HBO Sports returns with an action-packed night of boxing programming, headlined by a junior welterweight title bout featuring two of the sport’s most exciting fighters when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: MIKE ALVARADO VS. RUSLAN PROVODNIKOV is seen SATURDAY, OCT. 19 at 9:45 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colo., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team of Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr. will call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: Oct. 20 (8:30 a.m.) and 21 (1:00 a.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Oct. 20 (4:30 p.m.) and 22 (11:30 p.m.)
In a 12-round showcase event, Denver’s Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KOs) defends his home turf and 140-pound title against Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs) of Russia in a junior welterweight clash, marking HBO’s first boxing telecast from the Mile High City. After beating Brandon Rios in March to avenge his only career loss, Alvarado, 32, looks to continue his rise in the junior welterweight ranks. The 29-year-old Provodnikov, who lost by decision to welterweight champion Timothy Bradley Jr. in a sizzling contest last March on HBO, looks to foil those plans by going toe-to-toe with the taller Alvarado. Both of their previous bouts are widely considered Fight of the Year candidates, making this one of the most-anticipated fall matchups.
Leading off the telecast will be the HBO replay of the welterweight title showdown between Timothy Bradley Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez. The two accomplished pros went 12 hard-fought rounds last Saturday night on HBO Pay-Per-View® in Las Vegas. Bradley emerged the winner and kept his undefeated record intact with a split decision triumph.
An added social media element to enhance Saturday’s telecast from Broomfield will be the posting of highlight clips from the live HBO telecast on the @HBOBoxing twitter account. @HBOBoxing is working with the innovative software provider SnappyTV to introduce this feature to the sport of boxing. You can find the video clips and retweet during and after the fight telecast by following @HBOBoxing.
“Legendary Nights: The Tale of Gatti-Ward,” an all-new installment of the Emmy®-winning documentary series, debuts immediately following the Alvarado-Provodnikov bout. The 75-minute special revisits the epic three-fight series featuring Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward that concluded ten years ago on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.
Follow HBO boxing news at hbo.com/boxing, on Facebook at facebook.com/hboboxing and on Twitter at twitter.com/hboboxing.
All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Jon Crystal; director, Marc Payton.
® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.
