Although nothing is "finalized," TNT execs are talking
about airing a possible September fight featuring IBF
champion Angel Manfredy, according to Ron Borges of the
BOSTON GLOBE. Borges added that with Ted Turner's tie-in to
Time Warner/HBO, along with the "impending end" of the USA
Network series, TNT "may stage one or two fall fights to
test the market." Despite the HBO connection, TNT "is
expected" to use its own announcers (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/3).
REPORTS OF ITS DEATH GREATLY EXAGGERATED: In L.A.,
Steve Springer wrote that although boxing "has faded from
view, it hasn't faded from the memory of its fans." HBO
earned a 10.2 rating for its Prince Naseem Hamed-Wilfredo
Vazquez fight a few weeks ago, and Oscar De La Hoya's June
fight "already has generated" sales of 38,000 of 51,000
seats at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX, with the first 34,000
seats "sold on the first day." Springer: "No, boxing's not
dead yet, although so many in the sport keep trying to kill
it" (L.A. TIMES, 5/2)....In N.Y., Bob Raissman noted HBO's
Hamed-Vazquez 10.2 rating, along with the 10.1 which HBO got
for the Roy Jones Jr.-Virgil Hill fight a week later.
Raissman: "The double-digit figures are proof the sport's
far from kicking the bucket" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/3).
