Showtime is the latest network to jump back into the live sports arena during the coronavirus pandemic, announcing a schedule of eight boxing dates over the next five months beginning in August.
The fights, which will take place without fans from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., will feature eight world championship fights including such titleholders as Gervonta Davis, Jermall Charlo and Leo Santa Cruz.
The first fight of the series will debut Aug. 1 with the Stephen Fulton Jr.-Angelo Leo junior featherweight championship bout. The schedule also calls for two pay-per-view boxing events -- a Sept. 26 card featuring world champion brothers Jermall and Jermell Charlo in separate bouts and an Oct. 24 event featuring a Gervonta Davis-Leo Santa Cruz championship unification bout.
“We are proud to announce the strongest and most comprehensive schedule of fights in all of boxing,” said Stephen Espinoza, president, Sports and Event Programming, Showtime Networks Inc in a statement. “Each bout on this schedule, our largest schedule announcement since 2018, carries high stakes and significant implications. We are thrilled to return to live boxing with this star-studded schedule of exciting, meaningful fights.”
The current Showtime/Premier Boxing Champions schedule of fights for 2020 is as follows:
August 1 -- (Showtime)
Main Event: Stephen Fulton Jr. (18-0, 8 KOs) vs. Angelo Leo (19-0, 9 KOs) – Vacant WBO Junior Featherweight World Championship
August 15 -- (Showtime)
Main Event: David Benavidez (22-0, 19 KOs) vs. Roamer Alexis Angulo (26-1, 22 KOs) – WBC Super Middleweight World Championship
September 19 -- (Showtime)
Main Event: Erickson Lubin (22-1, 16 KOs) vs. Terrell Gausha (21-1-1, 10 KOs) – WBC Super Welterweight Title Eliminator Bout
September 26 – (Showtime PPV)
Main Events: Jermall Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs) vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs) – WBC Middleweight World Championship
Jermell Charlo (33-1, 17 KOs) vs. Jeison Rosario (20-1-1, 14 KOs) – WBC, WBA and IBF 154-Pound Unification Bout
October 10 -- (Showtime)
Main Event: Sergey Lipinets (16-1, 12 KOs) vs. Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (15-0, 8 KOs) – IBF Welterweight Interim Title
October 24 – (Showtime PPV)
Main Event: Gervonta Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) vs. Leo Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) – WBA Super Featherweight World Championship/WBA Lightweight World Championship
November 28 -- (Showtime)
Main Event: Chris Colbert (14-0, 5 KOs) vs. Jaime Arboleda (16-1, 13 KOs) – WBA Super Featherweight Interim Title
December 12 -- (Showtime)
Main Event: Nordine Oubaali (17-0, 12 KOs) vs. Nonito Donaire (40-6, 26 KOs) – WBC Bantamweight World Championship
