If you are a basketball fan that was born in the 1980's then you undoubtedly grew up with Marv Albert. Albert, the announcer on the call for the NBA on NBC in the 1990's made for premiere television viewing along with Steve "Snapper" Jones and whoever NBC could lure as the third guy. (That guy ended up being Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas or Bill Walton) When that epic theme music came across those television speakers, you knew what time it was.
However, it was my grandfather* that reminded me that Marv Albert wasn't just capable of blessing the mic for basketball purposes, as Albert was also really good at calling the blow-by-blows in the name of boxing. As our own Fight Like Sugar noted earlier, NBC will now be leveraging a new relationship with Al Haymon to provide primetime boxing programming for fight fans everywhere. This also means that NBC will dust off Albert's boxing skills to provide a dynamic three-man broadcast team starting in March. Per The Sports Business Journal:
NBC Sports today formally announced that Marv Albert will serve as blow-by-blow announcer for the upcoming Premier Boxing Champions series of fight telecasts, which will debut on Saturday, March 7. Sugar Ray Leonard will serve as analyst, with Al Michaels hosting the coverage. Additional announcers for NBC's boxing coverage will be named in the coming weeks.
March 7th will be a banner day for many boxing fans as no longer will consumers have to take their talents to premium networks like HBO or Showtime to watch high level boxing. Hopefully, the co-main events of Keith Thurman versus Robert Guerrero and Adrien Broner versus John Molina, will not disappoint. If Albert has anything to do with it, tuning into NBC will be mandatory for more than just Sunday Night Football.
*BONUS: The fight my grandfather used to talk about was a fight between Bobby "Schoolboy" Chacoon and Cornelius Boza-Edwards. He said they fought like they had no plans on being with their women afterwards. Chacon and Edwards fought twice, exchanging wins and titles in the process, and their second fight was named Ring Magazine Fight of the Year in 1983. This rematch included three knockouts in the first three rounds, as Chacon would somehow find a way to edge Boza-Edwards for the victory. Take a few minutes to not only enjoy an awesome fight, but to hear how Marv Albert called it over 30 years ago.
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Eddie Maisonet is the founder and editor emeritus of The Sports Fan Journal. Currently, he serves as an associate editor for ESPN.com. He is an unabashed Russell Westbrook and Barry Switzer apologist, owns over 100 fitteds and snapbacks, and lives by Reggie Jackson’s famous quote, “I am the straw that stirs the drink.”