| HBO World Championship Boxing | |
|---|---|
 WCB title card, from 2013 to 2018 | |
| Genre | Boxing telecasts |
| Presented by | Bob Costas James Brown |
| Starring | Various |
| Narrated by | Jim Lampley Max Kellerman Roy Jones Jr. |
| Theme music composer | Ferdinand Jay Smith III |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original languages | English Spanish |
| No. of seasons | 45 |
| Production | |
| Production location | Various boxing stadiums |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | Various |
| Production company | HBO Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | HBO HBO Latino truTV |
| Release | January 22, 1973 (1973-01-22) – December 8, 2018 (2018-12-08) |
| Related | |
| Boxing After Dark MetroPCS Friday Night Knockout | |
HBO World Championship Boxing (in later years stylized in its title card asHBO Boxing – World Championship) is an American sports television series on premium television networkHBO. It premiered on January 22, 1973, with a fight that sawGeorge Foreman defeatJoe Frazier inKingston, Jamaica.
HBO'spay-per-view distribution arm,TVKO was founded in December 1990, and then launched in April 1991 withEvander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, becomingHBO PPV in 2001.[1]
On February 3, 1996, HBO debuted a spin-off program,Boxing After Dark, with the fight betweenMarco Antonio Barrera andKennedy McKinney as its inaugural telecast.
On September 27, 2018, HBO announced they would be dropping boxing from the network following its last televised match on October 27, though two airings on November 24 and December 8 were its last editions. Various issues in the boxing business, including the influx of streaming options (such asDAZN andESPN+) and issues withpromoters and competing entities such asPremier Boxing Champions, along with declining ratings and loss of interest in the sport among HBO's subscribers for other ring sports such asmixed martial arts andprofessional wrestling, made the continued carriage of the sport untenable. HBO's long-term move to upscale dramatic programming, an ownership transfer of parentWarnerMedia toAT&T, thenWarner Bros. Discovery, where the company's sport division became focused onTNT asTNT Sports, and re-focus around the upcoming streaming serviceHBO Max also played a role in the decision, with an HBO executive commenting that "HBO is not a sports network". The network cancelled its last sports-related program,Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, at the end of 2023.[2]
In March 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery revived the HBO Boxing brand as afree ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel that are available onTubi andAmazon Freevee, that showcases some boxing bouts that aired onWorld Championship Boxing andBoxing After Dark, as well as some boxing-related episodes of24/7.[3]
Famous matches broadcast onWorld Championship Boxing include:
World Championship Boxing has also had threespin-off series:Boxing After Dark;KO Nation; andMetroPCS Friday Night Knockout, a weekly broadcast co-produced withTurner Sports for sister cable networkTruTV.multiplex Spanish-language channel HBO Latino aired two spin-off seriesOscar De La Hoya Presenta Boxeo De Oro (focused on fighters from De La Hoya'sGolden Boy Promotions) andGeneración Boxeo.[5][6][7][8]
Additionally, a video game carrying the brand nameHBO Boxing was released for thePlayStation in 2000, which was published byAcclaim Entertainment under their Acclaim Sports banner.
The main broadcast team wasJim Lampley on blow-by-blow, with former and future ESPN reporterMax Kellerman as color commentator, replacingLarry Merchant, who retired in December 2012. For the last two years of Merchant's contract he and Kellerman alternated telecasts.
The analyst position was held) by former multiple-division world championRoy Jones, Jr.Andre Ward orBernard Hopkins filled in when Jones was unavailable. The position used to be held bySugar Ray Leonard and former world heavyweight championsGeorge Foreman andLennox Lewis, and most recently (until his death) by trainerEmanuel Steward.
For pay-per-view fights,Bob Costas andJames Brown used to host the telecast while Lampley called the fight; however Lampley later did both.
Harold Lederman, a former boxing judge, served as "unofficial scorer," giving his scorecards after every three rounds, sometimes two. Lederman also used to voice-over the rules under which the fight would be conducted before handing back to Lampley for pre-fight introductions; however the rules were later simply flashed on-screen to save time. Former judge Steve Weisfeld also appeared in this role, usually when Lederman's daughter Julie was judging a fight and as such Harold could not be on television due to the conflict of interest.
Michael Buffer was an unofficial member of the team as ring announcer for most HBO fights. EvenShowtime Championship Boxing ring announcerJimmy Lennon Jr. subbed for Buffer occasionally and Buffer occasionally subbed for Lennon onShowtime boxing programming.
Chon Romero was one of the commentators for HBO Boxing's Spanish telecasts.[9]
Former commentators include:Marv Albert,Len Berman,Barry Tompkins,Fran Charles,Gil Clancy,Howard Cosell,Don Dunphy,Sugar Ray Leonard,Al Michaels,Jerry Quarry andDick Stockton.
Prior to 2009,TSN, a basic-cable sports channel inCanada, held the Canadian broadcast rights to most HBO boxing events, often airing them live (with ads inserted between rounds) if they did not conflict with other sports properties on the channel. From January 2009 to the series' end,HBO World Championship Boxing, and other HBO boxing events, aired live onHBO Canada with later repeats on TSN.
