Showtime Celebrates 20 Glorious Years Of Boxing On May 5

Photos ©Tom Casino/Showtime

Classic fights, career defining moments and hard-hitting action from the most compelling and unforgettable prizefights of 2006 are recapped in “Showtime Championship Boxing: 20 Years Later” premiering Saturday, May 5, 2007, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.

The 30-minute program features highlights from Showtime Championship Boxing’s 20th anniversary year with commentary from perennial play-by-play man Steve Albert and renowned color analyst Al Bernstein. In addition, “20 Years Later” will feature the top bouts from “ShoBox: The New Generation,” the network’s acclaimed prospect-oriented series, with fight call and commentary from Nick Charles and Steve Farhood.

Legendary ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. hosts as trainers Dickie Wood and Don Familton, and top boxing journalists Carlos Arias (Orange County Register), Steve Kim and Doug Fischer (Maxboxing.com), Tom Hauser (Secondsout.com) and Michael Woods (Thesweetscience.com) share poignant moments and recollections from the past year.

Featured bouts in the program include: “2006 Fight of the Year” candidate Lamon Brewster vs. Sergei Liakhovich; Shannon Briggs’ dramatic last-minute knockout of Liakhovich; the controversy surrounding the two James Toney-Samuel Peter showdowns; twin upsets of Carlos Baldomir over Zab Judah and O’Neil Bell over Jean-Marc Mormeck; Joe Calzaghe’s dismantling of Jeff Lacy; Vic Darchinyan’s three world title defenses; Roman Karmazin versus Cory Spinks; and Diego Corrales-Joel Casamayor III.

In addition to exhilarating highlights, the SHOWTIME boxing announcers and Lennon Jr. recap 2006’s most unforgettable moments and discuss a myriad of subjects and trends that have occurred throughout 20-plus years of SHOWTIME airing the best boxing on television.

After Lennon Jr. opens the show, “20 Years Later” will be divided into five segments that are interspersed with editorials from Albert, Farhood, Bernstein and Charles. The initial segment will highlight the rise of Soviet born and trained fighters, followed by first and second-generation families (Spinks, McGirt, Witherspoon, Marquez brothers) who have fought on SHOWTIME, the increasing size of today’s heavyweights, the smaller division champions and more.

In the midst of its 21st year, SHOWTIME has consistently provided viewers with meaningful, competitive fights, whose surprising outcomes have unveiled new champions, rerouted careers and gained SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING the distinction of not only offering the most important match ups, but the most unexpected results.

The popular, well-received “ShoBox” series debuted in July 2001. “ShoBox” features up-and-coming prospects determined to make a mark and eventually fight for a chance at a world title. It is pure, basic boxing on television, reminiscent of the golden days of the sport.

The creative director of “SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: 20 Years Later” is Jonathan Heaps. The program was produced by Eric Jones and Marc Youngblood. After its initial airing on May 5, “20 Years Later” will be repeated several times on SHOWTIME and available on SHOWTIME On Demand throughout the month of May.

For information on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING and “ShoBox: The New Generation” telecasts, including fighter bios and records, related stories and more, please go to the SHOWTIME website at http://www.sho.com/boxing.