WealthTV All In for Boxing
Price vs. Harrison added to loaded Fall Programming Schedule
SAN DIEGO (September 21, 2012) – WealthTV, the latest destination for boxing’s premier live events, has secured the live United States television rights for the United Kingdom heavyweight showdown between a pair of former Olympians, rising star David Price and battle-tested veteran Audley Harrison, on October 13 (starting at 3 p.m. ET) from Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.
Price vs. Harrison continues WealthTV’s commitment to become a major player in live telecasting of world-class boxing, as well as the network’s focus on the heavyweight division. In July, WealthTV showcased world heavyweight contender Tyson Fury’s (19-0, 14 KOs) fifth-round technical knockout of veteran Vinny Maddalone. The Price-Harrison announcement comes on the heels of WealthTV’s entertaining “Ironbound Throwdown,” a Main Events card featuring top heavyweights Tomasz “Goral” Adamek against Travis “Freight Train” Walker that aired September 8.
In what many in the boxing community are describing as the best heavyweight round of boxing in recent years, two-time, two division world champion Tomasz Adamek (47-2, 29 KOs) was floored by a well-trained Walker in the second round. Adamek recovered and dropped Walker (39-8-1, 31 KOs) with both fighters ending the round on their feet, along with the crowd. Adamek battled back to finish Walker in the fifth round. WealthTV’s live Sept.8th airing also included two other fights featuring two of America’s premier rising heavyweights, United States Boxing Association heavyweight title-holder Bryant “By-By” Jennings (15-0, 7 KOs) and former two-time IBF cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham (25-4, 12 KOs), who moved up to heavyweight for the first time, in winning fashion. Jennings was impressive, ending his fight with Chris “Special K” Koval (25-10, 18 KOs) in the opening round, and Cunningham pitched a near shutout en route to a dominating win by 10-round decision over Jason “The Sensation” Gavern (21-11-4, 10 KOs).
“We anticipate upwards of 30 to 40 fights on WealthTV through 2013,” WealthTV President Charles Herring commented. “We’re pleased with our programming, thus far, but we’re actively looking for more opportunities to feature top-quality, world-class fights and fighters on our growing network.”
The 6′ 8″ undefeated Price (13-0, 11 KOs), a 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist, defends his BBBofC British heavyweight title for the first time against southpaw Harrison (28-5, 21 KOs), who captured a Gold Medal in the super heavyweight division at the 2000 Olympic Games.
The 29-year-old Price, already rated No. 21 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), captured the BBBof C heavyweight title last May, stopping former Commonwealth (British) champion Sam Sexton in the fourth round. Price is on the fast track in the heavyweight division, while Harrison’s career is at the crossroads.
Harrison emerged from the 2000 Olympics with great expectations that were never attained. The highlight of his professional career was a 12th round knockout of Michael Sprott in 2010 for the European heavyweight championship. In his next fight, however, Harrison was knocked out in the third round by then World Boxing Association (WBA) kingpin David Haye, whose chief sparring partner, ironically, has been Price.
Other British title fights will air as part of the Price-Harrison card. “This fight continues our heavyweight trend on WealthTV,” WealthTV Director of Live Events Thomas Morris noted. “The heavyweight division has traditionally driven boxing and boxing fans, particularly Americans, who love watching the big guys bang.”
WealthTV recently announced that it has exclusive U.S. rights to broadcast the popular GYM “Fast & Furious” series in Canada, and Hennessy Sports’ “Next Generation” series from the United Kingdom.
The first installment of the new season of the “Fast & Furious” series is scheduled for the night before the Price-Harrison fight – Friday, Oct. 12 – live from the famed Bell Centre in Montreal, headlined by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight title eliminator between dangerous Quebec favorite Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (18-1-0, 15 KOs) and American power-puncher Donovan “Da Bomb” George (23-2-1, 20 KOs). The winner between these two powerful hitters will automatically become the mandatory challenger to IBF champion Carl Froch.
Other stars in the making slated to fight on the Oct. 12 “Fast & Furious” show on WealthTV include undefeated North American Boxing Association (NABA) champion Kevin Bizier (17-0, 12 KOs), unbeaten North American Boxing Organization (NABO) light heavyweight titlist Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (9-0, 5 KOs), and middleweight knockout artist David Lemieux. (Plus undefeated Colombian heavyweights, now living in Montreal, Didier “Big Daddy” Bence (5-0, 2 KOs) and 2008 Olympian Oscar Rivas (11-0, 6 KOs).
WealthTV is available on Verizon FiOS TV (channels 169 and 669 in HD), AT&T U-Verse TV (channels 470 and 1470 in HD), along with more than 100 cable systems across the country. A live feed can also be found online at www.wealthtv.com.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
