HOBOKEN, N.J. (October 9, 2012) — Integrated Sports Media, the pound-for-pound king of sports distribution in North America, announced today that it will distribute “True Brit” in the United States, featuring International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch defending against challenger Yusaf Mack, on Saturday afternoon, November 17, live from Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, United Kingdom.
“True Brit,” presented by Matchroom Boxing, will be distributed in the United States by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 3:00 PM/ET – 12:00 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, DISH Network and Avail-TVN for a suggested retail price of only $29.95.
“True Brit” will also be available to view via Fight Now TV, America’s only 24-hour combat sports and entertainment channel, on Cablevision channel 464 as part of the iO Gold package.
“Carl Froch is one the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world today,” Integrated Sports media president Doug Jacobs said. “He’s also one of the most popular and entertaining boxers who American fans can’t get enough of. His title defense against Yusaf Mack certainly will draw interest from his hometown fans in Philadelphia. The light heavyweight title fight, featuring a pair of world-class fighters, will introduce Britain’s Tony Bellew and Argentina’s Roberto Bolonti to American boxing fans. Integrated Sports is very happy to be delivering ‘True Brit’ in the U.S.”
“I am delighted that ‘True Brit’ will be available in America on pay-per-view and for subscribers of Fight Now TV,” said Froch’s promoter and Matchroom Sport managing director Eddie Hearn. “It’s going to be a fantastic night of boxing in Nottingham, with Froch and Mack leading the way. Carl has a great fan base in the States after some fantastic performances there and his win over Lucian Bute proved he is one of the most exciting sportsmen on the planet. This is a fight not to be missed with a brilliant undercard of young British fighting talent led by Tony Bellew that I know the US fans are going to love to watch.”
Froch (29-2, 21 KOs) captured the IBF title in his last fight, May 26 with a stunning fifth-round technical knockout of previously undefeated champion Lucian Bute (30-1). In his last eight fights, dating back to 2008, Froch has defeated Bute, Glen Johnson (DEC12), Arthur Abraham (DEC12), Andre Dirrell (DEC12), Jermain Taylor (TKO12) and Jean Pascal (DEC12), losing only to unbeaten Andre Ward (DEC12) in the final of the Super Six Tournament and Mikkel Kessler (DEC12). All but Dirrell have been world champion. Froch, who will be fighting in his hometown, is world rated by The Ring Magazine as the No. 1 contender.
Mack (31-4, 17 KOs) has been fighting as a light heavyweight since 2008. He is the reigning United States Boxing Association 175-pound title-holder and rated No. 6 by the IBF. The 32-year-old Mack is a typically tough Philly fighter who lost his only world title shot to IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud by eighth-round technical knockout in 2006. Mack, who was leading on two of three judges’ scorecards after seven rounds (68-65, 67-66, 66-67) against Cloud, has defeated, among the more notables, Omar Sheika, Chris Henry, Daniel Judah. Three of his four career losses have been to world champions – Cloud, Johnson and Alejandro Berrio – and the other to two-time world title challenger Librado Andrade.
UK fan favorite Bellew (18-1, 12 KOs) takes on South American champion Bolonti (30-1, 19 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver light heavyweight championship and an official WBC eliminator.
Bellew, rated No. 10 by The Ring Magazine and No. 14 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), is coming off of impressive back-to-back victories over Edison Miranda (TKO9) and Danny McIntosh (TKO5), following Bellew’s only career to undefeated WBO champion Nathan Cleverly last year by 12-round majority decision.
Bolonti (30-1, 19 KOs) is riding a 26-fight winning streak into his Nov. 17 fight with Bellew. The Argentinean will be fighting outside of his native Buenos Aires, Argentina for the first time. He is rated No. 7 by the WBC, as well as No. 10 by the World Boxing Association (WBA) and IBF.
The entire PPV card, pending time restrictions, will also showcase some of Britain’s top prospects such as lightweights Scott “Scotty” Cardle (5-0, 1 KO) and Martin J. Ward (2-0), in separate bouts, bantamweight Khalid “Kal” Yafai (3-0, 2 KOs), middleweight Ryan “Tank” Aston (7-1, 3 KOs), and featherweight Leigh “Leigh-thal” Wood (4-0, 1 KO). All fights and fighters are subject to change.
Go online to www.integratedsportsmedia.com, www.fightnow.com for more information about the “True Grit” PPV. Follow Integrated Sports on Twitter @integratedppv and Fight Now TV @fightnowtv.
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.
