By Jake Donovan

You couldn’t blame the average boxing fan if his initial view on the sport’s latest regularly televised series was that it would become just like the rest of them.

Everything begins with the best of intentions, but compromise eventually sets in. Rather than grow stronger, a new concept gradually deteriorates into the same old format. Plenty of bang for your buck is promised; what we almost always wind up with, is just another rehab center.

In the spirit of cynicism, we keep waiting for the moment where Top Rank CEO Bob Arum goes back on his word regarding his latest project, Fox Sports’ “Top Rank Live” series. The Hall of Fame promoter claimed to have learned his lesson from past debacles like “Versus Fight Night” and TV Azteca’s version of Solo Boxeo, and that things would be different this time around.

The skeptic can argue that there is still plenty of time for things to fall apart. But for the moment, “so far, so good” would be selling short what the series has been able – and continues – to achieve.

Further proof exists on both sides of the ropes for this weekend’s show.

The headlining act has highly touted welterweight prospect Mike Jones (19-0, 16KO) in his toughest challenge to date, when he faces Henry Bruseles (28-3-1, 15KO) this Saturday at Bally’s Park Place in Atlantic City.

By all accounts, it’s the type of fight where Jones should win with room to spare if in face he is the goods (which he appears to be). But it’s still a fight where if presented to another network, we would be left with both fighters in separate stay busy fights, leading up to an eventual collision somewhere on a future pay-per-view undercard.

That’s not to say that a Fight of the Year is expected; just for something special – or at least something to talk about – to come of the evening.

Plenty of water cooler talk has generated in the days following a Mike Jones appearance, even though the Philly-based boxer-puncher has only enjoyed sporadic televised viewings, mainly on Telefutura’s now defunct Solo Boxeo series.

Oddly enough, it’s his on the heels of his last two bouts – neither of which were shown beyond live pay-per-webcasts – in which further buzz has been created.

Perhaps its because his handlers have recently opted to travel an hour southeast to the other end of the Atlantic City Expressway. After having spent most of his career in Philly, Jones’ last two bouts have taken place at Bally’s in Atlantic City, the same expanded ballroom he will appear in this weekend (Saturday, Fox Sports, 10PM ET).

Despite the limited exposure for each fight, a buzz has followed around the undefeated welterweight. His heightened popularity comes at the perfect time, as Top Rank Live continues to serve as Must-See TV. The combination of the two has produced a situation where ticket sales have not only exceeded expectations, but also room capacity.

Available space is bordering on becoming a rumor, to where the event’s coordinators are struggling to accommodate ticket and media requests. Even All-Pro running back and current boxing manager Brandon Jacobs – whose client, former junior welterweight titlist Kendall Holt appears on the undercard – is on “wait and see” status for his own ticket fulfillment request.

That tends to happen when you bring to town a series that is currently firing on all cylinders.

It began with Vanes Martirosyan being pushed to the bring to – and in the eyes of several, deserving to lose to – former top junior middleweight Kassim Ouma in the series’ inaugural episode in mid-January, which opened to huge ratings.

Martirosyan entered the year as a promising junior middleweight nipping on the heels of contender status, with his handlers already talking title shot sometime later in the year.

He still remains there, but with more questions to answer thanks to his chin and heart being tested by the resurgent Ouma, who delivered his best performance in years, only to come up short on scorecards that didn’t quite reflect the competitive nature of their bout.

Two weeks later came the resurrection of former lineal junior flyweight champion Jorge Arce, who – like Ouma – managed to reach back and offer a throwback performance. The end result for the free-swinging Mexican was a convincing decision over Angky Angkota in Mexico City, giving him an alphabet title that he hopes to parlay into at least one more major payday in the twilight of his career.

The most recent broadcast saw another defensively-challenged diminutive slugger shine in a card staged south of the border. Current junior flyweight titlist Giovanni Segura cruised to his fourth-straight knockout in an action-packed bout against Walter Tello.

Segura, born in Mexico but now fighting out of California, for whatever reason remains on the outside looking in when it comes to the best fights to be made at the 108 lb. limit. But thanks to the Top Rank Live series, he was provided a platform on which to showcase his talents and demand a fight with divisional leader Ivan Calderon, a fight he’s craved for years and now has a viewing audience upwards of 70 million to which he can plead his case.

The common thread in each of the aforementioned shows was that it helped fill the gaps for what has been an otherwise disappointing start to boxing on American airwaves in 2010.

Each show aired on weekends where boxing in the states had virtually nothing else to offer, with Arce’s fight providing a silver lining to the cloudy overcast that came with the cancellation of HBO’s scheduled broadcast (Shane Mosley-Andre Berto) for that same evening.

The lone edition of Top Rank Live to land opposite a major show came earlier in the month, opposite Showtime’s lone edition of its Championship Boxing series. The main event saw Edwin Valero dominate Antonio DeMarco and then the headlines, but it wasn’t the only televised breakthrough performance of the evening.

Just northeast of the Mexican border came the official arrival of undefeated lightweight prospect Brandon Rios. The Oxnard (CA) native has been a talent in waiting for quite some time, but was asked to take the slow road to stardom by his expert handlers, including top boxing manager Cameron Dunkin.

The payoff for his patience came in the form of his three-round battering of Jorge Teron, himself a one-time red-hot prospect. By night’s end, people were discussing Rios as “one to watch,” with many insisting that in due time he will develop as a threat to any one in a lightweight division starving for star attractions.

That the Fox Sports telecast went head-to-head with Showtime wasn’t intentional, nor was it designed by accident. The current plan call for 36 shows to air throughout the year, mostly on Saturday evenings unless Top Rank is the lead promoter for a show on HBO or Showtime.

For the fourth time in five shows, no such conflict occurs for this weekend’s edition of Top Rank Live, a series that has already gone a long way to curing our winter doldrums – and one that has not only kept its promise, but continues to exceed expectations.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .