2ND NBC EVENT A SUCCESS!
Saturday night’s broadcast of Premier Boxing Champions that aired at 8:30 PM ET live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, won the ratings battle for the 18-49 demographic for their time slot. Al Haymon has made his mark thus far and silenced any critics, at least from a TV ratings perspective.
MATCHUPS
Danny Garcia vs Lamont Peterson(143lbs)
Result-Garcia via Majority Decision
Andy Lee vs Peter Quillin (160lbs)
Result-Draw
Grade-B
Lee comes back late to earn draw
While the fights at certain moments lacked action, they didn’t lack drama. There was a level of tension throughout the Lee/Quillin bout which had various shifts in momentum. Quillin was successful in the early rounds knocking Lee down twice. Lee scored a knockdown late. The fight was on the line in the final round.
Peterson-Garcia didn’t start as anticipated, as it appeared that Peterson’s strategy was to try to limit the action as much as possible during the first half of the fight. His constant moving and unwillingness to engage early on may have cost him the fight. He lost 6 of the first 7 rounds on all three judges cards. He came om strong in the second half of the bout, bloodying Garcia’s face. Usually the fighter that finishes stronger gains favor with the fans. In this case, Lamont won his rounds more convincingly, thus the result was deemed controversial by some.
PRODUCTIONGrade
The show started off with one of the best introductions on a boxing telecast in quite sometime. The intro featured a look back at some of the greatest fights to take place in the state of New York. It was a great display of classic film footage of some of the best fights and fighters of all time.Featured in the short piece was Ali vs Frazier 1 at Madison Square Garden, Dempsey vs Firpo at Polo Grounds, two fights with Lamotta and Robinson at MSG among many others mentioned. The storied features on the fighters were overall well produced.
BROADCAST TEAM/COMMENTARY
Grade-C+
This is where the show is lacking. Too many commentators and reporters. Too much repeating of the same analysis over and over. Too much emphasis on what one fighter is doing, but not giving equal attention to the other. Ray Leonard’s analysis of both fights unfortunately was sub-par. The team overall lacks chemistry, although that is something that can be improved upon with time.
-Kevin Perry