By Lem Satterfield
Showtime's Sports general manager, Ken Hershman, spoke to BoxingScene.com last month regarding the network's landing of the May 7 clash featuring eight-division titlist Manny Pacquiao in defense of his WBO welterweight belt against Shane Mosley, this, representing the first time that either fighter will be televised on a cable channel other than rival HBO.
Promoted by Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum, the battle between Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) and Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) will benefit from a CBS-Showtime combination and production as a result of CBS being Showtime's parent company.
The major advantage presented by Showtime is the ability of CBS to reach 115 million homes compared to HBO's 28 million homes, and the network's ability to televise a multi-part series on CBS that is equivalent to HBO's 24/7.
Hershman has announced that Pacquiao-Mosley will be the subject of special editions of the network's Fight Camp 360, the four-part documentary series entitled FIGHT CAMP 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosley, to begin airing on April 2 and to provide fight fans with unprecedented access into the lives of the fighters.
In addition, Pacquiao-Mosley is among several consecutive fights that Top Rank is televising on Showtime, beginning with last weekend's lightweight clash that featured Brandon Rios (27-0-1, 20 KOs) scoring a 10th-round knockout that dethroned WBA king Miguel Acosta (28-4, 22 KOs), ending the latter's 19-fight winning streak that had included 12 knockouts and stoppages in his previous three bouts.
On March 12 from the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Showtime will televise former world champion Ricardo Mayorga (29-7-1, 22 KOs) of Managua, Nicaragua, against WBA junior middleweight champ Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) of Puerto Rico.
On the Cotto-Mayorga under card will be Yuri Foreman (28-1, eight KOs) of Brooklyn, whom Cotto dethroned by ninth-round knockout in June, against New Jersey resident Pawel Wolak (28-1, 18 KOs) in a junior middleweight clash.
Showtime will also air an April 16 featherweight (126 pounds) bout during which southpaw WBO king Juan Manuel Lopez (30-0, 27 KOs) takes on ex-IBF titlist Orlando Salido (34-11-2, 22 KOs) from Lopez's native Puerto Rico.
Hershman also said that he will take advantage of a March 19 broadcast featuring southpaw IBF super middleweight belt-holder Lucien Bute (27-0, 22 KOs) of Canada defending his crown against Brian Magee (34-3, 24 KOs) of England.
BoxingScene.com: How ecstatic were you upon landing Manny Pacquiao?
Ken Hershman: I was pretty stoked. That was a pretty exciting moment for us. This is an opportunity to have someone who is not only the best fighter, pound-for-pound, in the world but much more beyond that.
Manny Pacquiao is also someone who transcends the sport. He is a larger-than-life personality and a great guy. It's just that all of the things came together at once. So I was incredibly stoked as was my team, and our company and that's why you're going to see a lot of commitment.
Everybody is excited and coming up with great ideas. We haven't even begun to roll out how we're going to handle this, but I can tell you already that we're brainstorming new ideas and revolutionary ways to promote boxing and promote these fighters.
BoxingScene.com: Can you share your thoughts on the acquisition of the package of Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley?
Ken Hershman: I think that people are excited about it because anything that broadens the ability of these two great fighters to have their stories to be told and broadens the platform that they can fight on is great for boxing.
But we've been around for a while and we've been doing this for a long time and I think that we can tell these stories better than anybody else.
That's why we created FIGHT CAMP 360 around the Super Six, because we knew that we were going to be living with these fighters for 18 months to two years.
And, you know, we wanted the fans and the people in general to get to know them at a deeper level than they ever had before and to be able to follow them at a deeper level throughout the path of the tournament.
Whether they win, lose, get eliminated, get hurt. Whatever it is, we wanted people to care and to form a connection. I think that we've done a masterful job with that show. I think that that show has been well-received.
I think that it's been compelling and the fans have loved it. We're going to bring that same story telling to this show, Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley. We're looking forward to it.
BoxingScene.com: How do you think Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley FIGHT CAMP 360 will be received in the Philippines?
Ken Hershman: How it gets into the Philippines is really Top Rank Promotions' domain, but I think that everybody in this country and the 110 million homes within the CBS will be exposed to Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley.
They will see what tremendous athletes and personalities that they are and that is a platform that has just never been tapped into. Before, it has been the premieum networks, which is a substantially scaled-down universe.
This is now the time for the mass public to see who these guys are.
BoxingScene.com: What other promotional opportunities are presented by the fact that you have other Top Rank fighters such as Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Lopez being televised on Showtime prior to Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley?
Ken Hershman: Those will absolutely be opportunities to take advantage of. We have a series of events. We had Brandon Rios, we Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Mayorga on March 12.
We have Lucian Bute, who is not a Top Rank fighter, but we have him on March 19. And then we have the Super Six in May. We have JuanMa Lopez on April 16. We have the bantamweight tournament on April 23.
The bantamweight tournament is right before Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley, so we have what is basically a schedule which, at least for Showtime boxing, is unrivaled in its history, I think.
Then we also have an amazing number of events on Showtime alone to use in helping to tell the story about this fight.
So we have all of these platforms and these great events leading up to the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight. This represents an amazing time for us and it's just great.
Below is the schedule for FIGHT CAMP 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosley.
The series premieres on CBS at 9 a.m. pacific time, and, noon eastern time on April 2.
Below are the premiere dates and times for FIGHT CAMP 360: Pacquiao vs. Mosely
Episode 1 CBS Saturday, April 2 9 a.m. PT; 12 p.m. ET
Episode 1 SHO Saturday, April 16 10 p.m. ET/PT
Episode 2 SHO Saturday, April 23 10 p.m. ET/PT
Episode 3 CBS Saturday, April 30 8 p.m. ET/PT
Episode 4 SHO Friday, May 6 10 p.m. ET/PT
Episode 4 CBS Saturday, May 7 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
FIGHT CAMP 360°: Pacquiao vs. Mosley will be available on SHOWTIME On Demand with multiple re-airings on SHO Extreme