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SHOWTIME BOXING & BELLATOR MMA FIGHT WEEK NEWS AND NOTES PhilBoxing.com Wed, 08 Mar 2023  BELLATOR Lightweight World Grand Prix Kicks Off Friday Night; Tim Tszyu Meets Tony Harrison in High-Stakes Edition of SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL Saturday Night Live on SHOWTIME®! SYDNEY – March 7, 2023 – SHOWTIME SPORTS® continues its torrid pace to start 2023 this weekend with the network’s eighth and ninth live combat sports telecasts of the calendar year as the highly anticipated BELLATOR Lightweight World Grand Prix kicks off on Friday night and undefeated action fighter Tim Tszyu returns to his homeland of Sydney, Australia to face former world champion Tony “Superbad” Harrison on Saturday night, both live on SHOWTIME. BELLATOR 292, headlined by a quarterfinal matchup between newly crowned Lightweight World Champion Usman Nurmagomedov and former UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson, airs live on SHOWTIME Friday night, March 10 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Tszyu, the son of boxing legend Kostya Tszyu, meets Harrison for the vacant Interim WBO 154-pound title live on SHOWTIME the following night, Saturday March 11 at 10:45 p.m. ET/7:45 p.m. PT. Here are some fight-week news and notes to learn more about the 50-50, ultra-competitive matchup multiple time zones away in Australia as well as what was recently named the “toughest tournament in MMA history” by MMA legend Chael Sonnen. A LOT ON THE LINE The winner of Tszyu-Harrison will become the mandatory challenger to undisputed super welterweight king Jermell Charlo. Tszyu (21-0, 15 KOs) elected to face the veteran Harrison, a highly skilled, crafty fighter after Tszyu’s scheduled match with Charlo on January 28 was scratched when Charlo broke his hand in training. Harrison (29-3-1, 21 KOs) outboxed and edged Charlo in 2018 to capture a world title before he dropped their rematch a year later. In his last fight, Tszyu rose from a first-round knockdown to dominate former title challenger Terrell Gausha last March in his U.S. and SHOWTIME debut. Now Tszyu, 28, will face another prideful veteran in Detroit’s Harrison, who hopes to spoil Tszyu’s homeland return. SPEAKING OF JERMELL CHARLO…. The undisputed king of the 154-pound division Jermell Charlo will join the SHOWTIME announce team live from the CBS Studios in New York City as a special guest to lend his expertise on a fight he will no doubt have a rooting interest in. With a potential rubber match with Harrison or a meeting with the undefeated upstart Tszyu possibly looming, Charlo will bring his trademark passion and microphone skills on Saturday night as the SHOWTIME announce team calls the fight remotely from The Big Apple. THE MOST TRUSTED VOICES IN ALL OF BOXING Charlo will be joined by veteran sportscaster and “The Last Stand” podcaster Brian Custer, who will host the SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL telecast remotely from New York City and call the action with three-division world champion Abner Mares and International Boxing Hall of Famer Steve Farhood both serving as analysts. Farhood will also serve as the unofficial scorer, while fellow Hall of Famer Jimmy Lennon Jr. handles ring announcing duties down under. Four-time Emmy® award winner David Dinkins, Jr. will executive-produce the broadcast with Ray Smaltz III producing and Chuck McKean directing. AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE, OI, OI, OI! When SHOWTIME aired Azumah Nelson’s eighth-round stoppage of Jeff Fenech to retain his WBC Super Featherweight Title on February 29, 1992 from Melbourne, it was the first ever live telecast of a boxing match from Australia to the United States. SHOWTIME also televised Kostya Tszyu’s January 18, 2003 TKO victory over James Leija from Melbourne, making Tszyu-Harrison the network’s third live boxing telecast from Australia. BEING UNDISPUTED RUNS IN THE FAMILY Tim Tszyu made his SHOWTIME debut in March 2022 with a win over Terrell Gausha, joining his father Kostya who competed on the network 10 times and had some of his most memorable fights on the network, including knockouts over fellow Hall of Famer Julio Cesar Chavez and former undisputed world champion Zab Judah. With a win on Saturday night, Tszyu will move one step closer to matching Kostya’s accomplishment of becoming an undisputed world champion, which he achieved in his win over Judah. Click HERE for a revealing interview by SHOWTIME Hall of Famer Al Bernstein that appeared on the March 2022 SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® telecast, where Tszyu discusses the challenges and responsibilities that come with following in the footsteps of a Hall of Famer. Continuing the blood is thicker than water premise -- Tim’s younger brother Nikita Tszyu, a 4-0 super welterweight prospect, will face fellow undefeated prospect Bo Belbin in undercard, off-TV action from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. FAST OUT OF THE GATES SHOWTIME SPORTS, standard bearers of telecasting live boxing since 1986, has come out of the gate strong in 2023 with a robust schedule that is in full stride. SHOWTIME has already televised six live boxing events, including last Saturday night’s action-packed tripleheader topped by the Brandon Figueroa vs. Mark Magsayo slugfest, with plans to deliver at least another eight telecasts through the first six months of the year. The industry-leading schedule already includes some of the biggest names in the sport, including David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and Sebastian Fundora, with plans to add more star-power with blue-chippers Errol Spence Jr., Jermell and Jermall Charlo, Keith Thurman, Jaron Ennis, David Morrell, and Danny Garcia returning to action. The upcoming boxing schedule includes five events across the next seven weeks, with two more cards in March, three in April and two in June. In total, the schedule across the first six months of 2023 features 50+ fighters with more than 1,000 wins and 700 KOs and four matchups pitting top-5 ranked opponents. EMMY AWARD-WINNING PROGRAMMING Fans of SHOWTIME SPORTS’ Emmy Award-winning original documentary series ALL ACCESS have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks. ALL ACCESS: Benavidez vs. Plant premieres on Friday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT and will chronicle the buildup to the must-see attraction between two heated rivals in the super middleweight division. Episode One of ALL ACCESS: Davis vs. Garcia premieres Saturday, April 1 at 10:35 p.m. ET/PT, taking viewers into the private lives and training camps of Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia ahead of their much-anticipated meeting of generational talents and fan-bases that could produce a new, future face of boxing. Episode Two premieres Saturday, April 7 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. FROM THE RING TO THE CAGE BELLATOR MMA’s one-million-dollar Lightweight World Grand Prix kicks off on Friday, March 10 from the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. Newly crowned Lightweight World Champion and No. 7 pound-for-pound talent Usman Nurmagomedov defends his belt against former UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson in a quarterfinal main event contest. In the co-main event, No. 2-ranked knockout artist Tofiq Musayev clashes with No. 4-ranked Alexander Shabliy in another quarterfinal matchup of the Grand Prix. The star-studded tournament, which MMA legend Chael Sonnen proclaimed as the toughest tournament he’s seen in MMA history, also features BELLATOR’s homegrown pound-for-pound star AJ McKee and Brazilian slugger Patricky ‘Pitbull.’ BELLATOR MMA’s annual doubleheader on the Hawaiian island of Oahu returns next month. On Friday, April 21, current Women’s Flyweight World Champion and U.S. Marine Liz Carmouche faces No. 4 ranked flyweight challenger DeAnna Bennett in a rematch for the title. In the evening’s co-main event, No. 6-ranked heavyweight and Minnesota National Guardsman Tim Johnson competes against Said Sowma. The following night, April 22, the BELLATOR Bantamweight World Grand Prix will conclude with current Interim Champion Raufeon Stots facing No. 2-ranked Patchy Mix in the Final. In the co-main event, the pride of Honolulu, No. 3-ranked Ilima-Lei Macfarlane looks to defend home turf against Japan’s No. 2-ranked Kana Watanabe. # # # Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Paramount, owns and operates the premium service SHOWTIME®, which features critically acclaimed original series, provocative documentaries, box-office hit films, comedy and music specials and hard-hitting sports. SHOWTIME is available as a stand-alone streaming service across all major streaming devices and Showtime.com, as well as via cable, DBS, telco and streaming video providers. SNI also operates the premium services THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as on demand versions of all three brands. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.  |
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