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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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.