DAZN ANNOUNCES BOXING BROADCAST TEAM
*NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2018 – *DAZN, the live and on-demand sports streaming
platform, today announced its boxing broadcast team. The legendary Sugar
Ray Leonard and Brian Kenny will call the action, Kay Adams and Chris
Mannix will host each fight night, and LZ Granderson will report from
ringside.
They will work their inaugural event as a unit when world heavyweight
champion Anthony Joshua defends his WBA, WBO and IBF belts against
Alexander Povetkin on Sept. 22 from Wembley Stadium in the U.K. Beginning
in October, the team will broadcast all Matchroom USA fights on DAZN
including the previously announced Vargas vs. Dulorme on Oct. 6 and
Saunders vs. Andrade on Oct. 20.
“What DAZN is doing is very exciting for both boxing and sports media,”
said Leonard. “With all of the boxing dates DAZN already has on the
calendar, they are going to have me quite busy – and that’s a great thing
for fight fans because it means that good fighters are staying active and
taking on meaningful challenges.”
Leonard will provide ringside analysis for the fights, drawing on his
Hall-of-Fame career as a six-time world champion, Olympic gold medalist and
a legendary sports icon of the 20th century. As a fighter, Leonard’s skill
and speed were matched only by his guts and heart. In a golden era of
boxing, he took on – and prevailed against – many all-time greats. Out of
the ring, Leonard has enjoyed a long broadcasting career working with ABC,
NBC, FOX, ESPN and HBO.
Kenny will serve as the blow-by-blow announcer. Winner of seven Sports Emmy
Awards, he has spent more than three decades in boxing, covering the sport
for ESPN, Showtime and FOX. Prior to his current anchor role with MLB
Network, Kenny spent 14 years at ESPN, anchoring SportsCenter, Baseball
Tonight and Friday Night Fights. On Friday Night Fights, he hosted the
biggest names in boxing from Joe Frazier to Rubin “Hurricane” Carter to
Floyd Mayweather. Kenny is a recipient of the BWAA Sam Taub Award for
excellence in boxing broadcasting.
Leonard and Kenny last worked together in 2017 when they called the
international broadcast of the Mayweather vs. McGregor super fight and have
appeared together on screen across multiple networks over the past
decade-plus.
Adams and Mannix will host each broadcast. Adams is best known for hosting
Good Morning Football on NFL Network and DirecTV’s Fantasy Zone. Mannix is
an award-winning boxing writer for Yahoo Sports and has worked as a
ringside reporter for NBC, Showtime and EPIX. He currently hosts the
popular Yahoo Sports Boxing Podcast and has also covered the NBA for
multiple outlets over the past 15 years.
LZ Granderson will handle ringside reporting duties for DAZN. The
award-winning journalist has covered everything from the NBA and tennis for
ESPN to national politics for ABC. In addition to his work in television,
Granderson can be heard each weekday on “Mornings with Keyshawn, LZ and
Travis” on ESPNLA 710, is a senior writer for The Undefeated, and writes
for CNN. He also co-hosts livestream coverage of world premieres for Marvel
Studios and was a co-host of the popular ESPN TV show SportsNation.
“We’re committed to bringing our subscribers not just top-notch boxing and
MMA – but also top-notch production,” said Joseph Markowski, DAZN SVP,
North America. “With this broadcast team, viewers will be in good hands and
we look forward to introducing a series of innovations to our fight night
experience in the coming months.”
Early action at each Matchroom USA fight night will be called by broadcast
veteran Todd Grisham and former world champion Sergio Mora. Additionally,
Akin “Ak” Reyes and Barak Bess, known for their boxing shows on Sirius XM
Radio and ThisIs50.com, will interview some of the biggest names in the
sport throughout fight week.
Fans can sign up for DAZN for only $9.99 per month – following a one-month
free trial – by registering at DAZN.com or by downloading the DAZN app on a
wide range of connected devices, including smart TVs, PCs, smartphones,
tablets and game consoles. For more information, fans can follow DAZN’s
U.S. social channels:@DAZNUSA <www.facebook.com/DAZNUSA/> on
Facebook, @DAZN_USA <twitter.com/dazn_usa?lang=en> for Twitter, and
DAZN_USA <www.instagram.com/dazn_usa/> for Instagram.
*ABOUT DAZN*
*DAZN* <watch.dazn.com/en-US/sports/> is a global live and
on-demand sports streaming service created by fans, for fans, that is
leading the charge to provide access to sports anytime, anywhere. DAZN
guarantees no long-term contract, no bundles, just one affordable price for
access to all of the service’s sports on connected devices including Smart
TVs, smartphones, tablets and games consoles. DAZN is currently available
in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, and Italy, and just
launched for $9.99 a month in the U.S. – where it is set to become a
must-have for fight fans, with 80+ fight nights already lined up from
Matchroom Boxing, Bellator MMA, the World Boxing Super Series, and Combate
Americas.
