PBC inks deal with SiriusXM

In what appears to be a move taken right out of a time capsule, Premier Boxing Champions will now start airing on SiriusXM radio networks - just like in the days of yesteryear. The live coverage of PBC will begin this Saturday for the Garcia-Peterson card (a card that also features Peter Quillin vs. Andy Lee, and my personal favorite up-and-comer, Errol Spence). The broadcast will air on Sportszone, channel 92, at 8pm for those of you with satellite radio subscriptions.

The broadcast team will be comprised of Randy Gordon, who is a former Ring Magazine editor, Gerry Cooney, and well-known radio host Sway Calloway as a ringside reporter. SiriusXM's SVP of sports programming, Steve Cohen, is saying that the broadcast crew have been diligently preparing on executing the live coverage by doing some homework on the history of boxing radio broadcasts.

"It's so different from television because you're really the eyes of the listening audience," Cohen said. "And you need to take them everywhere the fighters are in the ring: center of the ring, up against the ropes, and let them know what's going on. With that said, if you're doing your job correctly as a boxing play-by-play guy on the radio, you won't hear much from the analyst until after the round. That's the way it was done."

Cohen also intimates that this will be one aspect in Haymon's grand scheme of bringing boxing back into the forefront as a major sport - and that there will be excellent production value to go along with the radio broadcast.

"We're going to have the ring all miked up through the TV partners that are working with Al Haymon, and they've been awesome in providing us that natural sound, and so we want to bring this right through your radio," Cohen said. "We want you to hear the guys hitting each other, we want you to hear the corners. We want to bring you the whole visual of what's going on in that ring and all the sounds that go along with that through your radio."

It's almost summertime, break out the lemonade and grandpa's favorite rocking chair; it's about time for a little nostalgia.