STAMFORD, CT – OLN, in collaboration with leading boxing promoters Top Rank, today announced details of the network’s first live boxing event. The title fight for Fight Night’s premiere telecast will feature undefeated middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, defending his North American Boxing Federation (NABF) championship belt against Bronco McKart at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, Thursday, July 27 at 9 p.m. ET. The telecast will also feature junior middleweight contender Anthony ‘The Messenger’ Thompson as he takes on Mohammad Said.
“As OLN transitions to Versus, we continue to seek out and add sports that fortify the competitive core of the new brand," said Gavin Harvey, President of OLN. “Boxing is the ultimate statement of man vs. man and is an exciting addition to our expanding portfolio of competitive genres.”
Pavlik, 24-years-old, from Youngstown, OH, began boxing in his hometown in amateur matches and eventually advanced to win national amateur championships in 1998 and 1999. He is currently ranked #2 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), #3 by the World Boxing Association (WBA), and #4 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO). McKart, 35-years-old, hails from Monroe, MI and is a former world champion and six-time world championship contender. Pavlik enters the ring with a 27-0 record and 24 knockouts. McKart, a southpaw, enters with a record of 48-6 and 31 knockouts. The match is scheduled for 12 rounds.
Thompson, 24-years-old from Philadelphia, PA, is a top challenger in the division and was a phenomenal amateur fighter, winning the 2000 and 2001 U.S. National amateur champion titles, among others. Thompson enters the ring for the junior middleweight division championship title with a 21-1 record and 15 knockouts. Said, 32-years-old from Jersey City, NJ, will enter the bout with a record of 18-4-1 with 10 knockouts. The match is scheduled for 10 rounds.
"We are thrilled to be partnered with Top Rank, one of the best boxing promoters around," said Marc Fein, Senior Vice President of Programming and Production for OLN. “They have delivered so many great quality fights over such a long period of time and we look forward to launching our series with this exciting card."
Veteran boxing writer Wally Matthews and Bob Papa, who has called boxing for ESPN and NBC, will host Fight Night while Michael Buffer, the famed ring announcer who coined the catchphrase “Let’s get ready to rumble!” will serve as the ring announcer.
After the champions are named, boxing fans can visit OLNTV.com for exclusive footage, to view highlights from the night’s telecast and to hear insights from OLN’s boxing experts. OLN will also make cut down versions of the contests available to their affiliates on VOD.
On nights when OLN and Top Rank are not presenting a live event, the network will take advantage of Top Rank’s extensive library of classic fights to present Fight Night: Top Rank's Legends of the Ring, hosted by Michael Buffer. From Muhammad Ali to Joe Frazier and Sugar Ray Leonard to Thomas Hearns, these classic fight packages will not only include the action inside the ring, but tell the back-story of each match as it happened. When feasible, classic fights will be enhanced to include interviews with the contenders, pre-fight press conferences, weigh-ins, and behind-the-scenes banter between contenders.
OLN (OLNTV.com) is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events like The Tour de France, the America's Cup, the Dakar Rally, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), the Arena Football League (AFL), the Boston Marathon, AMA Motocross, Davis Cup and USSA Skiing. Now in more than 69 million homes, the network features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can't find elsewhere. The network offers unique, competition-themed original programming and is the exclusive home of Survivor in syndication. OLN, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States. The network will be changing its name to Versus as of September 2006.
