By Jake Donovan
Errol Spence becomes the latest athlete to man the broadcast table for a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) event. The unbeaten welterweight contender will join – in some capacity – the team of Marv Albert, Kenny Rice and BJ Flores for Saturday’s primetime edition of PBC on NBC, which airs live from UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.
Headlining the show, local favorite Andrzej Fonfara puts his lofty light heavyweight ranking at stake as he faces Long Island’s Joe Smith, Jr. Also on the show: Juan Carlos Payano makes the second defense of his bantamweight strap in a rematch with three-time U.S. Olympic boxer Rau’Shee Warren; and red-hot prospect Erickson Lubin faces Mexico’s Daniel Sandoval.
Spence (20-0, 17KOs) topped the previous edition of PBC on NBC in primetime, scoring his best win to date in a 5th round knockout of former super lightweight titlist Chris Algieri. The bout was his fourth in a span of five ring appearances spent either on the free-to-air channel or in clear view of the network brass.
Three such shows came in 2015, scoring knockout wins over Samuel Vargas (KO4 last April on NBC Sports Network following primetime coverage), Phil Lo Greco (KO3 last June in his NBC debut) and – in a title eliminator – Alejandro Barrera, stopping the slugger from Mexico in five rounds last Thanksgiving weekend at home in Dallas, Texas.
With the win over Barrera, Spence moved into the #2 position in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) rankings. His hopes after his stoppage victory over Algieri was that next in queue would be a crack at unbeaten welterweight titlist Kell Brook.
Instead, the 2012 U.S. Olympian will have to take on a final eliminator to enforce the title shot.
As such, Spence and his team – which includes high-powered adviser and PBC creator Al Haymon – have been in talks with Italy’s Leonardo Bundu for a bout to determine Brook’s mandatory challenger. His handlers have refused to leak out even the most minor of updates in such talks, although the unbeaten boxer himself teased potentially good news to come from his time behind the mic on Saturday.
“In Chicago calling the PBC on NBC fights tomorrow night,” Spence confirmed through his verified social media account. “Also might have some fight news of my own for [y’all] … #MrNBC #MANDOWN.”
There are at least four more NBC primetime dates remaining in 2016 following Saturday’s telecast. It’s entirely possible the eliminator lands on one of the shows given his good standing with the network.
Meanwhile, Spence will have a ringside seat to watch 2012 Olympic teammate Warren attempt to become the first from the squad to capture a major title. The diminutive bantamweight came up just short in a disputed split decision at the hands of Payano last August, but is a slight betting favorite to bring home the bauble this weekend.
It marks the start of a busy stretch for the Class of 2012.
One week later, unbeaten heavyweight Dominic Breazeale heads to hostile territory at O2 Arena in London – the hosting city for the 2012 Olympic and also home to Gold medalist and reigning heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua. Their bout airs live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and in a Saturday afternoon matinee edition of boxing on Showtime.
The following week on July 2, unbeaten lightweight prospect Jamel Herring looks to begin his own ascension toward title contention as he faces two-time title challenger Denis Shafikov in Reading, Pennsylvania. Their bout headlines a Saturday evening edition of PBC on ESPN.
As for Spence, he’s had just one fight in 2016 but hopes to heat up in a summer return shortly after his commentating debut this weekend.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2
