FOX Sports / PBC Boxing Schedule: Thurman v Lopez; Spence v Garcia; More

[Enlightened-One]

"FOX Sports / PBC Boxing Schedule: Thurman v Lopez; Spence v Garcia; More"

FOX Sports and Premier Boxing Champions today announced eight televised world title fights in the first three months of the new deal, featuring eight world champions and more than two dozen of the world’s best boxers going toe-to-toe. The schedule includes five world-class boxing fight nights live on FOX and FOX Deportes, four more on FS1 and FOX Deportes, and the first FOX PBC Pay-Per-View in March.

“We’re thrilled to have Premier Boxing Champions’ brightest stars coming to FOX Sports reaching the biggest audiences on broadcast television,” says Mark Silverman, FOX Sports President, National Networks. “The 2019 PBC schedule kicks off with high-stakes action and excitement, making FOX the premier home for boxing and the continued leader in live sporting events.”

Schedule highlights include world champion twins Jermall and Jermell Charlo defending their titles in separate fights live in primetime on FOX on December 22; followed by welterweight champion Keith Thurman’s ring return on FOX January 26; featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz headlining on FOX February 23; 147-pound Champ Shawn Porter defending his world title March 9 on FOX; and the blockbuster showdown between welterweight Champ Errol Spence Jr. and four-division world champion Mikey Garcia, on FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View March 16, live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

FOX Sports and FOX Deportes also announced the on-air personalities who will call all the thrilling action. Former heavyweight world Champion Lennox Lewis and former lightweight world champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini join FOX Sports as boxing analysts, while Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Chris Myers and Emmy Award-nominee Kenny Albert serve as blow-by-blow announcers. Seasoned FOX broadcaster Kate Abdo joins as a studio and fight night host. Plus, Boxing Hall of Famer Larry Hazzard works as a Rules Expert/Unofficial Scorer.

FOX Deportes taps International Boxing Hall of Fame member and former four-division world champion Erik “El Terrible” Morales, working with Jaime Motta and Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award winner Jessi Losada.

More on the FOX Sports PBC Schedule:

Jermall Charlo vs. Willie Monroe, Jr. and Jermell Charlo vs. Tony Harrison, Saturday, December 22, 2018, 8:00 PM ET on FOX. Barclays Center, Brooklyn

Twin titans kick off the new season of PBC on FOX, as Jermall Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) defends his WBC interim middleweight title against top-rated contender Willie Monroe, Jr. (23-3, 6 KOs), while Jermell Charlo (31-0, 15 KOs) makes the fourth defense of his WBC Super Welterweight Championship against hard hitting former title challenger Tony Harrison (27-2, 21 KOs). Rounding out the evening, WBC mandatory challenger and 2012 U.S. Olympian Dominic “Trouble” Breazeale (19-1, 17 KOs) battles Carlos Negron (20-1, 16 KOs), a member of the Puerto Rican boxing team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Jose Uzcategui vs. Caleb Plant, Sunday, January 13, 2019, 8:00 PM ET on FS1. Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles

IBF Super Middleweight Champion Jose Uzcategui (28-2, 23 KOs) battles undefeated, top-rated challenger Caleb Plant (17-0, 10 KOs).

Keith Thurman vs. Josesito Lopez, Saturday, January 26, 2019, 8:00 PM ET on FOX. Barclays Center, Brooklyn

Undefeated WBA Welterweight Champion Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) ends a long injury layoff to defend his title and starts to reclaim the division against battle-hardened veteran Josesito Lopez (36-7, 19 KOs). Also that evening, Adam Kownacki (18-0, 14 KOs), one of the fastest rising stars in the heavyweight division, takes on his toughest challenge to date when he steps in against U.S. Navy veteran and USC football standout Gerald Washington (19-2-1, 12 KOs).

Leo Santa Cruz vs. Miguel Flores, Saturday, February 16, 2019, 8:00 PM ET on FOX. Los Angeles

WBA Featherweight Champion Leo Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs), one of the highest volume punchers in the sport, defends his title against the always tough Miguel Flores (23-2, 11 KOs). Plus, former WBC Lightweight Champion Omar Figueroa Jr. (27-0-1, 19 KOs) returns after a long injury layoff to face former title challenger John Molina Jr. (30-7, 24 KOs).

Anthony Dirrell vs. Avni Yildirim, Saturday, February 23, 2019, 10:00 PM ET on FS1. The Armory, Minneapolis

Former WBC Super Middleweight Champion Anthony Dirrell (32-1-1, 24 KOs) battles once-beaten Avni Yildirim (21-1), who faces the stiffest competition of his career, in a clash for the vacant WBC Super Middleweight Championship.

Shawn Porter vs. Yordenis Ugas, Saturday, March 9, 2019, 8:00 PM ET on FOX. Las Vegas

WBC Welterweight Champion Shawn Porter (29-2-1, 17 KOs) makes his first title defense against top-rated mandatory challenger Yordenis Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs), who gets his first world title shot.

Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia, Saturday, March 16, 2019, 9:00 PM ET on FOX Sports PBC Pay-Per-View. AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

In one of the most highly anticipated and intriguing matches in boxing, IBF Welterweight Champion Errol Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) will defend his title against four-division world champion and current WBC Lightweight Champion Mikey Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs), who is moving up two weight classes to challenge Spence.


Lamont Peterson vs. Sergey Lipinets, Sunday, March 24, 2019, 8:00 PM ET on FS1. MGM National Harbor, Oxon Hill, MD

Former junior welterweight and welterweight world champion Lamont Peterson (35-4-1, 17 KOs) clashes with former junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets (14-1, 10 KOs).

Caleb Truax vs. Peter Quillin, Saturday, April 13, 2019, 10:00 PM ET on FS1. The Armory, Minneapolis

Former super middleweight champion Caleb Truax (30-4-2, 19 KOs) meets former middleweight champion Peter Quillin (34-1-1, 23 KOs) in a battle to determine who climbs back into title contention.

Danny Garcia vs. Adrian Granados, Saturday, April 20, 2019, 8:00 PM ET on FOX.

Former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Danny Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs) wants to rebound from a razor-thin loss in his last bout to take on battle-tested Adrian Granados (20-6-2, 14 KOs).

FOX Sports PBC Additional Dates:
(Fights confirmed on a later date.)

Saturday, May 11, 2019, FOX
Saturday, May 25, 2019, FS1
Saturday, June 1, 2019, FS1
Sunday, June 23, 2019, FOX
Saturday, July 13, 2019, FS1
Saturday, July 20, 2019, FOX
Saturday, August 3, 2019, FOX
Saturday, August 24, 2019, FS1
Sunday, September 1, 2019, FOX
Saturday, September 21, 2019, FS1
Saturday, November 9, 2019, FS1
Saturday, December 14, 2019 on FOX
Saturday, December 21, 2019 on FS1

With the recently announced four-year deal, the FOX broadcast network will feature 10 marquee fight nights in prime time each year, while FS1 and FOX Deportes will telecast 12 fight nights annually. The package includes FOX Sports-PBC Pay-Per-View events. The Emmy Award-winning FOX Sports production team will produce more than 175 hours of original PBC boxing content per year across its channels.

All PBC on FOX Sports events and programming will be streamed live on the FOX Sports app, available in English or Spanish through the FOX, FS1 or FOX Deportes feeds. FOX Sports will offer a platform inside the app to allow viewers to stream the PPV events. In addition, FOX Sports Digital will have a dedicated FOXSports.com and FOX Sports App page for PBC coverage, in addition to dedicated YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels.

FOX Sports and PBC launched the highly regarded primetime boxing series TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAYS on FS1 and FOX Deportes in the fall of 2015, featuring PBC’s brightest up-and-coming boxers. The deal was expanded to include several fight nights on the FOX broadcast network, including exciting title fights such as heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder defending his title in February of 2016, July of 2016, and again in February of 2017, plus the exciting welterweight showdown between Danny Garcia and Robert Guerrero in January of 2016.

Thoughts?

[Boxing Prospect]

A pretty big meh, a few good fights but on the whole nothing screams "Muat watch, 50/50 match at the highest level"... Very nuch quantity instead of quality

[Enlightened-One]

A pretty big meh, a few good fights but on the whole nothing screams "Muat watch, 50/50 match at the highest level"... Very nuch quantity instead of quality

If I was you, if you’re disappointed by these PBC events, I’d ask for a full refund of your cable subscription fees and PPV expenses you've paid for nine of these bouts.

[Boxing Prospect]

A pretty big meh, a few good fights but on the whole nothing screams "Muat watch, 50/50 match at the highest level"... Very nuch quantity instead of quality

If I was you, if you’re disappointed by these PBC events, I’d ask for a full refund of your cable subscription fees and PPV expenses you've paid for nine of these bouts.

Oh if you were me you'd not have any of them on PPV given none will be PPV here... Suspect most will be on Sky, BT or allegedly and I'll likely watch everyone . That however doesn't mean they are good fights. I recently watch Tomioka and Masaki stink out the joint, I suspected it would be a poor fight... And it was.

[Ruthless-RKO]

A pretty big meh, a few good fights but on the whole nothing screams "Muat watch, 50/50 match at the highest level"... Very nuch quantity instead of quality

If I was you, if you’re disappointed by these PBC events, I’d ask for a full refund of your cable subscription fees and PPV expenses you've paid for nine of these bouts.

Oh if you were me you'd not have any of them on PPV given none will be PPV here... Suspect most will be on Sky, BT or allegedly and I'll likely watch everyone . That however doesn't mean they are good fights. I recently watch Tomioka and Masaki stink out the joint, I suspected it would be a poor fight... And it was.

They might be on ITV in the UK. Who knows?

[Enlightened-One]

A pretty big meh, a few good fights but on the whole nothing screams "Muat watch, 50/50 match at the highest level"... Very nuch quantity instead of quality

If I was you, if you’re disappointed by these PBC events, I’d ask for a full refund of your cable subscription fees and PPV expenses you've paid for nine of these bouts.

Oh if you were me you'd not have any of them on PPV given none will be PPV here... Suspect most will be on Sky, BT or allegedly and I'll likely watch everyone . That however doesn't mean they are good fights. I recently watch Tomioka and Masaki stink out the joint, I suspected it would be a poor fight... And it was.

How would you compare the quality of the entire fight cards of Golden Boy, Top Rank and Main Events in comparison to those staged by the PBC? Are they any better (in terms of consistency)?

[Boxing Prospect]

If I was you, if you’re disappointed by these PBC events, I’d ask for a full refund of your cable subscription fees and PPV expenses you've paid for nine of these bouts.

Oh if you were me you'd not have any of them on PPV given none will be PPV here... Suspect most will be on Sky, BT or allegedly and I'll likely watch everyone . That however doesn't mean they are good fights. I recently watch Tomioka and Masaki stink out the joint, I suspected it would be a poor fight... And it was.

How would you compare the quality of the entire fight cards of Golden Boy, Top Rank and Main Events in comparison to those staged by the PBC? Are they any better (in terms of consistency)?

They aren't any better. Not on an overall basis. It's great we have more stuff being shown, but on the whole all of them are lacking consistent 50-50 bouts (Nyambayar vs Marrero is a PBC fight I'm really excited about and see as a rare 50-50).

Hearn and Warren over here are just as bad. It's a huge shame that we're not getting evenly matched bouts on a regular basis.

I like evenly matched bouts, rather than show cases for established names. Ioka vs Nietes, Hooker vs Saucedo, Wilder vs Fury, Whyte vs Chisora II, Warrington vs Frampton all excite me.

LSC in another stay busy fight, Thurman taking on the fun but limited Lopez, Spence taking on the undersized Garcia (if they were similar size then that'd be a hell of a bout), Dirrell against Yilidrim, Garcia vs Granados and a few others do nothing much for me

[ElJefe]

Jermall vs Monroe - Doesn't really do anything for me. His options are limited. Needs to get over to DAZN and fight Jacobs or Andrade. Jermall UD

Jermell vs Harrison - It's OK if you're fighting 3+ times a year but if you're fighting twice a year the opposition needs to be better. Hurd is sidelined admittedly but why not Lara? Harrison to win a few early rounds but Jermell TKO9

Uzcategui vs Plant - Uzcategui is good to watch. Haven't seen Plant. Record suggests he's not a big puncher so he'll need to be very skilful to deal with the South American who comes to fight. If Uzacategui can't get the top names I wouldn't mind seeing Truax get another shot if he beats Quillin. Uzacetgui KO11

Thurman vs Lopez - He'll have been out of the ring for about 22 months so I'll give him a pass with the first one. If he's still the old Thurman he should be able to blast Lopez out. Pretty shocking that 1) Thurman still has a belt and 2) Lopez is getting a title shot in what will be 2019. (I'm assuming the title is on the line) Thurman KO5

LSC vs Flores - Santa Cruz' career since the Frampton fights has been so pointless. Fights Avalos on the same card as Mares vs whoever it was to build the rematch as if anyone cared? Rematching Mares was fine but just do it. Don't waste 1 of your 2 fights a year building a fight that already happened 3 years earlier. So after beating Avalos in a tick over he's now fighting a guy Avalos stopped last year!? LSC KO4

Dirrell vs Yildirim - How the fvck either of these guys are in line for a title shot is crazy. Smith is the diamond champion (whatever the fvck that means). Should just order him vs one of these two and give Benavidez a shot when he's back. Not a fan of either Dirrell but Anthony probably wins this on the basis of Yildirim being awful. As a side note, Eubank should actually go for this title. A legit world title and very winnable for him. Dirrell MD

Porter vs Ugas - I just looked at the rankings and Ugas isn't #1 so this is a voluntary defence. No real upside for Porter and if memory serves then I've liked what I've seen of Ugas. Porter should be a level above but I don't mind this fight as much as some of the others if it leads to a big one next. Porter UD

Peterson vs Lipinets - Is this at 140 or 147? Prefer both guys chances of a title at 140 tbh but a good fight is a good fight. 2 game fighters who should serve up some decent entertainment. Can't really pick this one atm.

Truax vs Quillin - Good name for Truax to get on the record. As I said before, Uzcategui vs Truax would be a good action fight. Maybe not a foregone conclusion that he wins but I've got interest in Quillin so rooting for Truax. Truax MD

Garcia vs Granados - Not the worst comeback opponent but Garcia should win comfortably. Garcia TKO8

I'll have to find the FOX stream so I can see Kate Abdo. A sad day when she left Sky Sports.

[jujigatame]

Mostly disappointing matchups. Porter/Ugas is probably the best of the bunch, although Porter/Spence is the fight that should really be getting made.

[marvelous marv]

Did they leave out Pacquiao vs Broner?

[jujigatame]

Did they leave out Pacquiao vs Broner?

I think they left out Pac/Broner and Spence/Garcia because they're PPV fights, so not technically on the "FOX Sports / PBC" schedule.

What's going on with Showtime anyway? People made a big deal about HBO shutting down boxing operations, but Showtime seems to have almost silently done the same. The only Showtime cards I know of in the next 6 months are PPVs.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Did they leave out Pacquiao vs Broner?

I think they left out Pac/Broner and Spence/Garcia because they're PPV fights, so not technically on the "FOX Sports / PBC" schedule.

What's going on with Showtime anyway? People made a big deal about HBO shutting down boxing operations, but Showtime seems to have almost silently done the same. The only Showtime cards I know of in the next 6 months are PPVs.

But there was no mention of Pac-Broner at all.

They did say they wouldn't announce Garcia-Spence until Pac-Broner was officially announced.

EDIT!!

I know why it wasn't.. This presser was for FOX.. Pac-Broner will be on Showtime PPV.

[Ezzard]

Cannot believe Garcia is allowing himself to be fed to Spence.

Crawford is 31. Spence is 29 in March. They need to fight now.

[marvelous marv]

Pac Broner apparently has not been finalized yet. Press conference coming soon allegedly.

[jujigatame]

Cannot believe Garcia is allowing himself to be fed to Spence.

Crawford is 31. Spence is 29 in March. They need to fight now.

Lomachenko should be fighting Garcia too, which is the biggest fight that can be made at 135 by a country mile.

Arum and Haymon not working together is a huge problem for the sport.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Cannot believe Garcia is allowing himself to be fed to Spence.

Crawford is 31. Spence is 29 in March. They need to fight now.

If anything, Garcia has asked for it.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Arum and Haymon not working together is a huge problem for the sport.

Yeh mate. ODLH and Arum put their differences aside, worked together and we got Loma vs. Linares.