CompuBox Historical Review". BoxingScene. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  12. ^ "Thurman-Garcia does strong rating for CBS". Bad Left Hook (SBNation). Vox Media. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Thurman vs. Garcia on March 4 to be on CBS". The Ring. 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
  14. ^ "Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia to headline Showtime Boxing's return to CBS". CBS Sports. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  15. ^ "PBC Boxing: Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia live results, online discussion". Bloody Elbow (SBNation). Vox Media. 4 March 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  16. ^ Alfano, Peter; Times, Special To the New York (16 November 1982). "Kim's Life Support May Be Removed". The New York Times.
  17. ^ "TV SPORTS; BOXING COVERAGE FILLS FOOTBALL VOID".
  18. ^ Velin, Bob (1 April 2011). "CBS to air boxing: 'Fight Camp 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosley'". USA Today.
  19. ^ "Al Bernstein". International Boxing Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
  20. ^ BWAA Awards International Boxing Hall of Fame Archived June 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ "Quiz Winner Credits Memory for Success." Christian Science Monitor, 14 October 1959, p. 6
  22. ^ "The Quiz Show Scandal | American Experience | PBS". PBS. Archived from the original on 2000-03-04.
  23. ^ "CBS Radio to Give Male Fan Assist in Airing Basilio, Robinson Fight." Hartford Courant, 25 March 1958, p. 18A
  24. ^ 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. Archived October 31, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ "CBS Sports 2014 booth pairings: Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts named No. 2 team".
  26. ^ Scavone, Jason (1 April 2015). "Kevin Harlan, Paulie Malignaggi, Virgil Hunter to call PBC on CBS". Premier Boxing Champions.
  27. ^ "CBS Sports TV Team". Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  28. ^ "Ted Husing Appointed Director for WABC". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. New York, Brooklyn. February 3, 1929. p. 43. Retrieved January 6, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.  
  29. ^ Fang, Ken (February 28, 2017). "Sugar Ray Leonard to join Showtime on CBS' boxing crew for Garcia vs. Thurman". Awful Announcing.
  30. ^ "Daily Press, October 16, 1990". Pqasb.pqarchiver.com. 1990-10-16. Archived from the original on 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  31. ^ "Mauro Ranallo To Host & Mark 'Too Sharp' Johnson To Serve As Guest Analyst for Matthysse vs. Olusegun telecast on Saturday". Boxingnews24.com. 2012-09-06. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  32. ^ "GLORY 11 adds Mauro Ranallo and Duke Roufus to Spike TV debut on Oct. 12 in Chicago". MMAmania.com. 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  33. ^ (Fight 9) Floyd Mayweather vs. Jesus Chavez [1997-07-12] on YouTube
  34. ^ "Don Dunphy is the commentator for these exciting classic fights" (PDF). Caytonsports.com. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  35. ^ "体验彩平台赞助担保网 - 官方线路导航". Boxingconfidential.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  36. ^ "Boxing Results & Reports". Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  37. ^ "Thomas Hearns – The Fan Favorite". Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  38. ^ Berger, Phil (4 November 1987). "Boxing Notebook; Leonard Still Has Hagler's Number". The New York Times.
  39. ^ "Boxing on Yahoo! Sports - News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games". Yahoo Sports.
  40. ^ International Boxing Hall of Fame / BWAA Awards Archived June 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  41. ^ "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.
  42. ^ Hagger, Jeff (20 October 2014). "Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier calling boxing in 1976". Classic TV Sports.
  43. ^ Maule, Tex. "Kickoff For A Babel Of Booters," Sports Illustrated, April 24, 1967.
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