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By Jake Donovan - Where there's a Showtime Championship Boxing telecast these days, an HBO boxing card is sure to counter.
Neither disappoints this Saturday as Showtime and HBO engage in the latest installment of network boxing wars. We've come to accept it, but it doesn't mean we have to like it.
Their last-ditch efforts are justified for a change on this particular occasion. Boxing at the top level all but goes on hiatus until Labor Day following the pair of major cards offered this weekend. It's a trend that's played out over the past few years, though the built-in excuse for this particular season is that the 2008 Olympic Games are approaching.
There's plenty of boxing to be had once everyone officially goes back to school, with every post-Labor Day weekend occupied with a major boxing card all the way through mid-October, right before the Major League Baseball World Series.
The trick now is leaving us something to savior prior to boxing's version of the All-Star break.
HBO and Showtime both offer compelling cards this weekend. Neither show will draw in the mainstream crowd (aside from the exclusive Antonio Margarito-Miguel Cotto replay on HBO) but enough to whet the appetite of the core audience that tunes in for every boxing telecast.
Showtime rings in August with a 1-2 punch, literally going coast-to-coast on Friday and Saturday evening. One night after airing a Shobox telecast from Brooklyn, NY (Friday, 11PM ET/PT), America's #1 Fight Network comes back with its first SCB telecast in six weeks.
In the main go, junior bantamweight titlist Dimitri Kirilov returns to the states for the third time in four fights when he defends against former alphabet flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (Saturday, Tacoma, WA 9PM ET/PT). The little big men are supported by a bout between bigger, though not necessarily better, men, as undefeated 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist Andre Dirrell takes on the far less polished Mike Paschall in a battle of unbeaten super middleweights. [details]
Neither disappoints this Saturday as Showtime and HBO engage in the latest installment of network boxing wars. We've come to accept it, but it doesn't mean we have to like it.
Their last-ditch efforts are justified for a change on this particular occasion. Boxing at the top level all but goes on hiatus until Labor Day following the pair of major cards offered this weekend. It's a trend that's played out over the past few years, though the built-in excuse for this particular season is that the 2008 Olympic Games are approaching.
There's plenty of boxing to be had once everyone officially goes back to school, with every post-Labor Day weekend occupied with a major boxing card all the way through mid-October, right before the Major League Baseball World Series.
The trick now is leaving us something to savior prior to boxing's version of the All-Star break.
HBO and Showtime both offer compelling cards this weekend. Neither show will draw in the mainstream crowd (aside from the exclusive Antonio Margarito-Miguel Cotto replay on HBO) but enough to whet the appetite of the core audience that tunes in for every boxing telecast.
Showtime rings in August with a 1-2 punch, literally going coast-to-coast on Friday and Saturday evening. One night after airing a Shobox telecast from Brooklyn, NY (Friday, 11PM ET/PT), America's #1 Fight Network comes back with its first SCB telecast in six weeks.
In the main go, junior bantamweight titlist Dimitri Kirilov returns to the states for the third time in four fights when he defends against former alphabet flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (Saturday, Tacoma, WA 9PM ET/PT). The little big men are supported by a bout between bigger, though not necessarily better, men, as undefeated 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist Andre Dirrell takes on the far less polished Mike Paschall in a battle of unbeaten super middleweights. [details]
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