WealthTV’s live boxing programming efforts for 2012 have been recognized by the Boxing Writers Association of America, BWAA, and by ESPN’s Dan Rafael, arguably the leading authority on boxing. The BWAA recently nominated six fights for Fight of the Year candidates. Two of the six fights were featured live on WealthTV, namely Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria v. Hernan “Tyson” Marquez and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez v. Juan Francisco Estrada. (Of the remaining four fights, one was featured on Showtime and three were featured on HBO, including the Manny Pacquiao v. Juan Manual Marquez IV fight.)
The BWAA also nominated world champion Brian Viloria for Fighter of the Year. Viloria, who was featured on WealthTV’s Fight Night on November 17, unified the WBO and WBA Flyweight World Championship with a victory over Hernan Marquez.
According to Jack Hirsch, president of the Boxing Writers Association of America, “When people think about great fights they usually associate them with only HBO and Showtime. However, one look at the Boxing Writers Association of America’s ballot for the 2012 Fight of the Year should dispel that. Two of the six contests on the ballot (Roman Gonzalez – Juan Francisco Estrada and Brian Viloria – Hernan Marquez) were telecast by WealthTV.”
ESPN’s Dan Rafael named two time WealthTV headliner David Price (15-0-0) as ESPN’s Prospect of the Year. Price, a 6’ 8”, 250 lb undefeated heavyweight has been featured twice in recent months on WealthTV. On October 13th the undefeated Price made blazing fast work of Audley Harrison – dropping Harrison in 82 seconds into the first round to finish the contest.
Price returned on WealthTV on November 30th to put a potentially career-ending second round finishing loss on an outmatched Matt Skelton. Rafael’s pick for Prospect of the Year is highly anticipated by boxing fans for Rafael’s astute ability to pick young prospects. David Price joins a prestige list that includes past inductees Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Andre Berto, Canelo Alverez, among others.
Rafael’s naming of two-time WealthTV headliner David Price as Prospect of the Year combined with the BWAA recognitions, gives WealthTV reason to feel good about its boxing efforts in 2012. Dan Rafael of ESPN summed thing up, “With two Fight of the Year candidates and being the US outlet for Price, WealthTV had a great year.”
For 2013, WealthTV will be featuring 40 to 60 bouts according to network executive Charles Herring and the quality of the events is only improving. One of the first live events for 2013 will see undefeated British heavyweight David Price challenging one of America’s best heavyweights, Tony “The Tiger” Thompson.
Thompson, a proven world Heavyweight title challenger is currently the No. 2 rated American by BoxRec. The fight, scheduled to take place on February 23, live and exclusively on WealthTV, has received the highest rating from BoxRec, earning five stars for the matchup. In addition to the Price v. Thompson bout scheduled for February, WealthTV has agreements in place for additional bouts featuring David Price.
“When WealthTV first announced it would telecast boxing events the consensus was that it would be an occasional show featuring no more than moderate talent. However, it is now quite obvious that WealthTV is a major player in the sport. WealthTV has consistently telecast some of the best fights and fighters in the world. It has delivered everything it promised,” stated Jack Hirsch of the BWAA.
“Our boxing staff has been searching the world for the best fighters, regardless of weight-class and nationality. We don’t feature or promote a small stable of boxers, but rather work with a number of promoters, seeking out the very best boxing events. We’re extremely proud that our featured boxers and fights have received recognition by the BWAA and Dan Rafael of ESPN,” stated Charles Herring, president of WealthTV.
In addition to its world-class championship fights, WealthTV will be featuring the fast-paced and adrenaline pumping “Prizefighter: Welterweights III” matches on January 19th. WealthTV also shows first airings and encore fights every Thursday night at 10PM EST.
