Ground breaking event, Friday Night Fights to be aired in 3D
Who cares if you look goofy with the glasses on, the thrill of seeing the fights in 3 dimensions is well worth the ridicule.
In case you missed the promo from ESPN2 their “Friday Night Fights” are going to be aired for the first time in 3D, the first 3D boxing telecast ever in the United States.
“We anticipate delivering an extraordinary visual experience with our 3D coverage of boxing,” said Phil Orlins, ESPN 3D’s coordinating producer. “3D is most impactful when you have the opportunity to shoot
from close proximity to the action, making boxing one of the most ideal sports to cover in 3D.”
If you ask anybody on the East Coast, they'll tell you Fernando Guerrero is the real deal.
This inaugural 3D boxing show will take place at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center in Salisbury, Md. which can seat 5,600 boxing fans. The featured bout has Fernando Guerrero (20-0, 16 KOs), a local hero, defending his NABF Middleweight Title and his #2 world ranking against Derrick Findley (17-4, 11 KOs) in the 10-round main event. Guerrero, born in the Dominican Republic but raised in Salisbury, has Hal Chernoff as his manager and trainer who often gets an assist from Barry Hunter. To explain how good Guerrero is, suffice it to say, as an amateur he beat his stablemate Shawn “Showtime” Porter twice.
Shawn Porter (right) is shown unloading on one of his 13 knockout victims.
In the co-feature, Porter (17-0, 13 KOs) will fight Anges Adjaho (25-4, 14 KOs). Porter, who is originally from Stow, Ohio, is managed and trained by his father Kenny Porter. As an amateur, Porter (260-11) defeated such notables as Demetrius Andrade and Shawn Estrada (both were U.S. representatives at the last two Olympics).
The boxing card will also include 4 additional bouts including the highly anticipated return of Fernando’s brother, Alex Guerrero (4-0-0, 2 KO’s) and middleweight prospect Dominic Wade (9-0-0, 7 KO’s) of Largo, Maryland who will open the ESPN telecast.
Ring announcer Joe Tessitore is excited: “Here’s hoping we get a spectacular, head-snapping, sweat-spraying, one-punch knockout just a few feet away from an ESPN 3D camera. The color and energy we captured for the BCS National Championship game on ESPN 3D was everything we thought it would be and more. Among those of us on that production team, ‘Friday Night Fights’ is the telecast we’ve been waiting for. The one descriptive I’ll often use for 3D is that it provides fans the best seat in the house and boxing tends to do that better than most sports as it is. 3D will only add to it.”
But oh shucks! We’ll need access to ESPN 3D, which is an exclusive 3D network that debuted last year and is available in approximately 62.5 million homes. It has already televised events such as college football and basketball, the State Farm Home Run Derby, the Masters, the Harlem Globetrotters and several NBA games.
Is this channel available in Southern California? More importantly, is it available in San Diego? Time Warner and Cox Communications don’t have it yet, but Direct TV (Satellite TV) does. Only if you are an ESPN 3D subscriber with High Definition access and the correct 3D television and glasses. If you know of anybody who has all these features, you better put them back on your Christmas Card list.
