Spike TV adds boxing, will rebrand Friday nights for combat sports

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Spike TV is already the home of Bellator MMA and Glory kickboxing. Now, it’s about to add the sweet science as well.

The cable network is set to announce Thursday that it has inked a deal with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions organization. The first of several Spike TV boxing cards is scheduled for March 13 and will feature a main event between former welterweight champion Andre Berto and perennial contender Josesito Lopez.

Spike TV president Kevin Kay told MMAFighting.com that the presence of Premier Boxing Champions will allow the network to rebrand its Friday nights solely for combat sports. Bellator, Glory and Premier Boxing Champions will all keep their individuality, but they will be packaged together on Spike.

“You’ll have a boxing event on Friday nights once a month,” Kay said. “You’ll have a Bellator event on Friday nights once a month. You’ll have a Glory event pretty much every month — not quite every month, but almost every month. And then in the weeks off you’ll have shoulder programming that supports all of that. So you’ll know that Friday nights on Spike is combat sports.”

The March 13 Premier Boxing Champions card does not have a venue announced yet. The co-main event will be between Shawn Porter and Roberto Garcia. Spike and PBC are putting a premium on exciting fights between boxers with aggressive styles.

The Spike deal, along with the one Haymon signed with NBC last week, is a time buy, according to a report by ESPN.com. Haymon, a top advisor and manager who lists Floyd Mayweather among his clients, has purchased the airtime to showcase his new Premier Boxing Champions series in his quest to change the evolution of the sport. In recent years, high-level boxing has only been found on pay-per-view and premium channels like HBO and Showtime.

Kay, a huge boxing fan who calls Muhammad Ali one of his biggest heroes, is all for it.

“I feel like boxing has been subjugated to pay TV for so long and presented in the same way for too long,” Kay said. “To give fans free, live fights on a cable network on a regular basis in a multi-year commitment is the opportunity. It’s what’s been missing from the mix — and big-name fights, competitive fights.”

Kay promises that Premier Boxing Champions on Spike TV will look nothing like boxing elsewhere. The production will change, the presentation will be different and the announce team will include “fresh faces.”

“I watch [boxing] and I’m like, ‘Oh man it looks like it’s 1975,'” Kay said. “That presentation is the same; those commentators are the same; the red, white and blue is the same. This partnership is about innovating and trying to create something different. We’re trying to bring young guys back to the sport who have been missing for a long time.”

Part of that plan includes lumping PBC together with Bellator and Glory to make Spike TV the home for combat sports on cable, Kay hopes. Kay said Spike had been talking to boxing promotions for the last two years, but Haymon’s group bought into their ideas and was open to holding fights on Friday nights.

“I think we were able to convince these guys this is the right place, because it will all be on Fridays and it gives us the opportunity to brand it and make it a destination,” Kay said. “And that’s great. I do believe that we’ve proven that on the mixed martial arts side and on the kickboxing side that we have a big commitment to it, so we’re invested in combat sports. And this just takes it to another level.”

Berto believes being on Spike TV represents a move back to the glory days of boxing when the best fighters were on television and also a step in the right direction for the growth of the sport.

“We’re in a position right now that a million people can mistakenly watch us fight,” Berto said. “Just imagine if it’s promoted the right way and marketed the right way what type of numbers we’ll pull. With us performing and putting on a show, just imagine what numbers could come out.

“As soon as I heard about it, I was like, ‘Oh sh*t, that’s perfect — Spike TV.’ Anybody that’s in the MMA world, I’d say tune into it, it’ll just be an easy transition.”

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Spike TV is already the home of Bellator MMA and Glory kickboxing. Now, it’s about to add the sweet science as well.

The cable network is set to announce Thursday that it has inked a deal with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions organization. The first of several Spike TV boxing cards is scheduled for March 13 and will feature a main event between former welterweight champion Andre Berto and perennial contender Josesito Lopez.

Spike TV president Kevin Kay told MMAFighting.com that the presence of Premier Boxing Champions will allow the network to rebrand its Friday nights solely for combat sports. Bellator, Glory and Premier Boxing Champions will all keep their individuality, but they will be packaged together on Spike.

“You’ll have a boxing event on Friday nights once a month,” Kay said. “You’ll have a Bellator event on Friday nights once a month. You’ll have a Glory event pretty much every month — not quite every month, but almost every month. And then in the weeks off you’ll have shoulder programming that supports all of that. So you’ll know that Friday nights on Spike is combat sports.”

The March 13 Premier Boxing Champions card does not have a venue announced yet. The co-main event will be between Shawn Porter and Roberto Garcia. Spike and PBC are putting a premium on exciting fights between boxers with aggressive styles.

The Spike deal, along with the one Haymon signed with NBC last week, is a time buy, according to a report by ESPN.com. Haymon, a top advisor and manager who lists Floyd Mayweather among his clients, has purchased the airtime to showcase his new Premier Boxing Champions series in his quest to change the evolution of the sport. In recent years, high-level boxing has only been found on pay-per-view and premium channels like HBO and Showtime.

Kay, a huge boxing fan who calls Muhammad Ali one of his biggest heroes, is all for it.

“I feel like boxing has been subjugated to pay TV for so long and presented in the same way for too long,” Kay said. “To give fans free, live fights on a cable network on a regular basis in a multi-year commitment is the opportunity. It’s what’s been missing from the mix — and big-name fights, competitive fights.”

Kay promises that Premier Boxing Champions on Spike TV will look nothing like boxing elsewhere. The production will change, the presentation will be different and the announce team will include “fresh faces.”

“I watch [boxing] and I’m like, ‘Oh man it looks like it’s 1975,'” Kay said. “That presentation is the same; those commentators are the same; the red, white and blue is the same. This partnership is about innovating and trying to create something different. We’re trying to bring young guys back to the sport who have been missing for a long time.”

Part of that plan includes lumping PBC together with Bellator and Glory to make Spike TV the home for combat sports on cable, Kay hopes. Kay said Spike had been talking to boxing promotions for the last two years, but Haymon’s group bought into their ideas and was open to holding fights on Friday nights.

“I think we were able to convince these guys this is the right place, because it will all be on Fridays and it gives us the opportunity to brand it and make it a destination,” Kay said. “And that’s great. I do believe that we’ve proven that on the mixed martial arts side and on the kickboxing side that we have a big commitment to it, so we’re invested in combat sports. And this just takes it to another level.”

Berto believes being on Spike TV represents a move back to the glory days of boxing when the best fighters were on television and also a step in the right direction for the growth of the sport.

“We’re in a position right now that a million people can mistakenly watch us fight,” Berto said. “Just imagine if it’s promoted the right way and marketed the right way what type of numbers we’ll pull. With us performing and putting on a show, just imagine what numbers could come out.

“As soon as I heard about it, I was like, ‘Oh sh*t, that’s perfect — Spike TV.’ Anybody that’s in the MMA world, I’d say tune into it, it’ll just be an easy transition.”