Fight fans will be in for a treat tonight not only because of the stacked doubleheader on HBO this evening featuring Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Jorge Solis and Mikey Garcia vs. Matt Remillard, but also because there will be a special guest appearance by Nick Charles, who will be calling the Garcia vs. Remillard bout. Nick Charles on HBO would not be something that would have happened in the past, the venerable boxing announcer was long the voice of Showtime boxing. However, things have changed dramatically over the past few years.
Charles is battling through terminal cancer, and it’s unknown how much time he has left. As was detailed in a Sports Illustrated piece by Joe Posnanski, his dream was to be able to call just one more fight. But he also realized that it was probably just that, a dream, and wouldn’t come to fruition. Well the folks at HBO took notice of that and decided to hire him to call the Garcia vs. Remillard bout tonight on the network. You can read a fantastic story by Kevin Iole on Nick Charles and HBO, the man and his journey, and his being hired to call this bout.
Nick Charles will get one last chance to live his dream tonight, and boxing fans will be the beneficiaries, because we’ll all get a chance to watch and listen to him call a bout with his trademark voice, energy and style. If everyone could be as courageous and strong as Charles has been, the world would be a much better place.
