HBO Sports boss divulges Legendary Nights details

HBO Sports boss divulges Legendary Nights details
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
September 27, 2013


HBO Sports president Ken Hershman confirmed some details about the upcoming Legendary Nights documentary based on the Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward trilogy while in Los Angeles for the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Bryan Vera fight.

“It'll air on Oct. 19 after the fight between Mike Alvarado and Ruslan Provodnikov,” Hershman told RingTV.com on Friday after Chavez Jr. and Vera weighed in ahead of tomorrow's fight in Carson, Calif.

It'll be the first installment of the acclaimed series since the first set of episodes ran in 2003. Incidentally, Gatti and Ward waged 30 rounds of war against each other between 2002 and 2003 before becoming the best of friends. Now a decade removed from the fights and the last run of Legendary Nights, it could be considered perfect timing for the series' return.

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September East Coast Prospect of the Month: Glen Tapia

September East Coast Prospect of the Month: Glen Tapia
Mark E. Ortega
BehindTheGloves.com
September 1, 2013


When Glen Tapia met Abie Han in an ESPN2 Friday Night Fights co-feature, the jury was still out on whether the Top Rank handled fighter was a prospect to keep an eye on.

To that point, Tapia (19-0, 11 KOs) was largely untested as well as buried on the untelevised portion of cards. Top Rank out him against Han, another untested and unbeaten prospect, in order to figure out what they had.

After eight brutal rounds, Top Rank found out they had two gutsy young fighters with tons of heart. It was Tapia who emerged the victor after battering a bloodied Han around the ring in a fight that stole the attention from a competitive main event.

It's no coincidence that Tapia is from New Jersey and idolized the late Arturo Gatti, who was the king of Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall after building a career full of Fight of the Year winners.

"How could you not love him?" said Tapia to me the day before his war with Han.

"So much heart, so much intensity. I feel I have that same intensity and hope to prove it in the ring."

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Bits & Pieces: Friday Night Fights notes

Bits & Pieces: Friday Night Fights notes
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
July 12, 2013


Tonight, a well-matched ESPN2 Friday Night Fights card takes place in Las Vegas at Texas Station Casino as Chris Avalos meets Drian Francisco in the 10-round junior featherweight main event while unbeaten prospects Abie Han and Glen Tapia put their “0s” on the line against each other in a 154-pound bout.

Top Rank matchmaker Brad Goodman shared the story on how Han-Tapia came together.

“Louie Burke (Han's trainer) informed us they were ready for a step up, so we offered Mat Korobov (who is coming off a career-best stoppage of Ossie Duran),” Goodman told RingTV.com shortly after Thursday’s weigh-in finished up.

“They told us, ‘No, we want Glen Tapia,’ and I said, ‘but Louie, Tapia is a 154-pounder.’ Louie told me Abie can make 154 pounds easy and that they wanted the fight.”

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Rios-Alvarado rematch draws Gatti-Ward parallels

Rios-Alvarado rematch draws Gatti-Ward parallels
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
March 29, 2013

LAS VEGAS – When HBO vice president Kery Davis took the dais at the final press conference at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino for Saturday's junior welterweight rematch between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, he opened with the formal announcement that the network would be revitalizing their Legendary Nights documentary series to examine the trilogy between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward.

It's only fitting. The seven-round slugfest, which Rios won by technical knockout last October, left the most bloodthirsty of boxing fans satiated. As it was with Gatti-Ward, the first Rios-Alvarado fight wasn't about titles or undefeated records. As Davis put it, it was about putting two guys together that all but guaranteed an exciting fight, however long it may last.

“Everybody has seen these two warriors fight,” said Top Rank CEO Bob Arum at the press conference. 

“The fight at the Home Depot Center was an instant classic. Many thought it was a Fight of the Year candidate, and for many it was just edged out by the fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.”

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Lederman's most memorable Boxing After Dark fights

Lederman's most memorable Boxing After Dark fights
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
March 27, 2013


Over the course of its 15 year run, HBO's Boxing After Dark series has produced some of the sport's most exciting matchups. The series has televised cards from all over the world in eight different countries with more than 125 championship bouts being broadcast.

The inaugural broadcast on Feb. 3, 1996 featured a smashing 122-pound contest between rising Marco Antonio Barrera and a still quality Kennedy McKinney. It was a back-and-forth war with tons of bad blood. The program, which has focused on building stars for its World Championship Boxing brand, has hardly looked back since that first show.

On Saturday, a rematch of one of last year’s best fights tops an HBO B.A.D. telecast.Brandon Rios looks to duplicate his mid-rounds stoppage of Mike Alvarado at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The first fight, which took place last October in Carson, Calif., was a B.A.D. opener (for Nonito Donaire-Toshiaki Nishioka), while this fight will headline – to lots of fanfare.

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HBO reboots popular Legendary Nights to chronicle Gatti-Ward

HBO reboots popular Legendary Nights to chronicle Gatti-Ward

Mark E. Ortega

Freelance

March 26, 2013

The much anticipated return of HBO Sports' brilliant Legendary Nights series was announced to heavy fanfare in a press release Tuesday afternoon.

The original series, which aired in 2003, chronicled a dozen different fights or series of fights that were aired on HBO and had a major impact on the sweet science. Now a decade later, HBO will bring back the highly lauded program to examine the trilogy of fights between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward, which took place between May 2002 and June 2003 and earned two Fight of the Year honors in the process.

Harris looks to right the Vicious Vivian Express

Harris looks to right the Vicious Vivian Express

Mark E. Ortega

Leave-it-in-the-ring.com

April 6, 2011

It doesn't seem that long ago that “Vicious” Vivian Harris looked to be one of boxing's brightest young emerging talents, having lifted his first world title at just 24 years of age with a resounding second round stoppage of Diosbelys Hurtado to claim the WBA 140-pound championship back in October of 2002. Now Harris [29-5-1, 19 KOs] stands at the crossroads of his career against Golden Boy Promotions prospect Jessie Vargas [14-0, 7 KOs] in the headlining bout of a Telefutura Solo Boxeo televised card from Primm, Nevada this Friday.

Remembering Arturo Gatti

Remembering Arturo Gatti
Mark E. Ortega
Freelance
July 16, 2009

Arturo Gatti was more of a role model to me than any fighter out there. There may never be another fighter who will inspire me to “suck it up” when things get hard in my own life. Arturo taught me not to look for defeat, but to look for a way to overcome it, and that when we are down, that is when life is most precious.

It still has not fully hit me yet that Arturo Gatti is no longer with us. Sure, he had been out of the ring for almost exactly two years since suffering a shock knockout loss to Alfonso Gomez in July of 2007. But when you consider all that Arturo Gatti persevered through as a fighter, all the punishment he took in and out of the ring during a tumultuous sixteen year professional career that included world titles in two different weight classes as well as four Ring Magazine Fight of the Year awards and a Comeback of the Year Award, you figured if he was able to survive all of those things that he was going to be around for awhile after he hung up the gloves. Sadly for us, Arturo Gatti was taken way too soon and the circumstances surrounding his demise are as tragic as they can get.