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Re: Of ESPN, a Hot Mic and Sobriety

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Re: Of ESPN, a Hot Mic and Sobriety

On the Saturday night PBC show headlined by a lightweight clash between Jamel Herring and Denis Shafikov, you might have heard a weird comment that seemed incongruous.

It was a “hot mic” moment, which caught blow by blow man Joe Tessitore cracking that sobriety might not be in the cards for next weeks' show, topped by Mario Barrios.

Boxing, theater of the unexpected. Live tv, double that sentiment…

I was curious what Tess was joking about so I asked around.

Basically, Tess was having a conversation with a producer and they were talking about a forthcoming wedding of a member of the the ESPN FNF boxing family next week. The implication: there will be dancing and toasting and sipping of adult beverages.

It was not an assessment of the fare. And duh, Tess isn't a slurr-y sort, so we all know there was no danger of him getting Cosell-y.

Now ya know…

Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson. The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999. Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.