Bounce TV today announced a seasoned line-up of on-air sports talent for the debut of its new monthly series Premier Boxing Champions – The Next Round beginning this Sunday, August 2 at 9:00 p.m. (ET), which will also be streamed live on BounceTV.com. Fred Hickman will anchor PBC – The Next Round as host, Fran Charles will call the blow-by-blow action ringside joined by former Super Welterweight World Champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout, who will provide insight and analysis.
The main event for the series premiere of PBC – The Next Round will be a 12-round Bantamweight World Championship fight between Juan Carlos “Baby Pacquiao”Payano (16-0, 8 KOs) and Rau’shee “Nuke” Warren (13-0, 4 KOs). Both fighters are Olympians – Payano for the Dominican Republic and Cincinnati southpaw Warren, a three-time Olympian for the United States. Each fighter brings an undefeated record to the battle for the title.
“Fred and Fran combine for more than 50 years of major sports event coverage and Austin will help put viewers in the ring with his current and fresh perspective. We are thrilled to assemble such an impressive and talented team of announcers for our Premier Boxing Champions debut,” commented Ryan Glover, President of Bounce TV.
Hickman spent nearly 20 years with CNN Sports where he co-hosted the country’s original daily sports-highlights show CNN Sports Tonight. He also served as an anchor for CNN/Sports Illustrated, a host for both NBA and NFL pre-game shows, a co-host of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympic Games and a co-host of the 1994 Goodwill Games. Hickman moved to ESPN in 2004, appearing on flagship shows such as SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, NBA Shootaround, and NBA Coast to Coast and he has also hosted pre-and post-game shows for the YES Network. Most recently, he served as the sports director for WVUE-TV, Bounce TV’s affiliate in New Orleans.
Charles served as a blow-by-blow announcer for more than seven years. He was also a studio host for NFL Network, where he contributed to NFL GameDay Final, NFL Total Access and Around the League. Charles was also the host of the weekly golf show, PGA Tour Sunday on USA Network, serving as lead anchor for studio segments during PGA Tour events. Charles currently serves as a host and reporter for MLB Network.
In 2004, Trout won the U.S. National Amateur Welterweight Championship and after climbing up the ranks as an elite boxer, he won a Super Welterweight World Championship in 2004 by defeating Rigoberto Alvarez. He went on to defend that title four times, including a dominant victory over Miguel Cotto in New York. He is currently on a three-fight win streak as he works towards another world title opportunity.
The co-feature Sunday night is a two-fight tournament in the junior middleweight division: A 10-round match that sees Olympic Silver Medalist Yudel Jhonson (17-1, 9 KOs) taking on the knockout machine Jorge Cota (24-1, 22 KOs), plus 10 rounds of Olympian John Jackson (19-2, 15 KOs) battling Dennis Laurente (49-5, 30 KOs). The winners of the two bouts will face-off on a date to be announced soon.
Payano vs. Warren: PBC – The Next Round,promoted by Warriors Boxing and Sampson Boxing, will take place at Full Sail Live, the state-of-the-art performance venue on the campus of Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
