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.

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.^[9][10]

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).^[11] CBS Sports Network also aired shoulder programming for Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao.^[12][13] 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.^[14]

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.^[15][16]

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^[17] WBA Lightweight title bout ended with the death of boxer Duk Koo Kim^[18] 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,^[19] 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^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23]
• Gil Clancy^[24]
• Angelo Dundee
• Ian Eagle
• Phyllis George
• Kevin Harlan^[25]
• 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,^[26] Monroe Brooks vs. Bruce Curry,^[27] Bernard Hopkins vs. Glen Johnson,^[28] Thomas Hearns vs. Sugar Ray Leonard,^[29] Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard,^[30] and Ray Mancini vs. Duk Koo Kim.^[31] 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.^[32]
• Chris Schenkel
• Brent Stover^[33]
• Pat Summerall^[34] - 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

External links