By Michael Woods
UPDATED FRIDAY AT LUNCH: Showtime put out a batch of fights they will be showing and voila, the Thurman v Porter reset is on there.
Saturday, June 25 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on CBS Presented by PBC
Main Event: Keith Thurman (26-0, 1 ND, 22 KOs) vs. Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) – WBA Welterweight World Championship
Co-Feature: Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs) vs. Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) – WBA (reg.) Featherweight World Championship
Start Time: TBD
Venue: TBD
Promoter: DiBella Entertainment
· Thurman cleared to resume training after minor injury
· Three-division world champ Mares to now face Jesus Cuellar for featherweight title
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Shawn Porter will be fighting tomorrow, Saturday, but the foe and the stakes are not at all what he expected them to be last month.
The rumbler from Ohio was readying himself to challenge the WBA welter champ Keith Thurman, a Florida resident. Word came that Thurman was in a car accident and the air bag deployed and smashed his face, giving him whiplash. Thus, the Thurman vs Porter scrap had to be put off.
Shawn fights Lanardo Tyner in an exhibition match Saturday which will stream on Facebook, from the confines of his dad Kenny’s training facility in Las Vegas.
Kenny Porter told NYFIGHTS the event isn’t open to the masses, because the capacity of the space is 50 people, but a good time will be had by all.
Well…maybe not Tyner.
“Shawn is gonna take it out on him. Then we hope to hear something, within the next week, or so, about a rescheduled date for the fight with Thurman and the site. We want it to be in the next two months or so, no need to drag this out,” Kenny Porter said.
Here is the release which went out telling you about the particulars of the exhibition.
LAS VEGAS – MARCH 11, 2016 – Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), the #1 boxing series on broadcast TV and cable created by Haymon Boxing, is finding a successful way to grow and engage a digital generation of boxing fans with Facebook and Facebook Live. Facebook released a case study, crediting PBC with providing and creating a new home for a video savvy audience.
“Premier Boxing Champions’ innovative, data-driven content strategy has allowed them to connect more boxing fans with the content they love, by taking fans deep into the sport,” said Patrick Chapman, Facebook Sports Partnerships. “That comprehensive approach is driving exciting growth metrics across the board – a sure sign that fans like what they’re seeing.”
https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/success-stories/premier-boxing-champions-double-audience
Providing a fan-first, behind-the-scenes home featuring highlight and training videos, the PBC page has cultivated an active audience bookended by a millennial generation and Boomer audience. With 70% of the PBC Facebook fans between 18-44, the series has found that it is providing and generating an audience that mirrors if not beats audience deliveries of traditional television and cable media.
“We’ve found that not only have we grown a digital audience via Facebook, but also we’ve increased tune-in for our PBC broadcasts through our Facebook promotions,” said Alex Balfour, Chief Digital Officer, Haymon Boxing. “Since starting our postings we have seen support escalate for the authentic fan experience. Views rise for the purity of the sport and performance in the ring, regardless of if the fighter is well known, a main event name or a fighter on the undercard. We know our PBC digital fans care about good fights and good fighters, and support watching and learning about results from the matches as well as training.”
In 2015, PBC on Facebook mirrored the strong PBC broadcast/cable audience deliveries, reaching a weekly audience of up to 10 million people. PBC began to post regular highlights on Facebook in the last quarter of 2015 with over 8 million complete views of its 30-second view highlight video clips, which are posted immediately following the broadcast. The most popular highlight video was the September 26 Wilder vs. Duphaus fight, while the October 16 Fonfara vs Cleverly fight on Spike sparked highest level of engagement. For more insights visit the report.
PBC is currently using Facebook Live to add another level of engagement to its audience.
On Saturday, March 12, PBC will broadcast an exclusive 12 round exhibition match featuring Porter meeting Lanardo Tyner via Facebook Live on PBC’s Facebook page. Held live at 7 p.m. PST from Porter’s Hy-Performance Center in Las Vegas, a Facebook Live Q&A with Porter and fans will follow the exhibition. Past PBC Facebook Live events have included behind-the-scenes training camp video, including one that reached almost 250k people with former three-division World Champion boxer Abner Mares. PBC had a reach of over 200k people participating in its innovative fighter-first live Q&A with Porter on February 1.
As a new brand offering programming across a variety of networks at many different times of day and days of the week, PBC’s challenge was to reach as many of the estimated 36M avid boxing fans in the U.S. as possible and to raise awareness among the estimated 100M casual boxing fans in the U.S.
Source: Nielsen L+SD 12/29/14-11/12/15 Boxing on all broadcast & cable including pay cable. Facebook
About Premier Boxing Champions:
“Premier Boxing Champions” is a live boxing series created for television by Haymon Boxing. In its first season, PBC delivered over 85 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.
www.premierboxingchampions.com
www.facebook.com/premierboxingchampions
