MAURO RANALLO TO HOST & MARK ‘TOO SHARP’
JOHNSON
TO SERVE AS GUEST ANALYST ON SEPTEMBER 8
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® TELECAST
ALONGSIDE AL BERNSTEIN
No.
1 Contender Olusegun Ajose Faces No. 2 Contender Lucas Matthysse
For
Vacant WBC Interim Super Lightweight Championship
This
Saturday, Sept. 8, at 9 p.m. ET/PT Live on SHOWTIME®
From
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las
Vegas
NEW YORK (Sept. 6, 2012) – Veteran sportscaster Mauro
Ranallo and International Boxing Hall of Famer Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson will
join this Saturday’s SHOWTIME
CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast, live on SHOWTIME® (9 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Ranallo
will host the show and call the blow by blow action alongside two International
Boxing Hall of Famers — longtime SHOWTIME boxing analyst Al Bernstein and special guest analyst
Johnson — for Saturday’s WBC Interim Super Lightweight Championship
bout between the WBC’s No. 1 contender Olusegun
Ajose and No. 2 contender Lucas
Matthysse and the co-featured bout featuring J’Leon Love vs. Ramon Valenzuela.
Known
for his enthusiastic calls and knowledge of combat sports, Ranallo joins the
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING team after spending more than five years as lead
play-by-play announcer for STRIKEFORCE mixed martial arts (MMA) on
SHOWTIME.
A
lifelong boxing fan, Ranallo is thrilled for the opportunity to join the recent
Hall of Fame inductees at ringside.
“I
am very excited about joining the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING team,”
Ranallo said. “Having covered combat sports for over two decades, I
look forward to calling some of the best boxing action on the planet.
“My
first main event could redefine the Big Bang theory with one of the
sport’s biggest punchers, Lucas Matthysse, looking to showcase his
preternatural punching power. However, it won’t be easy against a
slick technician such as the undefeated Olusegun Ajose.”
The
first African American to win a flyweight and super flyweight world title,
Johnson is, at the age of 40, the youngest boxer in history to get inducted
into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was also the first fighter
born and raised in Washington ,
D.C. , to enter the Hall.
A
speedy, talented southpaw, who last fought in 2006, Johnson could box or brawl
and was a fixture on pound-for-pound lists in late 1990’s and early
2000’s.
Johnson
and Bernstein were both members of the Hall’s 2012 class.
“It
is a great honor and privilege to join a network like SHOWTIME, which has
produced some of the greatest shows and memories in boxing history,”
Johnson said. “I’m as
excited to be a part of the world-class SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING team as I
was when they first told me I would be finally getting my first world title
shot after waiting three years for it. This is a dream come true for
me. I’ve been studying and I’m ready to go. I look
forward to bringing a unique insight to the SHOWTIME audience.
“There
are not too many places that you will be able to see and hear two Boxing Hall
of Famers at once, so to be granted this opportunity and to work alongside Al
Bernstein, whom I entered the Boxing Hall of Fame with this year, makes it that
much sweeter.”
Johnson,
a veteran of 50 fights, knows what both Ajose and Matthysse need to do if they
want to walk out of the ring a world champion.
“The
fight between Olusegun Ajose and Lucas Matthysse is going to be very
exciting,” Johnson said. “Although Matthysse feels like
he didn’t close the gaps and could have possibly won
those fights against Devon
Alexander and Zab Judah,
he came back with a great knockout against Humberto Soto this past June where he was able to use his
strength and outwork him.
“Ajose
is a guy who has 30 wins with 14 knockouts and no losses and is a surely a
power puncher. However, we will see how well he adjusts outside of
his comfort zone, the U.K. (
United Kingdom ) when he comes to the bright
lights of Nevada
against the experienced Matthysse. This will be the first time both
of these guys get to be front and center as the main event on a platform like
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.”
Ajose
vs. Matthysse, a 12-round fight for the vacant WBC Interim Super Lightweight
World Championship taking place Saturday, September 8 at The Joint At Hard Rock
Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in
association with DiBella Entertainment, Gary Shaw Productions and Arano Box
Promotions and sponsored by Corona
and AT&T. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast will air live at
9:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) with middleweight prospects
J’Leon Love and Ramon Valenzuela squaring off in a 10-round co-featured
bout presented in association with Mayweather Promotions. Preliminary
fights will air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME® beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT
(delayed on the West Coast).
Tickets,
priced at $200, $100, $75, $50 and $25, along with a limited number of VIP
suite seats priced at $150, are on sale and may be purchased at the Hard Rock
Hotel Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.Ticketmaster.com or by
phone at (800) 745-3000.
.
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