Apparently, MSG is satisfied with the results of their recent trend to buy the television rights to foreign fights because they are doing it once again. From fightnews.com: [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]MSG, a world class sports and entertainment network, has acquired the exclusive television rights to air the International Boxing Organization Cruiserweight Championship bout between the former World Boxing Council light heavyweight champion Tomaz “Goral†Adamek (31-1, 21 KOs) and World Boxing Council Association Fedelatin champion Luis “El Lenador†Pineda (21-5, 18 KOs). The match is one of the largest fight cards ever staged in Poland, and will air live on MSG on Saturday, June 9 at 3:30 p.m. ET. International boxing commentator Bob Sheridan will call the blow-by-blow for the telecast. The co-featured attraction showcases the return of legendary Polish heavyweight Andrew Golota (38-6-1, 31 KOs) meeting Jeremy “The Beast†Bates (21-13-1, 18 KOs). This is a far less intriguing bout that the ones which they've shown before. As a result, they better not expect similar ratings. So what I'm getting at...they better not have paid too much for this. But, it is a cool thing to do and I really hope it makes money for them. To head off any naysayers...what MSG is doing now is the best hope to have the free networks take notice and perhaps jump back into the boxing ring. [/FONT]
I mean seriously, this is three times in four months that MSG has stepped up. Not that this is necessarily a MUST-SEE card, but still - how is it that MSG can step up and air these bouts, but it's not in the best interest of HBO and Showtime to go this route? MSG makes its living off of other sports; HBO and Showtime owe a decent portion of their subscription base to boxing junkies, many of whom otherwise probably wouldn't subscribe to either network.
Not good, but he is big and he tries hard. Adamek should be a good bit smaller than Pineda. With Adamek being so easy to hit that makes Pineda live in my mind.
Adamek was (is?) a huge light heavy. He might be understrengthed for this fight, but if he stays at cruiser, I'd guess he'll be fairly strong even at that 200 lbs.
So what does MSG do, air the fights through another network or what? Do you have to live in NY to be able to see this?
they do, but it's Don King's announcers (Col. Bob Sheridan, and his sidekick for the day) who call it for the US feed. I know for Bell-Mormeck II, it was on MSG but also offered through FoxSports affiliates as well. Some FoxSports networks picked up Chagaev-Valuev, but not in all areas (like mine, for instance). Not sure if this one is going to be like the last, or if it will be available on MSG and ALL Fox affilaites.
