Showtime Networks, ESPN Make Deal

Showtime Championship Boxing ESPN Classic to Air Thursday Nights Premieres March 27

March 26, 2008 -- Showtime Networks Inc. and ESPN announced today an exclusive agreement to replay select Showtime Championship Boxing telecasts from the extensive, 21-year Showtime boxing library. The package of fights, entitled Showtime Championship Boxing on ESPN, will be televised primarily on ESPN Classic running back-to-back bouts each Thursday night starting March 27 and include contemporary boxers as well as former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield and current IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

The premiere on ESPN Classic features the 2005 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year between José Luis Castillo and the late Diego Corrales for the WBC/WBO lightweight title. Corrales won with a sensational tenth-round TKO after both men battered each other with hard combinations and power punches throughout the entire fight.

Other classic fights include the first two fights between Israel Vázquez and Rafael Márquez to air on May 15. Vázquez and Márquez just finished the third fight in their series -- a trilogy that has been compared to the greatest boxing trilogies of all time. Other fights featuring James Toney, Ricky Hatton, Kostya Tszyu, Joel Casamayor, Jeff Lacy and Joe Calzaghe are included in the agreement.

ESPN Classic airs classic fights every weeknight at 8pm and 12am.

Below is the April and May schedule for Showtime Championship Boxing on ESPN.

Date Time (ET) Fight Championship

Mar. 27 8 p.m.
9 p.m. José Luis Castillo vs. Diego Corrales I WBC/WBO Lightweight
José Luis Castillo vs. Diego Corrales II

Apr. 3 8 p.m.
9 p.m. Diego Corrales vs. Joel Casamayor II WBO Junior Lightweight
Evander Holyfield vs. James Toney

Apr. 10 8 p.m.
9 p.m. Kassim Ouma vs. Verno Phillips IBF Junior Middleweight
DaVarryl Williamson vs. Wladimir Klitschko

Apr. 17 8 p.m.
9 p.m. Ben Tackie vs. Ricky Hatton IBF Junior Welterweight
Ricky Hatton vs. Kostya Tszyu

Apr. 24 8 p.m.
9 p.m. Juan Manuel Márquez vs. Víctor Polo WBA/IBF Featherweight
Jeff Lacy vs. Donnell Wiggins WBC Super Middleweight

May 8 8 p.m.
9 p.m. Joe Calzaghe vs. Jeff Lacy
Bobby Pacquiao vs. Carlos Hernández IBF/WBO Super Middleweight

May 15 9 p.m. 9:30 p.m.
Israel Vázquez vs. Rafael Márquez I WBC Super Bantamweight
Israel Vázquez vs. Rafael Márquez II WBC Super Bantamweight

May 15 8 p.m. 8:30 p.m.
Joel Casamayor vs. Diego Corrales I IBF Junior Lightweight
Jeff Lacy vs. Robin Reid IBF Super Middleweight

May 22 8 p.m.
9 p.m. José Luis Castillo vs. Joel Casamayor Jeff Lacy vs. Omar Sheika
IBF Super Middleweight

May 29 8 p.m.
9 p.m. Kostya Tszyu vs. Ben Tackie WBC/WBA Super Lightweight
José Luis Castillo vs. Julio Díaz WBC Lightweight

Source: ESPN

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