FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 2nd, 2015

FIVE DAYS UNTIL DEBUT OF PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS IN PRIMETIME, THIS SATURDAY MARCH 7 ON NBC

Veteran Boxing Referee Steve Smoger & Boxing Historian Steve Farhood Join PBC on NBC Team

Al Michaels, Marv Albert & “Sugar” Ray Leonard on Conference Call This Wednesday, March 4 at 1 PM ET

PBC on NBC Debuts Saturday, March 7, Live at 8:30 PM ET on NBC

STAMFORD, Conn. – Mar. 2, 2015 – In five days, on Saturday, March, 7, boxing returns to primetime broadcast television with the debut of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC at 8:30 p.m. ET. The debut of PBC on NBC features a pair of blockbuster bouts — Keith Thurman vs. Robert Guerrero, and Adrien Broner vs. John Molina Jr. — from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Blow-by-blow announcer Marv Albert and analyst “Sugar” Ray Leonard call the action. Al Michaels will host. Laila Ali and B.J. Flores serve as corner analysts, joined by reporter Kenny Rice.

VETERAN REFEREE STEVE SMOGER & HISTORIAN STEVE FARHOOD JOIN PBC ON NBC TEAM

NBC Sports Group has bolstered its PBC on NBC team with the addition of two experts — veteran boxing referee Steve Smoger and boxing historian Steve Farhood.

Smoger, who began refereeing professional fights in 1982 and worked bouts featuring stars Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and Vinny Pazienza, will sit ringside with Albert and Leonard, offering them rules insight. An upcoming June 2015 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Smoger will only be utilized in an on-air capacity if there is a rules controversy which needs discussion or clarification.

Farhood, who has covered boxing since 1978 for The Ring and KO Magazine as well as for multiple television networks, joins the PBC on NBC team as a ringside editorial consultant.

AL MICHAELS, MARV ALBERT & “SUGAR” RAY LEONARD ON CONFERENCE CALL WEDNESDAY AT 1 PM ET

PBC on NBC host Al Michaels, blow-by-blow announcer Marv Albert, analyst “Sugar” Ray Leonard, and Executive Producer of NBC Sports and NBCSN Sam Flood will participate in a conference call this Wednesday, Mar. 4, at 1 p.m. ET.

Dial 719-325-2448 to Participate, Conference ID 1717692.

NBC and NBCSN will present 20 live PBC on NBC boxing events in 2015. Within the 20 live shows, NBC Sports Group will present more than 50 hours of PBC coverage, including NBCSN pre- and post-fight programming for NBC telecasts. The Premier Boxing Champions series is created for television by Haymon Boxing.  The PBC on NBC will feature many of today’s brightest stars, in their most compelling matches.

All PBC on NBC shows will be streamed live on NBC Sports Live Extra via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. NBC Sports Live Extra is available for desktops at NBCSports.com/liveextra. The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available at the App Store for iPad and iPod touch, on select devices within Google Play, and on windows phones and tablets.

–NBC SPORTS GROUP–