FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 4th, 2015
TRANSCRIPT:NBC SPORTS GROUP’S PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS CONFERENCE CALL
DAN MASONSON: Thank you and good afternoon everyone. And welcome to today’s conference call previewing the debut of Premier Boxing Champions on NBC. This Saturday at 8:30 pm Eastern PBC on NBC will debut becoming the first prime time boxing on the NBC broadcast network in 30 years.
Joining us today are our host, Al Michaels, our blow-by-blow announcer, Marv Albert, our analyst, the Hall of Fame boxer, Ray Leonard, and our executive producer, Sam flood. Each will make a brief comment before we take your questions. We will have a transcript of this call later today on NBCSportsGroupPressBox.com.
SAM FLOOD: Well, thanks for joining us, we’re really very excited to get going on Saturday night. Great fight to begin with, and then the talent group led by the three gentlemen to follow here, doing this.
I worked with Al in 1984 in Sarajevo and always loved doing big shows with him and big events. And this is another big one for him to be the host of.
And then Marv and I worked together back in the ’88 Olympics when he was doing boxing and his calls on fights were always so dramatic and fun, that when we got this, he was talking to figure out a way to join us to be the blow by blow voice. And Marv went back and found some tapes from the ’88 Olympics and great VHS that was delivered out to those games that he was the voice on. It was fun to see him back out there again.
And have had some great meetings with Ray as he comes down to the team and learns the NBC system for telling stories and making big events bigger. It’s fun to have these gentlemen together.
AL MICHAELS: Thank you, I’m very excited about this, because I covered quite a lot of boxing in the ’70s and ’80s with Howard Cosell was working his way out of commentating on boxing and eventually leaving ABC in ’85.
I had a chance to do a number of fights all around the world, amateur and professional, both. The Hagler/Hearns fight in 1985 was to me one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen or been a part of.
There’s been a lot of buzz about this. I know a lot of people I’ve run into in the last week say boxing is back on television, that’s great. I’m as curious as anybody to see if this provides a resurrection of sorts for a sport that became a pay per view sport. And didn’t enable a lot of guys to become particularly well known.
It’s an opportunity for a lot of these fighters to get in the mainstream, and perhaps help to resurrect the sport.
For me it’s going to be a lot of fun on a number of levels. I’ll probably get to do a Howard Cosell imitation, I wouldn’t want to pass one of those up.
And the other thing is to finally get to work with my boyhood idol, Marv Albert. Take it away Marvelous Marv.
MARV ALBERT: Al, thank you. I am just thrilled about the return of prime time box being to NBC and I’m so excited about being part of it, being able to work with Al for the first time, and Ray Leonard, and Laila Ali, and BJ [Flores], and a NBC production team that does a great job of everything they do, from Mark Lazarus to Sam Flood and David Gibson, our producer, right down the scale.
I had the good fortune of being ringside for the call of major fights in the ’80s and the ’90s, Hagler, Duran and Hearns and Larry Holmes era, in the heavy weight division, and the likes of, I know many of you remember, Frank “The Animal” Fletcher and John “The Beast” Mugabi, two of my favorites, Alexis Arguello and so on. Through the Olympics, as Sam mentioned, some of the bizarre happenings that took place in South Korea in ’88, which was one of several Olympics I was fortunate enough to do with NBC.
I will never forget the worst possible decision in the history of boxing, it was about Ferdie Pacheco, the “Fight Doctor,” and where he was given a bad decision, probably the worst of all time. Then, the Korean boxing commission votes him fighter of the tournament after that.
Of course there’s always, Al, I know you remember Byun Jong il, the Korean, who would not leave his corner, because he felt he had a bad decision in South Korea. And, I believe he’s still sitting in the corner with the lights out because of that memory.
Again, it’s just a thrill for me to be a part of this and with such a great group of people. I can’t wait for Saturday night. I hope that it is maybe part of a rejuvenation in terms of people actually being able to watch the fights, even though I think HBO and Showtime have done an excellent job and will continue to do so.
RAY LEONARD: Well, I’m so excited to be a part of what’s going to bring boxing back to the limelight. Without question these young boxers, these future champions, they are totally aware that more eyes will see them than they receive on pay-per-view. The fact of the matter is they know it’s all about showing up. This is a huge audition for these boxers. The fans and the viewers will be the judges, they will be the ones that say, “This kid is really something special. This kid has a future.”
I’m so excited. I’ve worked with numerous networks over 34 years, and it’s so wonderful to be back home, because this is what I do. The people ask me, do I miss boxing? And I don’t miss getting hit, per se, but I miss the comprador to break down a fight, talking the Hearns fight, the Duran fight. This is what I do and I thoroughly enjoy it. It’s a blessing. All these years later I’ve come back and I’ve come home again.
DAN MASONSON: Thank you, and we’ll open it up for questions.
I have to admit this is like a murderer’s row of announcers, here. But this question is for Al. Al, where do you feel boxing stands today in comparison with the golden age of the ’80s? And when the best fighters always were the best fighters, and usually multiple times.
AL MICHAELS: One of the things that made boxing popular at that time was there was still a lot of fights on what we call free television. Pay-per-view had been in existence, but there was still a number of fights on free TV.
When you had that 140, 147 pound group, which included one Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, which had Tommy Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and you’d have these guys going back and forth, and anytime you had any of them facing each other in combination it made for a tremendous fight.
I think there was a lot of interest in boxing at that particular time because of those four guys, and because of the competitiveness of those divisions. Then, of course Mike Tyson came along and won the championship in 1986 and he was the superstar of the sport.
But, since then, between Tyson finishing his career, the other guys retiring, obviously pay-per-view taking over, and then coming in, fighting championships, I think it’s been an imperfect storm for the sport. But, I think it’s terrific right now, and I know Ray has spoken about this in the past, one of the reasons Ray Leonard became an American icon, was because they could see him. Turn on Channel 7, Channel 4, whatever it was in those years. That’s what I think boxing was then. Obviously, it’s in a different place right now, but if it’s going to be resurrected this is one giant step for doing that.
RAY LEONARD: Well, I reiterate what Al said. I had the pleasure and honor to be on numerous networks. So, I was exposed to be in so many more households. I truly believe the activity of boxers, the fact that there was just so many championship fights where the best guy or the most power guy would fight the next power guy. That in of itself made boxing so exciting and so just special.
AL MICHAELS: Is that missing from boxing today?
RAY LEONARD: It is, because if you really look around and look at the fact that for a while it was only Manny Pacquiao, and Mayweather, who were more than just household names, but global names. And the other guys who were incredible fighters, they never got a chance to really showcase their talents, because it was always on pay-per-view, and at times even those fans who were not economically possible, they couldn’t afford to pay to see those fighters. There were a lot of boxing fans who just can’t afford to pay that amount of money to view fights.
One last question for Sam. What kind of viewership are you expecting for these series of fights?
SAM FLOOD: Not sure. We leave that to the ratings gurus to figure it out. I’m focused on making sure we put on the best possible product with the best possible stories. We’ll let the rating gurus handle that side of the equation.
Are you expecting a sizable audience for this opener?
SAM FLOOD: It will be exciting to see how many people watch. We’ll see who joins us on Saturday night. We’re hopeful that people catch on and become a part of this and growing the sport back to where it belongs as part of a centerpiece in the American sports landscape.
Just something you mentioned, part of the problem with the sport was promoters not necessarily being concerned with the best bouts. Will NBC exercise its muscle to make sure that each time out you have great matches, almost every time?
AL MICHAELS: I think if you look on the card for this opening night, it certain says we have great fights. And it really speaks for itself the fact that these fighters, with John Molina and Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman, the fact that these fights are evenly matched to showcase.
I guess coming all these fights look great, but over the course of time my question is will NBC use the muscle to make sure that this remains consistent, not just this time, but every single time out?
AL MICHAELS: I don’t think we need to use our muscle, I think this is the intent of this series to bring great matchups to prime time, that’s the intent and that’s the plan we see that happening we look forward to big nights every time it shows up on NBC.
For anyone who wants to tackle this. It strikes me that the three most famous people we’re going to be seeing on the telecast, are Al Michaels, and Marv Albert and “Sugar” Ray Leonard. How incumbent is it for you guys to introduce the fighters, not just watching them fight but telling their stories and getting people to care about them?
MARV ALBERT: I think story line is the most significant aspect of it, and during the Olympics and other major events I think NBC has shown over the years what a great job they can do. For me, in going back, and I left after the NBA went elsewhere, but it’s so nice to see it’s so many of the same people who did all the work back from the ’80s and ’90s and 2000s who are still there. I get such a kick out of that.
This group has done such a wonderful job in setting up who the people are. I think particularly on the two main events there are great stories, some of which have already been told, others which Al will get to along with some of the features, there’s a couple of fascinating stories. I think that’s so important in terms of making people connect to what they are watching out there. And, I think there will be [those stories] each time this show is on. It starts that way with Robert Guerrero and Keith Thurman, and Molina, who was mentioned, and some of the other guys who are on the card and I think that probably is the key to everything in boxing today, that people care about what they’re watching.
AL MICHAELS: This is like the genesis of this whole thing was up close and personal, the way Roone Arledge did it with the Olympics, when nobody knew who these people were, and he was able to turn Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci into mega stars.
But, it’s really pretty much the same with every sport. You don’t necessarily have to do it like the National Football League, because those players are so well known, but you deal with something like this, and what you really want to do is to make sure the audience is able to connect in some manner with the fighters and tell the audience who they are, what they’re all about, and why they should care about them.
It’s similar to doing a lot of other sports, where you know you’re dealing with the principles who need to be brought front and center into the consciousness of the audience to make the audience care about whether they win or lose.
RAY LEONARD: It’s that connection, because the viewers, the fans, at home, they have to have a vested interest in that particular boxer. Let’s say that they like them after an interview of who they are, where they come from or why they do what they do. I think that’s the most intriguing part of this whole boxing phenomenon.
MARV ALBERT: Or in some cases, Ray, people they don’t like, which also brings eyeballs to the screen because, not every story is a good one. I think that will be shown objectively, and that’s important. It’s all part of it.
Since it has been quite a while since any of you guys have called fights. How much have you personally kept up with the sport? I know you have other assignments. But have you paid attention to boxing or are you studying up on the guys that you’re going to be broadcasting on Saturday?
MARV ALBERT: I actually continued watching boxing ever since I did it. I watched all the shows on HBO and on Showtime. There was a little bit more studying the last say month, month and a half, in terms of watching the guys that we knew we were doing. I think I watched every Adrien Broner fight, every Robert Guerrero fight, Molina fight, as long as they’ve gone, and right down the list, the whole thing.
So I’ve always been a boxing fan, probably since my father used to take me to the fights. There was a rickety stadium in Coney Island. I was a little kid, I’d go to the fights and get a kick of it. The old St. Nick’s arena, which was on the west side of Manhattan, I had no idea who was fighting, but it was just the scene of it, the excitement.
When I first started I was surprised that I was asked to do it. It was Don Ohlmeyer who was with NBC and who asked me to do do boxing when I was doing NBA and NFL and other things.
It was a study then, and when you’re around it all the time, as you know, you start picking things up. I’m still, I would have to say still watching, a bit more now because I’m watching tapes of other fights, too, just to get ready. It’s something I have followed right through.
AL MICHAELS: I didn’t follow it as closely as I did, obviously, when I was doing it years ago, and I did fall away from it for a while.
When there was a big fight, obviously I would tune in to watch it. And then when I knew that NBC was possibly getting back into it, and I might be a part of the show obviously you begin to do your homework a lot more. Very much like Marv I’m sitting here watching tapes of every Broner fight, Molina fight, Thurman fight and Guerrero fight.
We’re going to go into this as prepared as we can be. Who knows, we just hope that all fights look to be extremely competitive. We know sports, and I’m sure the FOX Network on the Denver/Seattle Super Bowl two years ago, was going to be fantastic, and we all knew what happened. These fights look to be extremely competitive, and hopefully we don’t see a first or second round knockout because we’re going to have a lot of time to fill.
MARV ALBERT: To me the most interesting part of doing boxing is the bizarre aspect of it, which you probably would agree. There’s no sport like this in terms of even going back a bit, and I know they cleaned it up somewhat in terms of what a guy’s record is. At times I remember doing fights in the ’80s where a guy would come in, and would say he’s 21‑1, and the promoter would say he’s 25‑0. That would be like the Green Bay Packers claiming what their record is, and someone saying, “No, it’s not.”
You never see that in other sports. I think it has gotten much, much better in terms of record keeping. You go online now and there are two services, and sometimes they disagree. But the craziness of it is very appealing to me. I think there’s a kinetic part of it, too, when I can’t believe what I’m seeing sometimes, with either ends of fights, during fights, and I love that aspect of it.
Can either of you tell me, when ‑‑ Marv, when was the last fight that you did, actually called a fight from ringside for a television broadcast?
MARV ALBERT: The last one I did, NBC did it to the early ’90s, but I did the 2000 Olympics in Sydney with Teddy Atlas. I did ’96, and I did ’88. But I did fights, in terms of professional fights, right through I believe it was early 2000. For sure the Olympics in ’00 in Sydney.
AL MICHAELS: Around the same time Marv did it, I actually did a fight around 2000, it was a Wide World fight, the afternoon of a De La Hoya fight, he was fighting at night pay‑per‑view.
It was Stevie Johnston against Costillo.
AL MICHAELS: That was it. We did it ‑‑
MARV ALBERT: What color trunks were they wearing?
AL MICHAELS: It was in the parking lot at the Commerce Casino. And I think they opened it up by saying, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” It was a beautiful day, and that’s the last one I did.
I was wondering what it is that NBC is seeing? Is it seeing anything like market research, in regards to the sport’s popularity, just a prime time Saturday night, like the rise of Deontay Wilder, the upcoming Pacquiao‑Mayweather fight. These things are all converging, if they’re converging and creating a new kind of energy around the sport, if these factors are playing into it, and if the network is seeing some kind of resurgence that it sees coming and knows about that maybe we don’t?
SAM FLOOD: I’ll quickly say I think we want to help build this resurgence, and that’s why we’re doing this. We see this as an opportunity to get what was a stable American television viewing back into the spotlight, as great a job as Showtime and HBO has done, they’re limited to number of households.
We’re now going into every house that has a television with the fights on a Saturday night, giving the opportunity for millions and millions more people to watch. You put it on with Al and Marv and Ray, it will be event television. That’s the intent here is to yank a big event out of a very good fight card that is put together in Las Vegas and we look forward to seeing how people react to it at home.
Do you feel like the year of the pay‑per‑view fights may have been a big mistake on boxing’s part, in maybe failing to cultivate younger fans?
AL MICHAELS: It certainly wasn’t a big mistake to the promoters, and people that made a lot of money off of it and still do, so in that regard they came out fine. The top fighters came out fine, but nobody knew who any of the other guys were.
It was very difficult, you know, for a guy to be an up and coming guy and to get some notice. I think to that degree, on balance, it was not good for the sport. That’s one of the reasons why I’m very curious to see, and as I said at the beginning, a lot of people are excited to be able to see, a boxing card on what we call free, over‑the‑air television.
This is an opportunity to get back to ‑‑ for a lot of people who remember the fights and remember watching a lot of fights on the shows during the ‑‑ at least through the end of the 20th Century, an opportunity to see boxers in action again. I think the prospect is very exciting.
Can you speak to the advent of this new technology being employed by the new champions and how do you envision it changing boxing, Mr. Leonard, from say your career to now, and in the future of boxing? And to the broadcasters, how do you envision this augmenting your coverage of the sport?
SAM FLOOD: Let me start quickly, I think in the end it’s about telling a great story and showcasing great fighters. That’s the centerpiece of what we’re going to do. The technology is only meant to enhance the event for the viewers at home. We’re cautiously optimistic that it’s going to create a bigger feel and make it a better viewing experience at home. In the end it comes down to telling the right stories and how great is storytellers do the job. That’s who we have assembled on this call.
That’s what we do at NBC is telling the story the right way and we need the right people to do that and the technology is an enhancement to that. But it will never overshadow the importance of the three guys that are on this call.
What are you guys putting into the new graphics package, the show open, the bumpers? Obviously the score is going to be enormous. How you’re trying to make this a series of tent pole events that go along with NBC mantra of the big event for PBC?
SAM FLOOD: We have all our people involved in creating the look and tone for the show. Obviously, the musical score sets a certain tone, and we think it’s going to be very big and exciting. The visual elements are a good mix of content, the creative people have been working on this for months. We’re excited about what it’s going to look and feel like, and create the right background to tell the stories of these fighters, and how the storytellers on this call, making sure we tell the stories the right way.
It’s a nice combination of elements. In the end it’s what happens and the story telling inside the ring that matters most.
With the ’80s being the Golden Age of boxing, do you think boxing on prime time network TV now is a tougher sell now than it was back then?
RAY LEONARD: I don’t think we can compete with the ’80s. Those fights were what they were. We’re just trying to provide for fans boxing that’s consistent, that’s free and that’s competitive. I think that, within itself, will generate the interest that boxing so desperately needs now.
For the casual fans, how is it for the announcers to be able to explain some of the subtleties of boxing to those fans, like strategy, things that they wouldn’t have heard just being a casual fan, to make sure that they stay on for the next episode or the next fight?
RAY LEONARD: That’s really where I come in. One of my biggest traits was to break down fighters, their strong points, their weak points. I mean I didn’t beat Tommy Hearns just physically, I had to dissect him. I had to almost like a choreography, knowing ways to beat him, psychologically.
What these fighters need to do to be successful, you just don’t walk in there and throw punches, it is indeed the sweet science of boxing. I’m looking forward to trying to educate the public and the fans on how what a guy should and should not do.
MARV ALBERT: I was going to say that’s ‑‑ just in sitting with him, we did a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago, and just being able to talk boxing with Ray, that’s what he does so wonderfully. That’s the key to explaining, as Ray said, you know, what he has to do to beat Molina. What do you do beat Guerrero, he’s a southpaw, so how do you deal with that. Someone fights very close to somebody, how does the referee affect that, if he’s a guy that keeps breaking up clinches. Ray is the best. I think that will come automatically. It’s really, to me, it’s not a complicated sport. There is certainly various finesse aspects to it, and that’s where Ray comes in.
Boxing’s value as a live sport is offering live programming, how valuable is that nowadays when a lot of people are on DVR and things like that, when you have a live program and have the value of it. How much does that mean to a network?
SAM FLOOD: It is critical. I think because of DVR, when you have a live event, when there’s a result in doubt, people have a tendency to end, because they have to, they don’t want to have it spoiled by reading it on line or a Tweet. It’s live and there’s a certain pond that you have to drain, and that’s why a lot of programming is great and Saturday night is a good place to take advantage of it. There’s a reason Saturday Night Live still gets good ratings, because it’s live and you never know what’s going to happen. Live is a big word in the television landscape, and we think it’s a key component to what we’re doing on Saturday night.
I think as you mentioned in the intro, Howard Cosell, you came in when Howard Cosell said farewell to the sport. How do you and each of you feel about the climate that we have in the NFL, has been taking a lot of hits because of the violence and all that kind of stuff. Do you feel there’s a huge appetite for combat sports now? I see a lot of sponsors coming in, I guess there is. I wonder what each of you feel each just personally, about the attractiveness of the sport, which is brutality. Is there still a climate for that and how do you feel about it?
AL MICHAELS: It’s mano e mano, and it has been for all of history. Two guys going at each other. I think either people really like boxing or they think it’s enigmatic. Those who don’t like it will not pay any attention to it, those who do, are.
The brutality and the other aspects, what might be considered by some to be insidious aspects, this is what boxing is and what it has been.
In addition to that, and Ray and Marv addressed it, too, there is ‑‑ I mean they call it the sweet science for a reason. It’s not just two guys going to the center of the ring and trying to kill each other. There’s a lot of strategy. It requires a lot of thinking. When people think it’s a couple of guys getting in the ring without any strategy, without any forethought, that’s not the case. And I think to me, as somebody who really loves almost all sports, that to me is the most appealing aspect of it.
I’m sure there are people who just love it for whatever, the blood aspect or whatever you want to call it, but I think there are a ton of people who also really love the strategy that’s inherent in two guys getting into the ring in a pair of trunks and having at it.
RAY LEONARD: You know, it’s so true. I mean fans ‑‑ there’s so much more sophisticated. In fact I get a lot of Tweets and Facebook talking about the sweet science of boxing. I think that, you know, it’s mano e mano, it’s primal.
Also guys, or maybe women, live somewhat vicariously through that fighter they like or they love. It’s fascinating what goes through a fighter’s mind. It’s fascinating that in that dressing room I knew the three times that I lost, that I was going to lose, because I looked in the mirror, and I didn’t see “Sugar” Ray Leonard. These are a couple of things that I will be talking about, and letting people know that boxers do feel this way.
Because of our machismo, if you will, we don’t say that, because it’s a sign of weakness. But there’s a lot of things that I’m looking forward to covering with new boxing things.
DAN MASONSON: Thank you very much for joining us today. We will have a transcript of this call posted on NBCSportsGroupPressBox.com later this afternoon.
We will see you all Saturday night at 8:30 pm Eastern on NBC.
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