MAJOR UK TV DEAL FOR MONTE CARLO BOXING SHOW
WORLD TITLE ACTION BACK ON TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION IN THE UK
London/Johannesburg, October 6 – In a major coup for UK boxing fans, October 25’s “Title Tornado” tournament in Monte Carlo, jointly headlined by the UK’s Martin Murray in a world title eliminator and Stuart Hall in a world title fight, will be broadcast live on Channel Five in Britain.
Working in collaboration with leading promoter Mick Hennessy, and Hennessy Sports’ William Storey, Golden Gloves promoter Rodney Berman has ensured that Murray’s WBC Silver middleweight title defence against Domenico Spada and Hall’s IBF world title fight against undefeated Randy Caballero will be seen by millions of households live on UK terrestrial television.
This is a significant milestone for the sport given that the last major world title fight broadcast live on UK terrestrial television was Carl Froch against Jean Pascal for the WBC title in December 2008, also promoted by Mick Hennessy on ITV.
“I’m delighted,” said Hennessy, who in the past has developed and promoted top boxers including the likes of Junior Witter, Carl Froch, Darren Barker, Howard Eastman, Herbie Hide and James De Gale. He currently promotes heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury and Super bantamweight star Kid Galahad, among many others.
“Murray is an elite-level fighter with a huge following at home. The fans deserve to see more of him.”
Another British highlight on the card is former world champion Hall’s crack at the IBF world title. UK fight fans will be able to see live whether Hall can regain the world title he held until four months ago. British fight fans will also get to see Europe’s most avoided middleweight, the West Country Warrior Nick Blackwell, making his Monte Carlo debut.
Berman expects over 100 countries to tune into the Monte Carlo tournament, which also features two world championship fights and another WBC Silver belt championship bout between unbeaten Ryno Liebenberg of South Africa and undefeated Eleider Alvarez of Colombia, with the winner certain to step into a full-blown world title fight against Adonis Stevenson.
When China’s Xiong Zhao Zhong challenges South African Hekkie Budler for the WBA and IBO minimumweight belts, expectations are that 300 million Chinese will watch the fight live, according to manager Gang Liu.
Africa’s SuperSport, which broadcasts in 54 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, will also showcase the event.
Known as one of the most exclusive vacation destinations in the world and situated on the Mediterranean Sea in South West Europe, Monaco attracts millions of visitors each year. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, owned and operated by the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer, is the premiere casino destination in Europe. The Casino de Monte-Carlo continues to attract some of the wealthiest and most well-known celebrities and aristocrats throughout the world.
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.
